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WiiM Mini Review (Streamer)

Rate this streamer:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 12 2.6%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 47 10.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 224 47.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 186 39.7%

  • Total voters
    469

mediocrebutarrogant

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D9936222-D377-4023-841F-378958BDB293.png

Ok I got 24/192 over optical with a local file
 

mediocrebutarrogant

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Since when does optimal = recommended? And MQA is a lame duck... just wait a while. Few if any totally new DACs are supporting it. It's like DSD: it was an idea when we had PCM bandwidth and media limitations. Now, not so much. No matter how tricky codecs get, lossy codecs are lossy.

Also, there seem to be many DACs that can do 24/192 over USB; it seems not so many can achieve it via optical.
I did get it to work but not over tidal
 

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JustCoolin‘

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Admittedly more of a Tidal-specific question, but since I never used Tidal Connect before I got a WiiM a couple go weeks ago: is there a way with Tidal connect to select the output (ie, not my phone, but the WiiM) *before* I hit play on a track?

Not a major concern, but currently I need to hit play, then the track starts on my iPhone and the UI switches to the “now playing” view, and only then can I select WiiM to listen on my system.

Obviously this is only the case with the first track in a listening session (although Tidal occasionally seems to forget it).
 

Atanasi

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I tried linking an Amazon account to Wiim Mini, and I was disappointed that the app opens an embedded browser for logging into the Amazon account. This kind of setup is insecure, because the app is able to capture passwords from embedded browsers and use the Amazon account for purposes it was not intended.
I came across to Amazon's guidelines on implementing Amazon login. If the companion app uses Amazon's official Login with Amazon SDK, the login flow is supposed to either use the system browser or delegating to the Amazon Shopping app, such that the user is not required to login again if the Shopping app is already logged in.
This method authorizes the user in one of the following ways:

  • Switches to the system browser, and then lets the user sign in and consent to the requested information.
  • Switches to web view in a secure context to let the user sign in and consent to the requested information.
This secure context is available through the Amazon Shopping app on Android devices. Amazon devices running Fire OS–for example, Kindle tablets and Fire TV devices–always use this option even if there is no Amazon Shopping app on the device. Because of this, if the user is already signed in to the Amazon Shopping app, this API skips the sign-in page, leading to a Single Sign On experience for the user.

Authorize an AVS Device Through a Companion App
Last time I tried, Wiim's app didn't use the system browser and didn't implement delegating to Amazon Shopping.
 

Kachda

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Does wiim support Apple Music?
 

Brantome

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I came across to Amazon's guidelines on implementing Amazon login. If the companion app uses Amazon's official Login with Amazon SDK, the login flow is supposed to either use the system browser or delegating to the Amazon Shopping app, such that the user is not required to login again if the Shopping app is already logged in.

Last time I tried, Wiim's app didn't use the system browser and didn't implement delegating to Amazon Shopping.
You would guess then that WiiM’s implementation of Amazon Music HD would fail Amazon’s certification which, given its public release, wouldn’t appear to be the case. Have you asked WiiM directly why they apparently don’t conform?
 

Atanasi

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You would guess then that WiiM’s implementation of Amazon Music HD would fail Amazon’s certification which, given its public release, wouldn’t appear to be the case. Have you asked WiiM directly why they apparently don’t conform?
I sent the same information as feedback.
 

fquails

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Wiim app for iOs now has 10 band EQ
 

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Jim Shaw

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Wiim app for iOs now has 10 band EQ
Yeah. With my Android, I get a selection of EQ filters, but I just set mine at 'flat.'

I was notified that one of my WiiMs was updated last night to 4.6.426049 (the other WiiM was unplugged). If I read it right, some changes have been made to the Amazon HD abilities. However, I think I read that, if you have more than one WiiM playing in a group, AmHD reverts to SD music quality. SD may be OK for supermarket music, but it is easily heard to be inferior to HD and ultraHD. Kind of iPod quality... lifeless.

As I recall, the update is a bit of a fix, because before now, if you had single user (maybe 'family plan' too?) Amazon HD, only one of the WiiMs in a group would play at a time (the top level one as seen in the WiiM app).

Again, that depends on how I read the release notes. They have unclear language. Does anyone here know enough to tell me if I got the above right? And does WiiM ever intend to make all Minis in a group play ultraHD from Amazon HD?

I'm glad that they continue to support the system, and I continue to find the WiiM to be a pivotal streaming value, eg: $100 vs $599 for the Bluesound Node for example.

Streaming just keeps getting more convenient. Many of my CDs and most of my LPs are gathering cobwebs...
 

Brantome

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The amazon music family plan isn’t needed for Alexa multi room music (MRM) playback - the individual 9.99 plan (or 8.99 if you’re a Prime customer) allows one /stream/ to one device or group of devices. The family plan is for up to six separate streams which can’t be synced.

Yeah, their wording is unclear, and might not be entirely accurate - for example, when I group my single WiiM with a handful of echos, the Alexa app shows that the music is playing at HD quality which is what I’d expect as that’s the lowest common denominator for the group ( the echos don’t support UHD). Unfortunately, the WiiM app doesn’t show any info about what quality it’s playing in that situation, but I suspect from the way alexa multi room works, it’s also playing HD. Plus I did have a few dropouts on the WiiM, which to be fair, I’ve also experienced playing it on its own.

However (and I may have mentioned this before), because Alexa multi room works on the basis of a single receiver sending the audio to other devices in the group, it may be that the WiiM is unable to take on that role in an Alexa group for AMHD. If the relevant amazon MRM doesn’t allow a third party device to take on that role, we might be stuck - if it does, maybe it’s something WiiM can fix in a future release.

It might be worth trying what I did and include a real echo in the MRM group (even a cheap 3rd gen Dot) and perhaps get at least HD on all the group members.
 

Brantome

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Actually, one of the benefits of including my echo show 15 in an MRM group with my WiiM is that it displayed the album art and lyrics…
 
D

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Mini Wifi/Bluetooth streamer. It is on kind loan from a member and is on sale on Amazon for US $89.

View attachment 200172

As you can see the former factor is a "hockey puck." An included phone charger needs to be used to power the unit over USB-C. It did not work so when I used my computer USB port.

Initial setup is by connecting using Bluetooth and the available App. I connected using BT but the Android app would not see it. I had to shut off BT and turn it back on for it to recognize it. While this is disappointing, I have had similar issues with other streamers. Once there, the app was reliable and gave me the option of configuring Toslink output for bit exact and its maximum sample rate which I appreciated. It also updated the device on first connection.

WiiM Mini Measurements
My first tests were using Aiplay 2.0 as initiated by my Roon player. As usual, Airplay itself becomes the bottleneck as we see with Toslink digital out:
View attachment 200173

Not sure if Airplay forced the sample rate to change to 48 kHz or the device did it. Using it with analog out we get:
View attachment 200174

While we are beating the company spec, performance is lackluster as is typically the case in this category of product. Noise performance is not great either:

View attachment 200175

There is however good news if you use the App and output over Toslink:

View attachment 200176

This is the best you can do with 24-bit dithered signal. At 141 dB, your limit then will be what your DAC can do as even state of the are units have a SINAD of 123 dB.

Using the same signal but now testing the analog output we get:
View attachment 200177

So just a hair better than using Airplay. The internal DAC as expected, is a mass market product than high performance.

Using the same for jitter we have:
View attachment 200178

Noise floor is fairly high which can hide a lot of sins.

Since my analyzer can't control streaming devices, these are all the tests I can reasonably run. I think we have a good picture though.

Edit: by request, here is the frequency response from the internal DAC:

View attachment 200372

Edit WiiM Mini ADC Analog In Measurements
Feeding the Mini analog input and capturing the same, gives this output:
View attachment 200375

Performance is dominated by distortion. Switching to Toslink out to eliminate effect of the DAC we basically get the same result:

View attachment 200376

So just like the DAC, this is a mass market ADC implementation. Good enough for common uses though but I would not route the clean output of any DAC through it.

Conclusions
If you use the App and Toslink output, you basically have a transparent wireless link to your stereo. Connect it to your favorite DAC and your performance will only be limited by the rest of your system. For me personally lack of Roon support is a big deal. I don't want to use their App to play or stream content. I hope the company looks at supporting Roon endpoint. Analog output of the unit is just OK.

Personally I can't recommend the WiiM Mini due to lack of support for Roon player. That aside, it is great to see bit exact digital output in a budget streamer allowing you to improve its performance to any level you want using your own DAC.

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Thanks for the review Amir! I just purchased this based off of the Toslink output being a good performer, and it does work really well.

It was funny, because when it first came on I was streaming Tidal and I thought it sounded horrible. It’s amazing the tricks that your mind plays on you when you first hook things up sometimes, especially things you didn’t pay a lot of money for. It wasn’t until I connected my smartphone to my DAC and switched back-and-forth between the two did I realize they both sounded exactly the same.
 
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Atanasi

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You would guess then that WiiM’s implementation of Amazon Music HD would fail Amazon’s certification which, given its public release, wouldn’t appear to be the case. Have you asked WiiM directly why they apparently don’t conform?
I got a response:
Your suggestion is very good, but there are some limitations to integrate Login With Amazon SDK into WiiM Mini. Now in order to support multiple products that obtain different Amazon Music configurations on WiiM Home app, Login With Amazon SDK is not compatible for us.
Otherwise, maybe we can only use Login With Amazon SDK for WiiM Mini and use Login with Companion Website for other products.
Best,
WiiM Support
 

ClassicGuy

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I got a response:

Your suggestion is very good, but there are some limitations to integrate Login With Amazon SDK into WiiM Mini. Now in order to support multiple products that obtain different Amazon Music configurations on WiiM Home app, Login With Amazon SDK is not compatible for us.
Otherwise, maybe we can only use Login With Amazon SDK for WiiM Mini and use Login with Companion Website for other products.
Best,
WiiM Support

Arylic has the same problem, as they seem to use the same technology as Wiim. That's why I never used Amazon Music on Arylic. Perhaps allowing Wiim Mini to login with Amazon SDK (breaking away from the other products) might be a good idea.
 
D

Deleted member 50971

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Does wiim support Apple Music?
I just asked Support about this, and this was their response;

Now we don't have permissions to integrate Apple Music into WiiM mini, we need get the permissions from Apple and we are working on that.
In the meantime, use AirPlay 2 to stream Apple Music from your Apple device (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV) to the WiiM Mini. Or, you can use Siri to voice control the Apple Music playback on WiiM Mini. If you have HomePod or HomePod Mini, you could group WiiM Mini with these devices for a multi-room music system.
 
D

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The WiiM streamer for a Tidal user is not yet an optimal solution. It’s convenient yes , but at price of sound quality.
a. I can’t get it to play 24 bit 192 on my topping e50 best I can get is 24 bit 96 even though e50 over optical is capable of 24/192
b. It does not sound as good as usb to Mac to e50 with full Mqa rendering
c. My post said it’s not yet worthy, once they allow Mqa pass through I’m sure it reaches the potential, but as of now it’s a compromise to sound quality for both roon and tidal users
I think people forgetting that this is $89? That’s roughly 10 trips to McDonald’s for one person (not that i eat there lol), or 20 trips to Starbucks if you’re me.

I just did an A/B test yesterday going from the Wiim toslink out to a topping d30 pro dac, and then I put my smartphone via USB into the same dac. Once they were level matched no one was going to be able to distinguish the difference. Try it and you’ll see what I mean, and if I thought I was giving up any sound quality I would send mine back to Amazon.

MQA support is supposed to be coming next month, they’re active talking with Apple Music about implementing their service also. vTuner ready, it’ll stream music you purchased off of your mobile device, Plus there’s quite a few other applications that it does.

I don’t use Roon so it’s not a problem for me, but I understand it would be better with it.

Before this I was using a HiBy dap USB to my DAC, now I could probably sell it, because it doesn’t sound any better than the Wiim. Personally I think it’s a great device, and what are you going to replace it with for under 100 bucks?! What about $200?

Did I mention customer service? They answered three questions in less than 12 hours for me.
 
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mediocrebutarrogant

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I think people forgetting that this is $89? That’s roughly 10 trips to McDonald’s for one person (not that i eat there lol), or 20 trips to Starbucks if you’re me.

I just did an A/B test yesterday going from the Wiim toslink out to a topping d30 pro dac, and then I put my smartphone via USB into the same dac. Once they were level matched no one was going to be able to distinguish the difference. Try it and you’ll see what I mean, and if I thought I was giving up any sound quality I would send mine back to Amazon.

MQA support is supposed to be coming next month, they’re active talking with Apple Music about implementing their service also. vTuner ready, it’ll stream your owner/downloaded music off your mobile device, Plus there’s quite a few other applications that it does.

I don’t use Roon so it’s not a problem for me, but I understand it would be better with it.

Before this I was using a HiBy dap USB to my DAC, now I could probably sell it, because it doesn’t sound any better than the Wiim. Personally I think it’s a great device, and what are you going to replace it with for under 100 bucks?! What about $200?

Did I mention customer service? They answered three questions in less than 12 hours for me.
My views were before latest firmware upgrade, I’m really enjoying the WiiM now that I learned to make it sing
 
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My views were before latest firmware upgrade, I’m really enjoying the WiiM now that I learned to make it sing
That’s great! I didn’t mean to single you out. I just think it’s a great little streamer, not only for the money, I think it would be a deal for twice that money. Although I was surprised at how small it was. Enjoy the rest of your day.
 

Chicagorob

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How are you guys setting the output level on the Mini? Any advantage/disadvantage to setting the fixed output to 1v or 2v, with regard to audio quality, noise, distortion, etc.?
 
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