WiiM Mini Review (Streamer)

[imral3]

Change of topic, lol! AMHD user here and it's been a while since I've had a chance to listen to music. I've been through all the settings and for some reason can't get the AMHD music app to display their resolution tags (HD, UHD). Playing directly in the wiim app clearly shows the tag and bit rate info accordingly. I've checked, double checked and triple checked the Amazon music and Alexa settings in the wiim app but can't seem to get it going. Am I missing something? Is there a known issue I missed while I was away?
Thx!

 

[Greenman]

RIght - but let's look at a real world use case.


You set your amp volume/gain so that with the WIIM at full output you get the maximum volume you will ever want to listen to at your listening position. Lets say that is around 90dbA (More than that and you are risking your hearing).

Now listen to the quiet section between songs. Assuming a decent DAC, the noise floor is going to be down at least 100dB (-120dB for a good DAC). Your DAC noise floor is therefore at -10dbA (10 dB below human hearing capability and 40dB below an average listening room noise floor). You really can't hear this.

In this scenario you can turn your volume down digitally as much as you like - -40dB - -80dB - doesn't matter, you still can't hear the noise.

Based on a typical room noise floor of 30dbA you could have a DAC40dB worse SNR than the one I've proposed above - or an Amp with 40dB more gain than you want so needing to start with the DAC at -40dB - and you still don't have a significant problem.

If that’s the use case then you are probably ok.

If however you are trying to control a power amp directly and do away with a preamp, then the full range 100% signal would produce a volume massively louder than you would ever consider (typical for power amp gain) along with the noise floor, so now to listen at reasonable volume you have to apply say 50+db digital attenuation. So here you are getting the noise floor of an amp at full chat but listening at normal levels….definitely audible.

 

[antcollinet]

If that’s the use case then you are probably ok.

If however you are trying to control a power amp directly and do away with a preamp, then the full range 100% signal would produce a volume massively louder than you would ever consider (typical for power amp gain) along with the noise floor, so now to listen at reasonable volume you have to apply say 50+db digital attenuation. So here you are getting the noise floor of an amp at full chat but listening at normal levels….definitely audible.

Perhaps for a high power power amp you might have an issue. Anthing with variable gain on, or a volume control, will be fine.

Even amps with up to 30dB gain will be fine in most cases (remember that 40dB headroom I mentioned for the typical listening environment)

If you get it set up, and the amp gain is such that noise is audible, the simple solution is passive attenuators on the amp input to bring down the input levels resistively to the 90dB or so output, then again control the volume from the DAC.

 

[MiniZilla]

Hi,

I bought two WiiM Mini's recently. It's been touch and go getting it to work with Amazon Alexa / Music. I've had situations where music would play in two rooms and on the wrong WiiM Mini device. I think I figured out why. There are Audio streams listed in the Alexa app and if you click on a stream playing in a certain room you can override which device it is played on. But the stream will still list the original playing device as the player, even though it is now playing on another device. This causes confusion.

I do have another issue now. I finally got a speaker group with one WiiM Mini and an Echo Dot to play Amazon Music via Alexa. But when I change the volume button on the WiiM Mini it only changes the volume on the speakers connected to the WiiM Mini. It does not change the volume of the Echo Dot. So it keeps on playing unaffected. If I press the pause button it also does not pause the music playing. Sometimes that does work though, but I think only when the WiiM Mini is playing by itself. When I stream music via Airplay to the WiiM Mini sitting next to the Echo Dot I can control the volume and the pause button functions. But then the Echo Dot is not playing along with the WiiM Mini's speakers.

Can the WiiM Mini case buttons control a speaker group in Alexa?

 

[Brantome]

Hi,

I bought two WiiM Mini's recently. It's been touch and go getting it to work with Amazon Alexa / Music. I've had situations where music would play in two rooms and on the wrong WiiM Mini device. I think I figured out why. There are Audio streams listed in the Alexa app and if you click on a stream playing in a certain room you can override which device it is played on. But the stream will still list the original playing device as the player, even though it is now playing on another device. This causes confusion.

I do have another issue now. I finally got a speaker group with one WiiM Mini and an Echo Dot to play Amazon Music via Alexa. But when I change the volume button on the WiiM Mini it only changes the volume on the speakers connected to the WiiM Mini. It does not change the volume of the Echo Dot. So it keeps on playing unaffected. If I press the pause button it also does not pause the music playing. Sometimes that does work though, but I think only when the WiiM Mini is playing by itself. When I stream music via Airplay to the WiiM Mini sitting next to the Echo Dot I can control the volume and the pause button functions. But then the Echo Dot is not playing along with the WiiM Mini's speakers.

Can the WiiM Mini case buttons control a speaker group in Alexa?

I wouldn’t think so given that even if you tried the same with two echos, each echo’s volume hardware control would only change its own volume. Use the Alexa app if you want to do that, or ask Alexa to change the group volume

 

[MiniZilla]

I wouldn’t think so given that even if you tried the same with two echos, each echo’s volume hardware control would only change its own volume. Use the Alexa app if you want to do that, or ask Alexa to change the group volume

Ok thanks. Now I feel like an idiot because I told my wife just to use the case buttons to pause or change the volume. She kept pressing but nothing happened. But if we say "Alexa play music on WiiM Mini" then of course you can change it. The buttons are very convenient because it can take time to tell Alexa to change the volume. And sometimes she has to do it quickly when a work phone call comes in. I might just disable the Echo Dot speakers then. The speakers connected to the WiiM Mini via Optical are Definitive Incline Desktop speakers. They are better than the little Echo Dot speakers. But I did not mind having the Echo Dot also contribute to the sound via a speaker group.

 

[MiniZilla]

I wouldn’t think so given that even if you tried the same with two echos, each echo’s volume hardware control would only change its own volume. Use the Alexa app if you want to do that, or ask Alexa to change the group volume

Edit: I just tested this via Airplay and it partially works. I have another room with:
WiiM Mini connected to two Definitive Speakers via Line-Out.
Sonos Beam Gen 2 with Two Era 100 speakers and a Mini-Sub.

I start a Pandora Stream on my iPhone and then stream the audio to both the WiiM and Sonos via Airplay. When I pause the music on the WiiM Mini case button it pauses the entire audio group. The music goes silent. But I can only change the volume of the WiiM Mini with the case volume buttons. But that's better than nothing. Would be nice if the WiiM buttons can change volume and play/pause.

 

[Jimbob54]

Suspect this is a firmware issue- but recently when playing some high res (seems to only be 24/192) Amazon / Alexa music over Toslink, something causes my Mini to s**t itself, cease playing and (I think) reboot, or at least become non functioning for a time. Usually mid song so its not an absolute refusal to play the content.

As a temp fix I have set max SPDIF to 24/96 on the Mini.

Anyone else notices similar? Not sure when the last firmware update was and I listen on shuffle so not sure how much 24/192 content I might have listened to since the last FW update

 

[amper42]

When my Wiim mini fails to work reliably after a firmware upgrade I go back to using my RPI4 and it never has an issue with Audirvana and Qobuz. Just got a notice from the Pi.shop that they have the RPI4 back in stock for $55. Who knows how long they will last.

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B/4GB

American Raspberry Pi Shop. One stop shop for all your Pi needs. Raspberry Pi add-ons, HATs, accessories, Starter Kit, Media Center kit, RetroPi Arcade kit, Ultimate Kit, and many other project kits. PiShop.us is approved Raspberry Pi re-seller and carries all official Raspberry Pi boards and...

www.pishop.us

 

[adam2434]

Suspect this is a firmware issue- but recently when playing some high res (seems to only be 24/192) Amazon / Alexa music over Toslink, something causes my Mini to s**t itself, cease playing and (I think) reboot, or at least become non functioning for a time. Usually mid song so its not an absolute refusal to play the content.

As a temp fix I have set max SPDIF to 24/96 on the Mini.

Anyone else notices similar? Not sure when the last firmware update was and I listen on shuffle so not sure how much 24/192 content I might have listened to since the last FW update

I had the following issue a couple days ago.

192 kHz content from Amazon caused my DAC's display to intermittently flash 192 kHz, but no sound was output. It's was like my DAC could not get a lock on the bitstream. I also set the Mini to 96 kHz as a temporary fix.

I plan to try another DAC and optical cable to troubleshoot.

 

[RichT]

Is there a possibility your WiFi router (or speed) acts up?

Well it used to work great with the same router. I was out of town and got home, saw the update and not it wont play any music from any source. Bummer, thanks

 

[BiggusJSmiddus]

Hi, I’ve got a bit of a naive question here. If I connect this unit to a pair of powered speakers via RCA, will I be able to use the volume up/down buttons on my iPhone either within Spotify if using Spotify connect, or if using airplay?

I’ve got some old studio monitors which I’m going to setup in my outdoor area and want an easy way to stream + control volume - rather than relying on a physical line level attenuator.

Thanks

 

[magchiel]

Don't know for Airplay, but for Spotify connect, that's how it works on the pro plus. At least on that model you can also limit the max volume to prevent mishabs (less disastrous on active speakers).

 

[Merifon]

Hi, I’ve got a bit of a naive question here. If I connect this unit to a pair of powered speakers via RCA, will I be able to use the volume up/down buttons on my iPhone either within Spotify if using Spotify connect, or if using airplay?

I’ve got some old studio monitors which I’m going to setup in my outdoor area and want an easy way to stream + control volume - rather than relying on a physical line level attenuator.

Thanks

Yes, as soon you disable "fixed volume", you can control volume from WiiM app, on any kind of connection.

 

[Jdo143]

Sound quality bad with Smsl su1

I have issues with my setup. It is connected to smsl su1 using pandora and a VPN the sound is unclear like slightly distorted or if it was overpowered. When advertising is played the voices are not clear as well.

I am using toslink 24/192

I replaced the WiiM already once. Is it really that bad ?

 

[Brantome]

Sound quality bad with Smsl su1

I have issues with my setup. It is connected to smsl su1 using pandora and a VPN the sound is unclear like slightly distorted or if it was overpowered. When advertising is played the voices are not clear as well.

I am using toslink 24/192

I replaced the WiiM already once. Is it really that bad ?

Given that your DAC is responsible for producing the “sound” when you’re feeding it a bit perfect signal from the WiiM over digital, have you tried another DAC?

 

[Jdo143]

Given that your DAC is responsible for producing the “sound” when you’re feeding it a bit perfect signal from the WiiM over digital, have you tried another DAC?

I switched the DAC I switched the WiiM - always distorted sound. Could it be the music source (WiFi) or the Quality of the music. Maybe the amp ? The cables ? I am at losses how to debug this situation!?

 

[Jimbob54]

Sound quality bad with Smsl su1

I have issues with my setup. It is connected to smsl su1 using pandora and a VPN the sound is unclear like slightly distorted or if it was overpowered. When advertising is played the voices are not clear as well.

I am using toslink 24/192

I replaced the WiiM already once. Is it really that bad ?

Set the output to 24/48 and see what happens.

 

[Glades]

Sound quality bad with Smsl su1

I have issues with my setup. It is connected to smsl su1 using pandora and a VPN the sound is unclear like slightly distorted or if it was overpowered. When advertising is played the voices are not clear as well.

I am using toslink 24/192

I replaced the WiiM already once. Is it really that bad ?

Most likely it isn't the WiiM. A long shot, some while ago I posted an issue with the SU1 RCA connectors, dropping sound at the lightest touch of the cables. There was a bad connector inside. I suggest you check out the RCA cable and connectors first (wiggle the cable a bit). Next you can check the WiiM by using its internal DAC, but you need a 3.5mm to RCA cable. I believe in a monday morning WiiM, but not in your case (the second one) and same issues. Like the other comment, and if possible ofcourse, use another seperate DAC for tests.

 

[Glades]

I switched the DAC I switched the WiiM - always distorted sound. Could it be the music source (WiFi) or the Quality of the music. Maybe the amp ? The cables ? I am at losses how to debug this situation!?

My comment crossed yours, sorry.