WiiM Mini Streamer

[Merifon]

These are just very initial impressions and I could be wrong but certainly the bass just seems to lose that slight bit of punch.

Did you setup to make instantly switch from two sources, in sync and without delay and assured to use the very same editions?
Last year, in some "obsessive compulsive" moments I did those comparisons between AMU and qobuz, then AMU vs tidal hifi.
AM was trhoug wiim and toslink, the others used an iPhone 6s hooked via USB on same dac.
I got the general impression that AM and Qobuz mainly shared same files and not got such differences, while Tidal's mqa processed files, were somehow different in a slightly way (mainly worst) . Files born in 44.1 16bit and left untouched by mqa, did not show particularly differences.
It was just my impression, that made the choice, matter of apps user experience (and price)...

 

[Witterings]

Did you setup to make instantly switch from two sources, in sync and without delay and assured to use the very same editions?
Last year, in some "obsessive compulsive" moments I did those comparisons between AMU and qobuz, then AMU vs tidal hifi.
AM was trhoug wiim and toslink, the others used an iPhone 6s hooked via USB on same dac.
I got the general impression that AM and Qobuz mainly shared same files and not got such differences, while Tidal's mqa processed files, were somehow different in a slightly way (mainly worst) . Files born in 44.1 16bit and left untouched by mqa, did not show particularly differences.
It was just my impression, that made the choice, matter of apps user experience (and price)...

I had Amazon streaming to the WiiM via one optical in and then streamed Qobuz to both the onboard Chromecast on my Amp but also to a Chromecast Audio using optical in to a second input, found the same tracks on each service and set them to be playing at the exact same point so all I had to do was switch inouts on teh amp to get an immediate comparison.

After I posted my findings on here I googled Amazon vs Qobuz Sound Quality and went through forums looking to see what they said and it was virtually unanimous that many found exactly the same .... just as a matter of interest I googled Amazon vs Tidal and it's seems the majority favour Tidal.

For me, if there was Qobuz Connect I think it'd definitely be worthwhile switching (I probably understated the difference in my post) but for me at the moment there's not enough options to be able to conveniently stream Qobuz.
I can't do it with my old tablet (would need to buy a new one) and can't see Chromecast via the Qobuz App for PC's (although I thought I could the other night) and the WiiM Apps horrible for finding / cataloging music.

 

[Turambar]

I have been casting Amazon HD to the WiiM for a long time now, as well as navigating Qobuz inside the WiiM app, with zero problems to find music, and the same subjective performance to my ears.

 

[amper42]

I had Amazon streaming to the WiiM via one optical in and then streamed Qobuz to both the onboard Chromecast on my Amp but also to a Chromecast Audio using optical in to a second input, found the same tracks on each service and set them to be playing at the exact same point so all I had to do was switch inouts on teh amp to get an immediate comparison.

After I posted my findings on here I googled Amazon vs Qobuz Sound Quality and went through forums looking to see what they said and it was virtually unanimous that many found exactly the same .... just as a matter of interest I googled Amazon vs Tidal and it's seems the majority favour Tidal.

For me, if there was Qobuz Connect I think it'd definitely be worthwhile switching (I probably understated the difference in my post) but for me at the moment there's not enough options to be able to conveniently stream Qobuz.
I can't do it with my old tablet (would need to buy a new one) and can't see Chromecast via the Qobuz App for PC's (although I thought I could the other night) and the WiiM Apps horrible for finding / cataloging music.

I would agree the Wiim app is a poor choice for building a music library. I enjoy Audirvana for that as it's able to easily play both my Qobuz favorites and ripped CDs. A great sounding app that makes both options (Local CD/Qobuz) easy to access is the feature I look for. The Wiim app will do in a pinch but it's not my favorite for exploring music and doesn't support local CDs within the Wiim Home app. I use the Wiim app for multi-room playback or when the limited iPad/phone interface in enough, but I definitely prefer the wonderful full screen MacBook Pro playback options available with Audirvana for most listening sessions. I also use screen sharing for critical listening where a MBP running Qobuz is connected to the RME ADI-2 via USB and I control it remotely via screen sharing with another Mac. Pretty easy to do and it eliminates the 192khz limitation of the Wiim.

 

[Merifon]

Pretty easy to do and it eliminates the 192khz limitation of the Wiim

Agree with "easy" but I'm curious about when 192khz becames a limit...

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I have been casting Amazon HD to the WiiM for a long time now, as well as navigating Qobuz inside the WiiM app, with zero problems to find music, and the same subjective performance to my ears.

How do you cast from Amazon app to wiim?
Thanx

 

[Brantome]

How do you cast from Amazon app to wiim?
Thanx

You link to Alexa in the Wiim app - Amazon Music casting is called AlexaCast. Once you do that, your WiiM device will appear in the Amazon Music app as a casting target, just as if it were an Amazon echo (or MRM group)

 

[Ken Tajalli]

You link to Alexa in the Wiim app - Amazon Music casting is called AlexaCast. Once you do that, your WiiM device will appear in the Amazon Music app as a casting target, just as if it were an Amazon echo (or MRM group)

Never worked for me. Alexa has been dumb for me so far.
I thought maybe there was another way, not Alexa.
At any rates, I got my system to work without wiim and alexa, thank you.
Soon there will be a wiim mini on sale, here or maybe ebay.
It has been too much work.

 

[Pep2020]

My mini just reported that the latest upgrade now supports the wiim voice remote. Any idea if this can be bought separately? Can't see it on Amazon UK.

 

[Brantome]

Never worked for me. Alexa has been dumb for me so far.
I thought maybe there was another way, not Alexa.
At any rates, I got my system to work without wiim and alexa, thank you.
Soon there will be a wiim mini on sale, here or maybe ebay.
It has been too much work.

To be fair, AlexaCast isn’t available in all regions, I should have said. Sounds like you may be in one where it isn’t supported.

Edit: just saw you are from London. I’m in the U.K. and setting up amazon music casting is as simple as logging in to your Amazon account under the Alexa tab in the WiiM home app.

 

[Brantome]

My mini just reported that the latest upgrade now supports the wiim voice remote. Any idea if this can be bought separately? Can't see it on Amazon UK.

It’s currently only available in the USA. That’s where I ordered mine from for around £28 all in for delivery to the U.K. It arrives next week.

 

[Witterings]

It’s currently only available in the USA. That’s where I ordered mine from for around £28 all in for delivery to the U.K. It arrives next week.

Don't know what happened to them being delivered to the UK / available from 9th /10th January .. I think we just got the shit end of the stick and our supply got divereted elsewhere and buyers in the UK should remember we don't actually matter to them ... they were available in the US in December.

Sorry ... just realised you were talking about the remote rather than the Pro .... if we get treated the same here with that as the Pro it might be available in August 2024.

In case you hadn't realised I'm getting REALLY pissed off with them, I keep getting cutouts and reported an issue, they e-mailed my saying I was connected to 2.4g maybe I should consider 5g .... I've attached a screenshot of my network status which confirms they're completely incompetent OR their software is so full of bugs, error reports mean absolutely nothing as it's giving them completely inaccurate information.

Their e-mail copied and pasted here in case anyone disbelieves me:

Thanks very much for your feedback and sorry for the inconvenience caused!
The Amazon Music bugs are very critical, our engineers will check with this issue immediately and find the root cause. Did you play Amazon Music HD from Amazon Music app when the cutting out issue was happening on Lounge device?
And your Lounge is connected to the 2.4G network(Kitchen 2.4GHz) and please try to connect it to 5GHz network and it will improve smooth playback.
Best,
WiiM Support

I've said it before, this could me an amazing product but at the moment it comes from the same town as Noddy and Big Ears.

 

[morillon]

small upgrade of wiin home android...
arrived from bbc radios...
(just we don't know the format of mzny of them, I imagine compressed, which is just announced at 48k16 like my icecast 192k aac radios..not clear*)
and
"remote"
;-)
*only those in mp3 128k are specified
all and more is in vtuner in 128k...etc

there is still in many cases such as radio streams, a lack of basic information on incoming streams, bit rate and format..
and does not evolve over the months...
access to metadata is one of the obvious poles of possible progress, in a maximum of circumstances, of wiim home

 

[Ken Tajalli]

Below works in Windows.
I needed to stream a live source to wiim mini, which was connected to my DAC. I couldn't do it!
I know wiim app can stream Amazon etc. to wiim mini, but I needed more. I am a Jriver user and its DSP use is a must for me.
Jriver could play local files to wiim mini, apply DSP along the way, but when it came to sending a LIVE source, it couldn't.
By live source, I mean any source that is being routed through it (yes, you can route any audio to jriver, which acts as virtual audio device).
So @Brantome suggested "Stream what you hear" or SWYH to me. Thank you.
SWYH is a neat free app, that manages to do just that! But I couldn't make it work with wiim mini! Damn.
To cut the long story short:
- I no longer use the wiim mini.
- The easiest and most stable method I have found is to use an Android device (old or not-being-used phone), install Neutron media player on it, and set it to act as DLNA endpoint. Hook up your DAC to it. Neutron recognizes and makes a direct connection to Hires DACs. You need an OTG cable.
- Run SWYH on your laptop, set it to 24bit and FLAC stream. Send to Neutron, which shows up under SWYH.
- You can now send Hires material to Neutron, which it would send to your DAC.
- If you have a live source, eg music streaming from a website, radio stations, use a free app called VB-cable.
VB-cable is a virtual sound card/cable that shows up in sound devices. Output to VB-cable and use the same VB-cable as input for SWYH, it works. If you need to use DSP, I use Jriver. Basically Live source > Jriver, apply DSP > VB-cable as output for Jriver > VB-cable as input for SWYH.
- BTW, Jriver can happily send hires to Neutron direct, but ONLY local files.
- Even my phone, having also a Neutron player installed, can stream to the rendering Neutron.
So instead of Wiim, use a cheap old Android device.
BTW, Neutron is pretty powerful in its own right! it has a fully flexible parametric EQ. You could set it up with EQ settings for your system (speakers, room) and it would apply them on the fly to incoming music.

If you have an HTPC, you could install Jriver on it, and set it as endpoint. But Jriver as an end point, sometimes crashes, atleast with SWYH.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Fun with Allmusic --> Deezer --> Wiim via a Chrome Extension. Why do I need Roon, again?

 

[thibodeaux]

Fun with Allmusic --> Deezer --> Wiim via a Chrome Extension. Why do I need Roon, again?

View attachment 270297

Can you provide more details on this chrome extension?

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Can you provide more details on this chrome extension?

Thread 'WiiM Viewer Chrome Extension'
https://wiim.community.forum/threads/wiim-viewer-chrome-extension.441/

 

[thibodeaux]

Thread 'WiiM Viewer Chrome Extension'
https://wiim.community.forum/threads/wiim-viewer-chrome-extension.441/

Thank you sir!

 

[Gallowaystx]

Don't know what happened to them being delivered to the UK / available from 9th /10th January .. I think we just got the shit end of the stick and our supply got divereted elsewhere and buyers in the UK should remember we don't actually matter to them ... they were available in the US in December.

Sorry ... just realised you were talking about the remote rather than the Pro .... if we get treated the same here with that as the Pro it might be available in August 2024.

In case you hadn't realised I'm getting REALLY pissed off with them, I keep getting cutouts and reported an issue, they e-mailed my saying I was connected to 2.4g maybe I should consider 5g .... I've attached a screenshot of my network status which confirms they're completely incompetent OR their software is so full of bugs, error reports mean absolutely nothing as it's giving them completely inaccurate information.

Their e-mail copied and pasted here in case anyone disbelieves me:

Thanks very much for your feedback and sorry for the inconvenience caused!
The Amazon Music bugs are very critical, our engineers will check with this issue immediately and find the root cause. Did you play Amazon Music HD from Amazon Music app when the cutting out issue was happening on Lounge device?
And your Lounge is connected to the 2.4G network(Kitchen 2.4GHz) and please try to connect it to 5GHz network and it will improve smooth playback.
Best,
WiiM Support

I've said it before, this could me an amazing product but at the moment it comes from the same town as Noddy and Big Ears.

I was having a similar issue with Amazon hd unlimited streaming on wiim mini. It was driving me crazy and it was basically unusable.

I blew up wiim support to no avail. In the end I discovered that my mesh router was the cause (velop Linksys). Made a change to a setting in there and all was solved

 

[CauliflowerEars]

Am I concluding correctly:
Q1. Since the Topping D10s DAC has only one input (USB), which is also its power source, it is NOT possible to connect the Wiim Mini streamer into the DAC?
And the alternative closest in terms of price and sound quality would be Topping E30?

Q2. Alternatively, I could keep the Topping D10s DAC and maybe buy a different streamer? Would Chromecast Audio work?
Or maybe could you recommend a good sounding DAC+Streamer 2in1 device? +/- in the 240 USD / 225 EUR price range.

[to stream the music through WiFi from a laptop/iPhone/iPad into a Streamer, then send the signal into a DAC, then amp]
Would be grateful for any inputs (and great sounding outputs ), as those more technical things are starting to get a bit more complex, to enjoy the music.