WiiM Mini Streamer

[morillon]

the mini is over a year old.
the subject of the peq is old, was in the roadmaps for months
but after a while there was an announcement from wiim that it could not be possible.. the wiim did not have enough memory etc..

for , 1 or 2 months ago, of a rather unofficial announcement possible peq 3 bands to come.. which accompanied the announcement considered a peq 10 on the pro...

 

[derek13]

In my use case, I can’t think of why I’d need the Pro over the Mini. I run it toslink to my Topping DX3 Pro+ for my headphones (Focal clear og). Would love to know the reasons why people are upgrading to the pro.

Two reasons:
A) My DAC is limited to 24/96 on Toslink but 24/192 on coax
B) I can directly link to LAN rather than use wifi

 

[Joffieb]

the mini is over a year old.
the subject of the peq is old, was in the roadmaps for months
but after a while there was an announcement from wiim that it could not be possible.. the wiim did not have enough memory etc..

for , 1 or 2 months ago, of a rather unofficial announcement possible peq 3 bands to come.. which accompanied the announcement considered a peq 10 on the pro...

The Mini can do 10 bands of normal EQ, PEQ is just choosing which frequencies. Hopefully this means the mini can manage 10.

 

[morillon]

no ...peq is not that ...
very different from the eq mode
find out
;-)

 

[Joffieb]

no ...peq is not that ...
very different from the eq mode
find out
;-)

The only difference is PEQ sets the slope. Otherwise, both set gain and frequency.

 

[morillon]

so easy
almost nothing indeed...

 

[onlyoneme]

The only difference is PEQ sets the slope. Otherwise, both set gain and frequency.

Just slope... Different filter types plus BW/Q to control it. Rather more complex than simple peak filters with fixed frequencies and bandwidths.

 

[Jpdelaney.tml]

On a side note, Has anyone checked for distortions using Wiim Mini’s volume control with external DAC? With and without EQ on? Just wondering if the 20 bits of S/N the DAC has would provide enough headroom for undistorted volume control use? What is the cost of using the Units volume control? Streaming Amazon Music mostly.

 

[Merifon]

On a side note, Has anyone checked for distortions using Wiim Mini’s volume control with external DAC? With and without EQ on? Just wondering if the 20 bits of S/N the DAC has would provide enough headroom for undistorted volume control use? What is the cost of using the Units volume control? Streaming Amazon Music mostly.

All tests I did were on external dac (SMSL DO100) and yes, with peaks near 0dB and EQ on, distortion starts.
To avoid it, set EQ off or if you need it, enable volume control and lower overall level by some step. From 100 (max) set to 96 for exemple.
Consider that with volume or EQ on, an internal resample take place, whilst setting to off both, the signal now remains untouched.

 

[Jpdelaney.tml]

Thank you for that answer. Seems a reasonable approach. Volumes control = no bit perfect always! Got it.

 

[Overseas]

Got mine today, very impressed with packaging and presentation. Not so impressed with the setup from scratch, it was a pain. Ok, the device is smart, I am not. Did firmware update, Tidal Connect works. Set it right at fixed volume output.
Then it was kind of fun, because E50 does not recognise the optical from Mini like E50 does with lots of other devices, Tvs etc unless it plays, not at the physical connection. On top of it, first connection from Mini somehow reset my E50 into preamp mode, never saw that.
After a few moves, optical got stuck to Mini, I finally took it off but am afraid to input it again.
But hey, I got it for the sound, right... Comparing to my existing Triangle Aio C, something is wrong with the sound, it does not sound right. Still comparing based on my playlist. No blind test, volume matching with phone app so scientifically I am screwed.

 

[onlyoneme]

Got mine today, very impressed with packaging and presentation. Not so impressed with the setup from scratch, it was a pain. Ok, the device is smart, I am not. Did firmware update, Tidal Connect works. Set it right at fixed volume output.
Then it was kind of fun, because E50 does not recognise the optical from Mini like E50 does with lots of other devices, Tvs etc unless it plays, not at the physical connection. On top of it, first connection from Mini somehow reset my E50 into preamp mode, never saw that.
After a few moves, optical got stuck to Mini, I finally took it off but am afraid to input it again.
But hey, I got it for the sound, right... Comparing to my existing Triangle Aio C, something is wrong with the sound, it does not sound right. Still comparing based on my playlist. No blind test, volume matching with phone app so scientifically I am screwed.

WiiM has a standby mode for toslink. You can disable it in the app settings.

 

[Bamyasi]

WiiM has a standby mode for toslink. You can disable it in the app settings.

Which does nothing as far as I can see. TOSLINK LED is still shut down instantaneously when device is not in playback mode, regardless of this setting. So whatever they mean by "standby" it is not related to the LED. I've submitted a dozen tickets to @WiiM Support complaining about this behavior but they seems to be reluctant to change it or just do not understand my explanation of why it can be disruptive at least in some hardware configurations. So I gave up since no one else seemed to be affected. @Overseas, you are welcome to submit your own ticket via WiiM Home feedback menu, maybe @WiiM Support will finally listen.

 

[onlyoneme]

Which does nothing as far as I can see. TOSLINK LED is still shut down instantaneously when device is not in playback mode, regardless of this setting. So whatever they mean by "standby" it is not related to the LED. I've submitted a dozen tickets to @WiiM Support complaining about this behavior but they seems to be reluctant to change it or just do not understand my explanation of why it can be disruptive at least in some hardware configurations. So I gave up since no one else seemed to be affected. @Overseas, you are welcome to submit your own ticket via WiiM Home feedback menu, maybe @WiiM Support will finally listen.

My experience differs here. Toslink output stays on accordingly with the standby setting when I pause the playback.

 

[Bamyasi]

My experience differs here. Toslink output stays on accordingly with the standby setting when I pause the playback.

Pause is definitely a playback mode in my book. Although WiiM used to shut down LED even when paused, they fixed it after my complaints.

Optimal behavior as I see it is how Chromecast Audio puck is programmed: its LED stays on as long as it is connected to a control app and while current track is playing, whichever ends first. It shuts down TOSLINK only if explicitly disconnected from control app or after a timeout communicating with it (in which case it also disconnects).

 

[onlyoneme]

Pause is definitely a playback mode in my book. Although WiiM used to shut down LED even when paused, they fixed it after my complaints.

Optimal behavior as I see it is how Chromecast Audio puck is programmed: its LED stays on as long as it is connected to a control app and while current track is playing, whichever ends first. It shuts down TOSLINK only if explicitly disconnected from control app or after a timeout communicating with it (in which case it also disconnects).

You've said
"So whatever they mean by "standby" it is not related to the LED."
but you know it's related to the LED and it works in pause mode.

Anyway I think I can see your point, standby mode is not fully implemented. Although Chromecast Audio example is simplified a bit as Mini is not tightly connected to the casting only scenario.

 

[rarewolf]

I’m interested in using the WiiM Mini to connect with a DLNA server, with its optical out connected to my DAC. Using it to connect seems straightforward—however, what kind of interface do you have after for choosing the music to play? That is, is the interface solely for file access and choosing from the existing file structure? Or, is an app supplied/available that builds a music “library” from the imbedded metadata? Or, does it offer an avenue to the music files that can be used by the likes of HibyMusic or …?

Does the Pro model offer better functionality in this regard (besides hard connected LAN)?

Please advise…

 

[Alan B]

I’m interested in using the WiiM Mini to connect with a DLNA server, with its optical out connected to my DAC. Using it to connect seems straightforward—however, what kind of interface do you have after for choosing the music to play? That is, is the interface solely for file access and choosing from the existing file structure? Or, is an app supplied/available that builds a music “library” from the imbedded metadata? Or, does it offer an avenue to the music files that can be used by the likes of HibyMusic or …?

Does the Pro model offer better functionality in this regard (besides hard connected LAN)?

Please advise…

I use Logitech Media Server. The WiiM app displays a simplified representation of this allowing me to search for artists, album, playlists and tracks.

 

[rarewolf]

I use Logitech Media Server. The WiiM app displays a simplified representation of this allowing me to search for artists, album, playlists and tracks.

Thanks Alan! Just so I understand… you’re using the Logitech Media Server software installed on Windows (rather than the Logitech Sqeezebox device), and using the WiiM app to access its file structure. Is the WiiM searching the metadata or just the file structure? Is there any app player (iOS or Android) that can build a library from metadata?

I shouldn’t be too concerned about building a library because my file structure is pretty well organized anyway (genre/artist/albums/tracks).

 

[Bamyasi]

You've said
"So whatever they mean by "standby" it is not related to the LED."
but you know it's related to the LED and it works in pause mode.

Anyway I think I can see your point, standby mode is not fully implemented. Although Chromecast Audio example is simplified a bit as Mini is not tightly connected to the casting only scenario.

Ok, I stand corrected here. What I was trying to say is that WiiM currently shuts down its LED regardless of the standby timeout selected in its settings. It does seem to also shut down the LED after the standby timeout period, which makes sense. But LED is also shut down in numerous other situations (e.g., when changing tracks) and the standby settings have absolutely no effect on this behavior.

I agree that CAA is not a perfect analogy but it is a good example of how I would like WiiM to manage its TOSLINK interface.