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WiiM Pro Plus Streamer Review

Rate this streamer/DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 4 1.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 4 1.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 65 17.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 303 80.6%

  • Total voters
    376

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Pro Plus streamer, DAC and preamplifier with Bluetooth support. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $219.
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast roon pramp review.jpg

While the case is plastic, it still "looks the part" as the Brits would say relative to other more famous brands of streamers. I was pleasantly surprised to see support for analog input:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast roon pramp back panel toslink in out review.jpg


There is both Toslink in and out and even trigger support (for automation/turning on downstream devices). As usual, you need to download an App to get access to full set of functionality. Upon running said app, I was once again pleasantly surprised in it instantly finding the streamer. It asked me if I wanted to upgrade and I said yes. It took about 6 minutes which was rather long but otherwise worked smoothly.

Note that my version is the "Plus" which has a much more performant DAC and retails for more money as a result.

Upon power cycle I went to my Roon player to see if it sees the device but it did not! I could swear I was told it now had Roon support. Searching online showed that it should be there but nope. Power cycle did nothing. FAQ did nothing. Searching on WiiM site did not inform. Searched again and landed on a thread on Roon forum where it said the *Plus* version is yet to be certified. And that it is the standard WiiM Pro that is already there. What a mess. I put most of the blame on Roon for their slow process here but from WiiM front, I would have liked to see a notation in documentation/app saying support is not there yet.

Fortunately Chromecast is supported which gives the same high resolution, bit-exact streaming as Roon endpoing does so I did my streaming tests with that.

One key feature of this streamer is support for both Graphic and Parametric EQ. Latter is limited to 4 bands but that is good enough to do major good for both speaker/headphone response and even room EQ.

WiiM Pro Plus Measurements
Here is our dashboard with Roon pushing bits over Chromecast protocol to Wiim Pro Plus:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast measurement.png

This is excellent performance for the class, easily landing it in the Excellent category of all DACs tested:

Best streamer review high resolution.png


Best streamer review zoomed high resolution.png


Distortion was below threshold of hearing so noise dominated:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast dynamic range measurement.png

There is a broad sequence of tones at very low amplitude are visible in our jitter test:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Jitter measurement.png

Levels are below -130 dB though so not remotely audible.

The default filter is provided which is fine by me:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast DAC Filter measurement.png


IMD and noise are very good:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Toslink In IMD distortion measurement.png


Linearity is perfect:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Toslink In Linearity measurement.png


There is however some rise in distortion with decreasing frequency:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Toslink In THD+N vs frequency measurement.png

Edit: looks like there is an improved version that came out to address this last month. My sample is a few months old.

WiiM Pro Plus Equalization Measurement
You all keep asking me about impact of equalization on performance of products with it. So I decided to turn on EQ but leave the four filters at gain of zero (so frequency response is not changed). Here is Toslink input with EQ defeated:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Toslink In measurement.png


And now with EQ on:

WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Toslink In with Parametric EQ measurement.png


As you see, it has no impact.

WiiM Pro Plus Analog Input Measurements
Here is the performance with analog in and out:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Analog In measurement.png

Predictably, we don't have a high performance implementation as far as distortion. Noise while fluctuating some in the dashboard, was good by itself:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast Analog In SNR measurement.png


You have selectable sample rate for analog input which is a nice feature. I set it to max (has no impact on above measurements) and got nice, wide bandwidth:
WiiM Pro Plus streamer airplay wifi chromecast analog in frequency response measurement.png


Conclusions
The WiiM Pro Plus is extremely capable streamer with just the right feature set of DAC, EQ and analog input. Plus version nicely ups the performance by a good mile, essentially matching that of our low cost DACs in $100 to $120 range. But then it adds analog input which has no analog in DACs, pun intended. Software shows impressive depth and capability. Other than Roon support not yet being there, I can't critique anything.

I am happy to add WiiM Pro Plus streamer to my recommended list.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:
Quick question but do you think there is a difference in performance between the Pro and Pro Plus if you intend to keep everything in the digital domain? I plan to connect TV -> Wiim Pro or Pro Plus -> Genelec G3330 with a combination of optical and SPDIF to AES/EBU cables. I have no intent to use the analogue inputs/outputs. Just trying to figure out if the price difference is worth it if there is no fundamental difference in performance or functionality.

In a related question, would the Bluesound Nodes have comparable performance if everything is kept in the digital domain? I know the Bluesound Node is apparently fine if fed to an external DAC, I would assume the hardware within the Genelec G3330 would do most of the lifting in this case?
 
Thanks for the review, Amir!

Here's some useful links:

Manual:

Release notes:
 
Great work, @amirm ! I won't comment on the product itself, I already did ad nauseam. Just glad to have another third-party verification with my own, with the addition of (p?)EQ impact on SINAD.

Quick question but do you think there is a difference in performance between the Pro and Pro Plus if you intend to keep everything in the digital domain?
This has been answered thousands of times: NO.
 
Can anyone confirm this has 4-band Parametric EQ?
Filter Type: Includes high-pass, low-pass, peak (PK), notch, high-shelf (HS), and low-shelf (LS).

1UJrB18uqpWlqGaaR_0b1UGo7gD3rLplGw.png

image source
It does. Each can be any type you want.
 
@amirm Thank you for the review. I just read your review of the WIIM Mini streamer. I assume the excellent performance of the Toslink (SINAD of 141 dB) out of the WIIM Pro Plus is comparable?
Yes. I trust both will output bit exact that way.
 
Quick question but do you think there is a difference in performance between the Pro and Pro Plus if you intend to keep everything in the digital domain? I plan to connect TV -> Wiim Pro or Pro Plus -> Genelec G3330 with a combination of optical and SPDIF to AES/EBU cables. I have no intent to use the analogue inputs/outputs. Just trying to figure out if the price difference is worth it if there is no fundamental difference in performance or functionality.

In a related question, would the Bluesound Nodes have comparable performance if everything is kept in the digital domain? I know the Bluesound Node is apparently fine if fed to an external DAC, I would assume the hardware within the Genelec G3330 would do most of the lifting in this case?
The two devices are identical but for the DAC. If you are using external Dacs in your genelecs, then there is no point getting the Plus.
 
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