WiiM Pro Plus Streamer Review

[sotiridaf]

What is this """HD"""?

fixed

 

[antcollinet]

Its an opinion

Then as Morillon notes - you need to tell us what "HD" means in your post. I'll further add that whatever it is, your statement is objectively incorrect since the ouput of the Pro Plus already measures audibly perfect. The HD (whatever it is ) cannot be "more perfect"

 

[antcollinet]

fixed

Same thing applies - output of Ultra and Pro Plus both have levels of noise and distortion below audibility. They will deliver identical audio quality.

 

[sotiridaf]

Then as Morillon notes - you need to tell us what "HD" means in your post. I'll further add that whatever it is, your statement is objectively incorrect since the ouput of the Pro Plus already measures audibly perfect. The HD (whatever it is ) cannot be "more perfect"

The pre amp stage of ultra is different than the Pro+ , so you have difference in line ouput. And my ears when i do a blind test notice different in highs ,lows etc...

 

[sotiridaf]

Same thing applies - output of Ultra and Pro Plus both have levels of noise and distortion below audibility. They will deliver identical audio quality.

Nah , it doesn't happen. The pro+ is less analytical , less micro details ..

 

[antcollinet]

Nah , it doesn't happen. The pro+ is less analytical , less micro details ..

Probably less BS too.

 

[sotiridaf]

Probably less BS too.

What is ""BS";

 

[Argentum 05]

The pro+ is less analytical , less micro details ..

Is this reflected in any technical specifications, or is it confirmed by measurements?

 

[sotiridaf]

Is this reflected in any technical specifications, or is it confirmed by measurements?

By my ears.

 

[Purité Audio]

Therin lies the problem.
Keith

 

[staticV3]

The pre amp stage of ultra is different than the Pro+

What's different in the pre amp stage?

 

[Argentum 05]

By my ears.

I apologize for being so meticulous, but have you conducted a blind comparison of their DACs to confirm your subjective impression?

I'm asking because when I bought the WIIM PP, I thought it played FLAC files much better than my Yamaha CD N500 CD player. I heard it. But when I conducted a blind test, with instant switching, I couldn't tell which device was playing the sound.

Modern DACs have reached such a level of perfection that their differences are beyond the range of human hearing.

 

[sotiridaf]

I apologize for being so meticulous, but have you conducted a blind comparison of their DACs to confirm your subjective impression?

I'm asking because when I bought the WIIM PP, I thought it played FLAC files much better than my Yamaha CD N500 CD player. I heard it. But when I conducted a blind test, with instant switching, I couldn't tell which device was playing the sound.

Modern DACs have reached such a level of perfection that their differences are beyond the range of human hearing.

I have both of them , yes , i have done it and i have already placed it for sale (the Ultra one)

 

[Argentum 05]

I have both of them , yes , i have done it and i have already placed it for sale (the Ultra one)

I didn't quite understand, perhaps due to the imperfections of online translation, which model you ultimately left for yourself?

 

[Miguelón]

The line out of Ultra is much better than Pro plus as quality in sound. So if you use it to feed some active speakers choose the Ultra

Both are transparent, the Ultra have some extra dB in SINAD but I have serious doubts anyone can hear the difference.

I had the Pro and now I have the Ultra, with the same speakers: I just changed because the sub output.

Didn't notice any quality change, apart from the obvious due to the sub.

 

[Swann36]

I have set my eyes to the fosi audio box X5 to connect my TT to. Would Adding a wiim pro plus (via line in) help with room correction ? Are there other benefits ?

I’m a bit worried about adding to much to the chain. At this moment, my TT goes directly into the phono stage of my amplifier. Are there members who have their TT hooked up to the Wiim ?

On occasion I hook my TT up to a Wiim Pro Plus but only for casual listening so I can then stream throughout the house as I have 3 Wiims linked and for that it works well, I don’t do it for room corrections and when listening seriously I prefer the WiiM out of the set up, but I guess it depends on the kit one has to a degree

 

[oldchemist]

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.
View attachment 332704
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:
View attachment 332705

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:
View attachment 332706
This is excellent performance for the class, easily landing it in the Excellent category of all DACs tested:

View attachment 332707

View attachment 332708

Distortion was below threshold of hearing so noise dominated:
View attachment 332709
There is a broad sequence of tones at very low amplitude are visible in our jitter test:
View attachment 332710
Levels are below -130 dB though so not remotely audible.

The default filter is provided which is fine by me:
View attachment 332711

IMD and noise are very good:
View attachment 332714

Linearity is perfect:
View attachment 332715

There is however some rise in distortion with decreasing frequency:
View attachment 332716
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:
View attachment 332712

And now with EQ on:

View attachment 332713

As you see, it has no impact.

WiiM Pro Plus Analog Input Measurements
Here is the performance with analog in and out:
View attachment 332717
Predictably, we don't have a high performance implementation as far as distortion. Noise while fluctuating some in the dashboard, was good by itself:
View attachment 332718

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:
View attachment 332720

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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Thanks for the coverage of this device. Mine has served well as a desktop Streamer/DAC. However I do pass streaming signal through it to my main listening room amp, via toslink in and out. Documentation of the performance/degradation of that toslink pass-through might be enlightening...just saying....Thanks again...

 

[antcollinet]

Thanks for the coverage of this device. Mine has served well as a desktop Streamer/DAC. However I do pass streaming signal through it to my main listening room amp, via toslink in and out. Documentation of the performance/degradation of that toslink pass-through might be enlightening...just saying....Thanks again...

It's a digital connection - it will either be perfect, or you will hear pops/clicks/dropouts. If you are not hearing anything like that, then it is operating without degradation.

 

[audioje]

Tinkering after tinkering, I just bought one more Wiim Pro Plus... My old Pioneer AVR in my living room becomes very spotty when I play anything through wifi (I'm being nice to say "spotty" as it usually just doesn't work anymore). Thought about so many different options including using my current Wiim PP with the AVR and buying a set of new shiny things like a transport (like Fosi S3 lite) and dac... I know one day I would eventually do it but not today... Wiim PP is just so boring good anyway.

 

[jdjung]

Honestly Wiim devices are just so polished and easy to use. I have an Ultra, Sub, Two Pro Plus and a Mini. I can control them all from my amp, they're Roon Ready, have Tidal and they just work.