WiiM pro soundquality as a digital transport and the digital volume control quality when listening to music

[Tangband]

Having a bad cold recently almost made me stop listening to music , but from today I have this streamer at my home .
It weighs almost nothing and the power supply is a very small 5 volt charger .

I like the look of this unit - it looks like a grown up Apple TV .

I can already say that Wi-Fi on my unit was below par, it was a really bad experience .
I had to reboot the player three times and it made my entire Wi-Fi system much slower , until it eventually shut down completely and it didnt recover until I pulled out the power cord from the WiiM . In comparison, my Apple TV 4k and Yamaha wxc50 is perfectly behaving using wifi .

Almost noone writes about this, but before you buy this product - you should know you might get some issues using wifi.

So, this afternoon I bought a homeplug for ethernet cable using the internet through the electrical sockets in my flat . This worked much better than expected and the WiiM pro turned out to be entirely bug-free, fast and very reliable . This was really a night and day experience . I was impressed.

To be continued…

 

[JLGF1]

No wifi issues on my three.

(mesh network)

 

[Tangband]

No wifi issues on my three.

Good for you . Im comparing it to my Apple tv4K Wi-Fi and my WiiM was terrible .

 

[GXAlan]

Good for you . Im comparing it to my Apple tv4K Wi-Fi and my WiiM was terrible .

No issues for me with my WiiM Pro streaming music, but the Apple TV is a whole different level of WiFi quality.

WiiM Pro is 802.11ac (WiFi 5) 1x1.
Apple TV 4K is 802.11ax (WiFi 6) 2x1 MIMO.

Besides superior theoretical peak speed on the 802.11ax, the newer tech is also better for congestion and you actually get superior real world resiliency and throughput.

 

[Tangband]

No issues for me with my WiiM Pro streaming music, but the Apple TV is a whole different level of WiFi quality.

WiiM Pro is 802.11ac (WiFi 5) 1x1.
Apple TV 4K is 802.11ax (WiFi 6) 2x1 MIMO.

Besides superior theoretical peak speed on the 802.11ax, the newer tech is also better for congestion and you actually get superior real world resiliency and throughput.

This might explain a lot .

 

[JLGF1]

I can already say that Wi-Fi on this unit is below par , it was a really bad experience .

Of course, here we have two users that WiiM stream music fine with ac and one who doesn't. Perhaps we need to collect more stats?

Maybe you mean your specific unit and not in general.

 

[Tangband]

Of course, here we have two users that WiiM stream music fine with ac and one who doesn't. Perhaps we need to collect more stats?

Maybe you mean your specific unit and not in general.

I can only write about my experience with my unit , correct .

 

[ppataki]

Hi @Tangband Can you please confirm if there is a PEQ on the Wiim Pro and if yes what are its parameters? (like how many bands per channel, what are the min/max dB values, min/max Q values, etc.)
I could not find a reliable source to properly confirm those details yet
Many thanks

 

[JLGF1]

Can you please confirm if there is a PEQ on the Wiim Pro

As of this week there is PEQ on the minis. LS,HS, two PK (total four). So, the Pro would have at least that.

 

[Tangband]

Hi @Tangband Can you please confirm if there is a PEQ on the Wiim Pro and if yes what are its parameters? (like how many bands per channel, what are the min/max dB values, min/max Q values, etc.)
I could not find a reliable source to properly confirm those details yet
Many thanks

Here is the peq meny in my WiiM pro.
As you can see - much better abilities to do room correction with variable peq than with the eq function .
I cant comment yet on the soundquality using the eq and peq - I need to listen carefully first.
I dont have high hopes though - even the very expensive Linn ds streamers are not fully transparent in the soundquality when using this function. As usual - most important is always correct installation of the two speakers in the room - then comes room treatment and after this, if its needed, roomcorrection.

 

[ppataki]

Thank you @JLGF1 and @Tangband
That is actually not really useful for correcting a room.....(would need way more bands....)

 

[Tangband]

Thank you @JLGF1 and @Tangband
That is actually not really useful for correcting a room.....(would need way more bands....)

One could always correct only the fundamental room resonanses ( resonanses between two parallell walls or between roof-floor ) in a normal size room , they are all below 80 Hz. And do some mild shelving.

That said, I wouldnt do it if the sound is slightly less transparent overall with the peq function set to ”on”. It will take extensive listening sessions to judge that. I think WiiM has fixed the former issues with the eq function and maybe its the same with the peq ?

 

[blueone]

This might explain a lot .

It explains nothing. Music streaming is at most (for 24/192 samples) approximately 10Mb/sec. WiFi 802.11ac is at least 800Mb/sec at full signal strength. If you're using AirPlay, and I suspect you are, the sample rate is only 16/44, so the data rate will be about 1.5Mb/sec. I also don't understand how it's technically possible for a WiiM Pro functioning as a receiving endpoint to make your entire WiFi network slower. I own a WiiM Pro, and for operating as an AirPlay access point over WiFi 802.11ac with digital output to an external DAC it works flawlessly.

 

[Tangband]

Some words about using the WiiM pro together with an Apple 4k HDR streamer . You can AirPlay the sound from the Apple TV to the WiiM when watching movies and use the Apple TV:s remote control to regulate the digital spdif volume from the WiiM. Very handy. I have tried this for some hours and it works without glitches and there is no disturbing lagging in my system. The lipsync is perfect with my Samsung tv.

This is an almost perfect solution If you only got two speakers in your system and want to combine movie watching with music streaming . You only get 256 Kbit/s for the movie sound this way though. This way to use airplay was also functioning very well with my Yamaha wxc50 streamer. The AirPlay 2 is always 44.1 kHz even when watching movies , so there is some conversion from the broadcast standard 48 KHz to 44,1 kHz done in the Apple TV when using AirPlay 2. This is in my opinion done in a rather good way . To get the native 48 KHz from movies, one can use optical out from the tv to the optical input on the WiiM pro. And yes, you can still regulate the spdif volume on the WiiM pro to a separate dac using the WiiM home app.

 

[Tangband]

Have been testing the PEQ function - I dont hear any worsening of the sound when its on or off ( all settings to flat when testing this ) and thats a very good thing ! .

This means that I can swap my passive linelevel baffle step correction at 600 Hz and go digital instead, meaning a shelving about + 3 , with Q=3 from 600 Hz and downwards . This made my overall soundquality slightly better than before, more dynamic and clearer .

It looks like this with my Markaudio speakers:

On the WiiM forum, they have recently tested the SINAD of the PEQ and they seems to have improved it !
Looks like real 24 bit resolution ?

Read more here :

PEQ Beta - Testing Experience

Please use this thread only to discuss your personal experience with the testing of the PEQ feature and the beta firmware you requested. This thread should not replace submitting tickets as that route provides WiiM support with the necessary device and app logs to diagnose and hopefully fix any...

forum.wiimhome.com

..and here:

8/31

A new 4.8.528649 FW for the Plus with declared squeezelite support. Although my LMS cannot see my upgraded Plus.

forum.wiimhome.com

This is a real sensation if you ask me .

 

[ppataki]

This is a real sensation if you ask me .

Hi @Tangband is your source a computer?
If yes you could try Dirac Live 3 (14 days free trial) - you will be blown away how your CHN110 speakers will sound....it will be a game changer, believe me
I have been using very heavy DSP correction on all my full range systems and the difference is literally day and night

If you prefer a free solution, using REW is a viable alternative too (then you will need a software EQ or a convolver engine to apply the correction)

 

[Tangband]

Hi @Tangband is your source a computer?
If yes you could try Dirac Live 3 (14 days free trial) - you will be blown away how your CHN110 speakers will sound....it will be a game changer, believe me
I have been using very heavy DSP correction on all my full range systems and the difference is literally day and night

Yes, when I listen to high res or lossless i use my Mac, Apple Music and a DDC with spdif to the WiiM pro- or the Mac directly to my Rega dac R . Watching tv I use mostly airplay. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Homard]

Having a bad cold recently almost made me stop listening to music , but from today I have this streamer at my home .
It weighs almost nothing and the power supply is a very small 5 volt charger .

I like the look of this unit - it looks like a grown up Apple TV .

I can already say that Wi-Fi on my unit was below par, it was a really bad experience .
I had to reboot the player three times and it made my entire Wi-Fi system much slower , until it eventually shut down completely and it didnt recover until I pulled out the power cord from the WiiM . In comparison, my Apple TV 4k and Yamaha wxc50 is perfectly behaving using wifi .

Almost noone writes about this, but before you buy this product - you should know you might get some issues using wifi.

So, this afternoon I bought a homeplug for ethernet cable using the internet through the electrical sockets in my flat . This worked much better than expected and the WiiM pro turned out to be entirely bug-free, fast and very reliable . This was really a night and day experience . I was impressed.

To be continued…

View attachment 315702

I had a similar problem with the wifi connection. I installed an inexpensive wifi extender in an adjacent room and the problem was resolved.

 

[boz]

Some words about using the WiiM pro together with an Apple 4k HDR streamer . You can AirPlay the sound from the Apple TV to the WiiM when watching movies and use the Apple TV:s remote control to regulate the digital spdif volume from the WiiM. Very handy. I have tried this for some hours and it works without glitches and there is no disturbing lagging in my system.

This is exactly how I have been using my appletv 4k + wiim mini for a long time. The most surprising thing to me was that you can't control volume using Apple Remote if it's going through Apple TV -> HDMI -> TV -> Optical out to WiiM. This is the most frustrating bit as you need to switch the audio manually on the Apple TV after you switch on every time, it always defaults to hdmi output via the TV. Would be great if Apple allowed it to have streaming audio as default, or some way to control the volume while using the Apple Remote through HDMI. I don't want extra remote or use the WiM app just to turn volume up or down when playing through HDMI in 2023!

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Of course, here we have two users that WiiM stream music fine with ac and one who doesn't. Perhaps we need to collect more stats?

Maybe you mean your specific unit and not in general.

Another useful test would be to get a mobile app that tests wifi signal strength. There are a bunch of them and all I've tried are reliable. I currently use a freebie called Network Analyzer on Android. Measure as close to the streamer as practical. You want signal strengths at or above -60dBm. In the 50s is definitely good for most any audio use. Since the WiiM has a wireless AC adapter, it should work with a wireless AX source. It won't benefit from the AX features not included in AC but speed, bandwidth, and reliability should be fine as long as there's adequate signal strength.