WiiM Pro Streamer Review

[holbob]

Anyone else having a Mandela effect moment?????????

 

[somebodyelse]

An app can be discontinued, making the device obsolete.

The protocol is partly documented, and most of the rest has been reverse engineered, so there are 3rd party implementations like the HomeAssistant integration.

 

[Power Pop 23]

Thanks for the test Amir.

Does the WiiM Pro add that much vs the WiiM Mini? If we assume that in both cases we add a good external DAC to them?

Why WiiM Pro when the WiiM Pro Plus with a good built-in DAC is available?
(at an additional cost about what a good external DAC costs)

Mostly speculation on my part. Maybe the WiiM Pro fills a gap in the market?

The WiiM Pro adds connectivity not available on the WiiM Mini.

The WiiM Pro may fill a 'gap' in the WiiM product lineup but it was introduced before the WiiM Pro Plus.

 

[Berwhale]

I paid £105 for the Wiim Pro in October 2024 when the Wiim Mini was £89. I'm quite happy with the Pro, even if i'm only using it like a Mini (my Pro is at my bedside, connected to a Topping EX5 and fed with Spotify via wi-fi).

As far as I am aware, the Mini has a slower processor, does not have wired Ethernet and it does not support room correction (not sure if the is distinct from PEQ which I am using for headphone correction on the Pro).

 

[Power Pop 23]

An advantage of the $149 price of a WiiM Pro is it may leave room in a budget for buying and using a calibrated microphone to measure the listening space with WiiM's 'RoomFit' room correction feature.

I am disappointed ASR has not yet assessed the performance this room correction feature.

 

[DanielT]

I paid £105 for the Wiim Pro in October 2024 when the Wiim Mini was £89. I'm quite happy with the Pro, even if i'm only using it like a Mini (my Pro is at my bedside, connected to a Topping EX5 and fed with Spotify via wi-fi).

As far as I am aware, the Mini has a slower processor, does not have wired Ethernet and it does not support room correction (not sure if the is distinct from PEQ which I am using for headphone correction on the Pro).

WiiM Mini support room correction. It was one of, or the main reason why I bought a WiiM Mini this summer.
Plus it was super easy, plug and play, to use WiiM Mini's RoomFit with UMIK-1.
Just download the microphone calibration files, usb cable between tablet and microphone then turn it on and go.
(check if tablet / mobile phone supports it.)

I recommend using an external properly calibrated measurement microphone. The built-in mobile phone microphone is useless for FR sweeps.
For example, the annoyance with the 8 kHz peak with mobile/tablet microphones:

RoomFit Help Guide

Hi everyone, I'd like to use RoomFit for my 2-channel stereo system. Could you advise me on how to start adjusting RoomFit settings? Thanks.

forum.wiimhome.com

.....does not exist with a real calibrated dedicated measurement microphone. Plus more accurate results below 50 Hz and so on.
(then you can actually go all the way and use REW together with UMIK-1, but I'll leave that aspect aside)

 

[martin900]

Dominant second harmonic, can sound surprisingly well for the price.

 

[amper42]

I wouldn't recommend using Wiim for EQ when you have that function available on FLEX or your DAC.
The Wiim firmware is constantly in FLUX and I was never able to get it to work consistently with standard DLNA connections.

I replaced three Wiim mini with RPI4 and RPi5 units running Moode 10.3. They run flawlessly with DLNA streaming and can support music on an attached thumb drive. What's cool is it can be configured to simply start playing the moment you turn it on with no phone or computer required at startup.
In addition, all the music on the RPi4 can be seen on the Denon AVR as a DLNA streamer as well.

It's never been easier to configure a Raspberry Pi with Moode.

I never got this amazingly rich interface from the Wiim app. What's funny is RPI/Moode costs about the same as a Wiim mini but has many more options.

 

[ManuCV]

I wouldn't recommend using Wiim for EQ when you have that function available on FLEX or your DAC.
The Wiim firmware is constantly in FLUX and I was never able to get it to work consistently with standard DLNA connections.

I replaced three Wiim mini with RPI4 and RPi5 units running Moode 10.3. They run flawlessly with DLNA streaming and can support music on an attached thumb drive. What's cool is it can be configured to simply start playing the moment you turn it on with no phone or computer required at startup.
In addition, all the music on the RPi4 can be seen on the Denon AVR as a DLNA streamer as well.

It's never been easier to configure a Raspberry Pi with Moode.

View attachment 502392

I never got this amazingly rich interface from the Wiim app. What's funny is RPI/Moode costs about the same as a Wiim mini but has many more options.

View attachment 502395

...and the flexibility of installing another program like Volumio on another microSD card, with the same or even more functionalities. I was toying with the idea of getting a dedicated streamer but the Pi4 with Volumio is doing it all right.

 

[MediumRare]

What is out there to replace Chromecast Audio for bit-perfect WiFi? I’m running four of them (bought on EBay for $25-$50 each a few years ago) to handle a whole-house four x 2-channel system.

 

[Power Pop 23]

Sample size of 1,

A friend (of a friend) of limited means is routing the Tape Monitor I/O of his Harman Kardon 3390 receiver through the analog RCA I/O of a $149 WiiM Pro.

A switched outlet on the receiver powers the WiiM Pro.

The WiiM Pro give him access to streaming audio, an optical input for TV audio, and applies room correction to all sources.

Thank you WiiM!

 

[Michou]

Strange omissions in the review beyond the raw numbers:

It fails to mention the built-in Chromecast Audio support, the unusually comprehensive I/O for a device in this price class, or the pace and substance of the firmware upgrades, which are exemplary in the industry.

The app is mature, feature-rich, and includes room correction capabilities that are not a masterpiece but still very effective and not to be sniffed at.

Add to that fast, competent customer support and a feature set that continues to improve over time, and the WiiM Pro comes across as a very well-executed digital transport that is sonically competent and offers outstanding performance for its entry-level price tier, certainly not as limited or compromised as the review might suggest.

 

[SlowJim]

I genuinely thought the Wiim Pro Plus was just the Pro with a remote. Did not realize there was such a gap with the DAC, sounds like the Pro Plus is worth the extra few dollars.

 

[SlowJim]

Strange omission in the review beyond the raw numbers: no mention of the built-in Chromecast Audio support, the unusually comprehensive I/O for a device in this price class, or the pace and substance of the firmware updates.

The app is mature, responsive, and genuinely stable, which is more than can be said for many far more expensive streamers.

Add to that fast, competent customer support and a feature set that continues to improve over time, and the WiiM Pro comes across as a very well-executed, excellent-value digital transport that is also sonically competent, and certainly not as limited or compromised as the review might suggest.

"Level of connectivity is stunning at this price point" is literally the third sentence in the review...

 

[gamerpaddy]

@amirm can you check if that input channel delay gets worse at higher frequencies?
if so, right now at 1khz and 8° causes you to get 120° at 15khz and 180° at around 22.5khz.. thats exactly half of the 44.1khz sample rate.
as if they clocking the adc i2s line the wrong polarity, it usually waits for LRClk to be cycled before latching to the sampled data but it seems to use half of the previous sample and half of the current.
ive seen that exact same behaviour on a zoom h2n field recorder aswell, but on the output instead.

 

[IamJF]

Thanks for testing - I'm using one of these and am happy with the performance, but I only use the digital output. Will give a double check if I set to 24bit.

 

[Matias]

I am a proud owner of the WiiM Pro streamer into my DAC. Like that it is excellent.

But this is already a somewhat "old" product. Since then they addressed the DAC part with the Pro Plus variant and the Ultra later for those wanting to use the onboard DAC to a high resolution system.

Though I am still hoping WiiM come up with a balanced Ultra, either XLRs in a larger form factor, or TRS in the current form factor.

 

[capslock]

I wouldn't recommend using Wiim for EQ when you have that function available on FLEX or your DAC.
The Wiim firmware is constantly in FLUX and I was never able to get it to work consistently with standard DLNA connections.

I replaced three Wiim mini with RPI4 and RPi5 units running Moode 10.3. They run flawlessly with DLNA streaming and can support music on an attached thumb drive. What's cool is it can be configured to simply start playing the moment you turn it on with no phone or computer required at startup.
In addition, all the music on the RPi4 can be seen on the Denon AVR as a DLNA streamer as well.

It's never been easier to configure a Raspberry Pi with Moode.

View attachment 502392

I never got this amazingly rich interface from the Wiim app. What's funny is RPI/Moode costs about the same as a Wiim mini but has many more options.

View attachment 502395

Can Moode interface with the big streaming services, i.e. Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon Music (leaving out Spotify and Tidal on purpose)?

 

[ShadowFiend]

For me, it is a good product as it is the only product that offers reliable, certified airplay 1 & 2, chromecast, amazon music, spotify, roon in the same package for 150$. Ok, analog output is not good enough for today standard, but one can use better DAC with it though digital coax.

 

[capslock]

Strange omissions in the review beyond the raw numbers:

It fails to mention the built-in Chromecast Audio support, the unusually comprehensive I/O for a device in this price class, or the pace and substance of the firmware upgrades, which are exemplary in the industry.

The app is mature, feature-rich, and includes room correction capabilities that are not a masterpiece but still very effective and not to be sniffed at.

Add to that fast, competent customer support and a feature set that continues to improve over time, and the WiiM Pro comes across as a very well-executed digital transport that is sonically competent and offers outstanding performance for its entry-level price tier, certainly not as limited or compromised as the review might suggest.

Currently using the Wiim Amp (with an external DAC and amps). Chromecast is sort of unreliable with both Amazon music and Spotífy, i.e. level is low most of the time but not always, also often sounds very dull.

Amazon Music integration is poor. You can search and play from the Wiim app (rather than using the Amazon app and Chromecast) but this means you cannot add favorites, and playback stops after each song or album. You don't get the radio feature where Amazon selects music that it thinks is to your taste after the selected album has finished. I have discovered quite a few artists through this feature.

I wish they would release an updated Pro Plus, i.e. ES9039Q2M DAC, sub out (ideally stereo sub out), symmetric outputs