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WiiM Ultra... Am I missing something?

holbob said:
That's harsh, I hope nobody who's previously said that reads your comment.

The real deal with the Ultra (other than peq, streamer, dac, xover) is the inclusion of eARC. This makes it able to be added into a true audiophile hifi setup in a family lounge, and means all the devices can be controlled with just the TV remote, including volume control. Good for the peq/sinad obsessives such as us, good for the kids and the wife. I'll be dropping Dirac for the Ultra.
Click to expand...

I believe it is ARC instead of eARC. My TV remote does not control the volume on the Ultra.
 
Brian Hall said:
I believe it is ARC instead of eARC. My TV remote does not control the volume on the Ultra.
Click to expand...
I believe HDMI eARC should not be needed for volume control. HDMI ARC with HDMI CEC enabled should be sufficient, right?
In my understanding the main benefit of eARC over ARC is higher bandwidth, which is not really needed for stereo.

EDIT: Though I understand HDMI CEC compatibility between devices can be problematic. :confused:
 
dominikz said:
I believe HDMI eARC should not be needed for volume control. HDMI ARC with HDMI CEC enabled should be sufficient, right?
In my understanding the main benefit of eARC over ARC is higher bandwidth, which is not really needed for stereo.

EDIT: Though I understand HDMI CEC compatibility between devices can be problematic. :confused:
Click to expand...

You win this month’s prize for massive understatement.

Whenever I see ‘ARC’ or ‘eARC’ I think “Hopefully I can avoid using this.”

I’d be much happier with HDMI in and out (pass through). If I were using this with a TV, I’d use the optical out.
 
I only scrolled thru this thread so please forgive me if I ask questions already answered. I have read mixed answers about the USB input on the Ultra.. question is, Can the USB actually be used as an output to Dac?

And if the Ultra is hooked to TV can the volume be controlled with TV remote? (Firestick remote) I was under the impression this would be an eArc function yet I've read conflicting things about the Ultra.

I ordered one as a digital hub that hopefully the wife will find easier to navigate (TV stereo & streaming)

Thanks
 
OldManMatt said:
I only scrolled thru this thread so please forgive me if I ask questions already answered. I have read mixed answers about the USB input on the Ultra.. question is, Can the USB actually be used as an output to Dac?
Click to expand...

The USB port on the Ultra supports both USB media (but not USB Audio In) and USB Audio Out to a DAC/amp. Indeed it can support both at the same time using a small USB hub - I use that to play tracks from an attached USB SSD out via USB into my amp.

OldManMatt said:
And if the Ultra is hooked to TV can the volume be controlled with TV remote? (Firestick remote) I was under the impression this would be an eArc function yet I've read conflicting things about the Ultra.
Click to expand...

The Ultra does require to be connected to an HDMI ARC (not necessarily eARC) port on your TV and uses HDMI CEC to control the volume of the Ultra, so your TV remote should work ok. However, HDMI ARC and CEC implementations can vary from TV manufacturer to manufacturer and probably even model to model. However, if you have an issue with it, you can raise a ticket to WiiM and they’ll investigate any issue and try to resolve it.
 
Last edited:
The Wiim Ultra is absolutely ideal for use with a pair of active speakers and a power sub in a 2.1 configuration. What I really appreciate is the fact that it has HDMI ARC for TV integration. Furthermore I noticed that the Ultra has Analogue stereo in and Digital Optical in interfaces. For those that are on the Sonos eco system, one could use the Sonos Port and connect it to the Wiim Ultra in two ways:-

1. From the stereo analogue line out from the Port (RCA) to the stereo analogue line in on the Ultra (RCA).
2. From the digital coax out from the Port to the digital optical in on the Ultra using a digital coax to optical converter.

The Wiim Ultra could then be configured for auto signal sensing between TV and audio sources.

My question is; which one of the 2 listed options would let me control the volume from within the Sonos App?

The alternative would be to use the Wiim app in the TV room or use the native Apple Music App and stream via AirPlay.

Does the Wiim Ultra have the ability to play music that is stored on a USB stick or USB hard drive?

If the Wiim Ultra is hard-wired into a domestic LAN, is it capable of recognising a NAS drive on the network and accessing music files from it?

Please Note: Sonos Amp is not an option as I'm not interested in an amp even though it has HDMI ARC. Sonos Port does not have HDMI ARC.
 
Brantome said:
In its current form, the Ultra doesn't support Airplay
Click to expand...

I thought it did, thank you for pointing that out. Hence, my question in regards to using a Sonos Port as a music source device for those that are subscribed to Apple Music and are already on the Sonos eco-system.

It would not make sense playing the music from within the Sonos app an controlling the volume from within the Wiim amp.
 
Does the USB-A port on the back of the WiiM Ultra allow the device to play audio files from an external SSD or HDD? If so, what file types does it support? FLAC? WavePak? DSF? ALAC? WAV? AIFF? APE? If you're like me and you don't listen to 'radio' very much, but you do enjoy having a the equivalent of a wall full of CDs, DVD-As and SACDs on an itty-bitty drive, does the WiiM Ultra provide a good value for that kind of use?
 
rongon said:
Does the USB-A port on the back of the WiiM Ultra allow the device to play audio files from an external SSD or HDD? If so, what file types does it support? FLAC? WavePak? DSF? ALAC? WAV? AIFF? APE? If you're like me and you don't listen to 'radio' very much, but you do enjoy having a the equivalent of a wall full of CDs, DVD-As and SACDs on an itty-bitty drive, does the WiiM Ultra provide a good value for that kind of use?
Click to expand...
Yes you can playback files from an attached HDD or SSD. It provides, in my opinion, fantastic value for that kind of use.
It can also act as a server and share those files with other Wiim/DLNA devices.
 
I'm using a Raspberry Pi as a 'headless player' with Moode Audio to do that now, but this WiiM Ultra looks like more of a true turnkey solution. I count that as a very good thing.

How easy is it to get something like Pandora to play through this WiiM Ultra? I know on my RPi I'd have to use AirPlay or some other means of casting from the Pandora webpage loaded on a smartphone or PC to the RPi, which is not ideal for some users.
 
rongon said:
I'm using a Raspberry Pi as a 'headless player' with Moode Audio to do that now, but this WiiM Ultra looks like more of a true turnkey solution. I count that as a very good thing.

How easy is it to get something like Pandora to play through this WiiM Ultra? I know on my RPi I'd have to use AirPlay or some other means of casting from the Pandora webpage loaded on a smartphone or PC to the RPi, which is not ideal for some users.
Click to expand...
Wiim app has native Pandora support.
 
@Brian Hall I noticed on another thread you mentioned the IEMs you own, can I ask which over/on ear headphones you are using, if any? I know you previously mentioned the Ultra has enough power for all your 'phones, but was just wondering.
 
Hi,
is Room Correction supported on Android now perhaps?
I own a couple of Android phones and I am realy counting on RC feature on Ultra
no iphone though
 
tomasso said:
Hi,
is Room Correction supported on Android now perhaps?
I own a couple of Android phones and I am realy counting on RC feature on Ultra
no iphone though
Click to expand...

You can. It's not great.
 
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