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WiiM Ultra Streamer Preamp Review

Rate this streamer/DAC/Preamp:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

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

    Votes: 42 11.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 139 39.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 168 47.6%

  • Total voters
    353
I own one and I use it for various inputs. Amir didn't like the lack of volume display. The volume control briefly shows very large and on full display when using the remote or device dial (see pic). I absolutely love the auto sensing of inputs. I have it set up with an external Gustard DAC with balanced output to a Fosi amp and a headphone amp on the DAC unbalanced output.

I can stream Roon, JRiver, and TV with software volume control. I hooked up a Raspi 4 with a Allo hat to the coax input so as to add Airplay and Plex inputs. (Plex for the Ultra is in beta, but coming soon). Normally I use the VU meter for the display.

When I choose any input (Roon, JRiver DLNA, TV, Plex, My Mac with Sirius XM), the Ultra senses it and changes to that input.

There is a also simple room correction function and bass management. The WiiM tech support is outstanding. I've had a few bugs uncovered and the response is quick and top notch.




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I own one and I use it for various inputs. The volume control briefly shows on full display when using the remote or device dial (see pic). I absolutely love the auto sensing of inputs. I have it set up with an external Gustard DAC with balanced output to a Fosi amp and a headphone amp on the DAC unbalanced output.

I can stream Roon, JRiver, and TV with software volume control. I hooked up a Raspi 4 with a Allo hat to the coax input so as to add Airplay and Plex inputs. (Plex for the Ultra is in beta, but coming soon). Normally I use the VU meter for the display.

When I choose any input (Roon, JRiver DLNA, TV, Plex, My Mac with Sirius XM), the Ultra senses it and changes to that input.

There is a also simple room correction function and bass management. The WiiM tech support is outstanding. I've had a few bugs uncovered and the response is quick and top notch.




ayView attachment 395627
I don't really understand how to read you, if a "plus" is not enough for you, forgetting the small screen..(?)
;-)
 
I don't really understand how to read you, if a "plus" is not enough for you, forgetting the small screen..(?)
;-)
If you mean the WiiM pro plus, it doesn’t have an hdmi input nor bass management that the OP suggests are being used.
 
I love the Ultra screen on my desktop. Quick access to inputs and outputs is so much faster than going to my phone. Screen quality on downloaded album looks great.
 
If you mean the WiiM pro plus, it doesn’t have an hdmi input nor bass management that the OP suggests are being used.
I know well. but he doesn't refer to it... hence my question...
 
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My thoughts for Wiim's design committee:

They should be designing the 'Ultra' as a desktop and the 'Amp' as a 2.1 room system.

Ultra needs upgraded headphone and lose the ARC/phono. Add USB-C from desktop.

Amp should have the ARC and phono, not ultra.
 
Awesome little device. Room for small improvements here and there, sure, but can be omitted by the price.
 
Good features for the price, although I would never buy from a company with the business practices they have
 
There is a also simple room correction function and bass management.
I think these are very important features of the Ultra which were not really tested unfortunately.

The room correction feature allows automatic measurement and creation of correction filters with many PEQs that can be also be modified by the user.

I was able to connect my UMIK-1 via USB-C to my android phone (Pixel 8). The UMIK-1 was detected as measurement microphone by the WiiM App and allowed frequency measurements with the UMIK-1. Applying the calculated filters (only below 500 Hz) resulted in improved sound.

For me this a very sophisticated feature inside an already complete streaming device with good performance. I do not have to use REW anymore and can sell my tracks DSP processor.
 
Thanks for the review Amirm, it's fantastic to have this resource.

I must admit that, probably because of hype and a build up of expectation, I'm slightly underwhelmed and I'm not sure why. Huge amount of functionality, really very good performance and very (very) good value. Average headphone and phono performance but perhaps these are good enough for casual use. I marked it down a notch for not being SOTA, but I'm thinking that's not fair given the price and the uniformly decent performance and feature set.

I think I'm more negative about this than I was about the recently reviewed WiiM Amp Pro because I can see this being used in a 'bigger' system: external 'proper' Power Amp (edit: or active speakers), more 'serious' speakers than the uses I envision for the Amp. As such, somehow I expect better.

Reality check though; comprehensive inputs (including HDMI arc), room correction, PEQ (so manual adjustments to the RC), sub management (crossover, with timing management quite likely in a firmware update), transparent DAC and with a headphone amp and phono stage thrown in ... all for £350. How much would it cost to get the same functionality and quality with alternatives?

I wanted this to be better, in reality though it's probably more than good enough
 
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My thoughts for Wiim's design committee:

They should be designing the 'Ultra' as a desktop and the 'Amp' as a 2.1 room system.

Ultra needs upgraded headphone and lose the ARC/phono. Add USB-C from desktop.

Amp should have the ARC and phono, not ultra.
I disagree. The Ultra is ideal for people who find the Amp(pro) amplification inadequate either in performance or power output, or who have active speakers.
 
I own the silver version and love it so far. My main usage is making it easier to stream music from Spotify and my own Plex server without having to turn on my mini-PC and projector. Being able to control everything from my phone is awesome and it offers a great hub for friends to come over and connect to as well.

There was a stink about it not supporting Apple Airplay 2 and that seems to be either a hardware or a licensing issue but nothing I care about. I will never buy an Apple device and most of my friends and family are on Android anyway.

Plex isn't entirely there yet, but it's in Beta and there are weekly updates to the device.
  • Plex beta in the Wiim App works but lacks a lot of functionality of PlexAmp such as rating songs
  • Google Cast to the Wiim Ultra works great but doesn't show album art.
Hopefully it's being fixed in future updates.

The screen is not that useful in a living room environment, especially with me sitting 3 meters (~10') away from the 3.5 inch screen but I hope to offer some feedback for improvements on that part. More customization and different screens for different inputs would be nice.

It's hooked up to a Topping E50 DAC and sounds great in my setup, plus if you have any recording device such as a cassette deck or reel-to-reel the in- and outputs are a great addition. Shame about a lack of bit-perfect DSD playback but that simply doesn't work with room correction and having SACDs converted to 24-bit 88.2kHz PCM is a good alternative.

For €400 I'm very happy so far. And with all the feedback Wiim is getting from this device the next version is bound to have a lot of improvements again.

 
@Amir, thanks for the excellent review and happy that Ultra does most of the job at the expected level except few that you have highlighted.

Hope the shortcomings will be considered by WiiM Team and expect the next Streamer cum DAC as Ultra PRO in the next few months ;)
 
I don't really understand how to read you, if a "plus" is not enough for you, forgetting the small screen..(?)
;-)
You mean the external DAC? Originally I was going to sell my DAC and still may do it....but I don't think the Pro has USB out?
 
I disagree. The Ultra is ideal for people who find the Amp(pro) amplification inadequate either in performance or power output, or who have active speakers.

Sure. My suggestion doesn't preclude that, does it? The ultra has enough inputs you can add your own phono stage if you need.

The distinction might bring consumer clarity to the use-cases these units are designed to address. Right now they seem to want everything to be everything to everybody.
 
I dont want a pile of little of boxes so I'll being sticking with my Wiim Amp for now. But if there was a Wiim Amp - Ultra that would be interesting.
 
As I don't need sub out I still see the Wiim mini with optical out to your favorite DAC as the best performance option. For $89 it's a 3rd the cost and offers all I need. With that said, Moode on an RPI4 still offers a more stable DLNA interface with Audirvana. For some reason each Wiim build either fixes or breaks the DLNA UPnP controls on Audirvana while RPI4/Moode always works without issue. The only downside to RPI4 is the initial setup which can either work totally fine without issue on the first install attempt or requires lots of troubleshooting to get the Wifi to startup. Once Moode is setup it's the absolute best DLNA rock solid wifi interface for my RME ADI-2 DAC FS but it's going to cost $120 with all the parts shipped instead of $89 or less for the Wiim mini puck.


https://www.amazon.com/WiiM-Mini-Multiroom-Preamplifier-Assistants/dp/B09HC5GRKY
 
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