WiiM Ultra Streamer Preamp Review

[Burnside]

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.

I think that's the likely next model - an Amp Ultra if you will, marrying an Ultra with an Amp Pro with increased amplification as suggested by the two Amp models they mentioned last year for the custom installation market...

 

[Joachim Herbert]

Bought and returned this even before reading this review.

Voted "not terrible" because

- Unusable Headphone output
- Tiny and pretty useless display
- Analog inputs nothing to write home about
- Unknown behaviour of digital volume control*
- Haptics of control knob

Would have loved to see balanced and AES/EBU output.

Could not figure out how to use qobuz with the ultra. Have to admit I did not send a lot of time to investigate.

*Good enaugh to replace roon or Genelec volume control?

 

[Burnside]

Could not figure out how to use qobuz with the ultra. Have to admit I did not send a lot of time to investigate.

It surely didn't take a long time to log into the WiiM Home app and enter your Qobuz credentials? Or use ChromeCast from the Qobuz app (until such times that Qobuz finally release their Connect mechanism)?

Does this answer your digital volume control question? https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/...mprove-digital-volume-control.3063/post-47075

 

[JaccoW]

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 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.

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B/8GB

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

The main issue with the higher end raspberry pi models nowadays is that you can get an Intel N100 mini-pc for not much more and gain quite a bit more in performance.

Or put differently; when did Raspberry Pi become the villain?

 

[Dennis_FL]

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.

It's called the WiiM Amp Pro without the display but has a lot of the ultra goodies

 

[Sokel]

What I wanted to see is measuring it with EQ enabled down low.
I guess what we see is more than ok so far.
MAJOR deal breaker for me the scratchy knob feeling,that's lack of class.

Thanks Amir!

 

[Joachim Herbert]

It surely didn't take a long time to log into the WiiM Home app and enter your Qobuz credentials? Or use ChromeCast from the Qobuz app (until such times that Qobuz finally release their Connect mechanism)?

I obviously have not been smart enough to figure that out.

Does this answer your digital volume control question? https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/...mprove-digital-volume-control.3063/post-47075

Sort of, thank you for the link.

 

[somebodyelse]

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.

Your proposed removal of ARC and phono makes the product less suitable for some use cases, while not making it any better for the desktop use case you advocate. I don't see how that's an improvement.

 

[AdamG]

Are they paying you?

Just my personal opinion. I think this device will drive the competition prices downward and we all benefit.

 

[AdamG]

Are they not paying you?

I get my current salary doubled for each product I endorse…

Amir just adds a Zero to the end of my paycheck.

 

[Sylvia]

Thank you very much @amirm !!

 

[lowkeyoperations]

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

For my use case it is almost perfect.
Digital outs to my active speakers. Sub out. Room correction. Phono input. HDMI input. The only thing it’s missing for me is AirPlay.

The eversolo a6 is more than twice the cost. No sub out. No HDMI in. No phono. No room correction iirc.

The a8 is 5 times the price. No bass management when using the analogue outs connected to a sub.

 

[morillon]

Just my personal opinion. I think this device will drive the competition prices downward and we all benefit.

Niche products are generally more expensive, fewer customers, extra cost of the smallest series, case etc, especially in this kind of case...
what do you want to remove from the 'pinuts 'side to be produced out of the Chinoix workshop ;- )
we were entitled to “without the dac” etc
;-)

 

[Left]

Why does the noise shaping increase distortion and noise at low frequencies, especially given the high attenuation? Does it hit 0dB?

 

[Sokel]

Why does the noise shaping increase distortion and noise at low frequencies, especially given the high attenuation? Does it hit 0dB?

Because the calculation includes the noise and distortion for the whole selected bandwidth.

 

[Dennis_FL]

I know well. but he doesn't refer to it... hence my question...

It was in my last sentence.....

Note that with the external DAC the bass management is under development so I use the sub out from my amp for now.

 

[renoxd]

Is there any difference between playing with: volume level / volume cap / Vrms output? Everything is used to control the volume, right? Can changing one at the expense of another, positively or negatively affect quality?

 

[peng]

Now if they make one with real HDMI 2.2 i.e with bass management!! Just wonder why no one is doing it, at last in the under $500 to $1K price point.

 

[jbrown]

Looks like the 19-20k Intermodulation graph has been removed?

 

[Petevid]

It's called the WiiM Amp Pro without the display but has a lot of the ultra goodies

Wiim amp pro doesn't have a phono stage either.