Well, I'm not too bothered about it. But you mentioned usb to be the "correct" way and I thought let's test it! On the Wiim forum results are varying because of the used DACs, not all usb conections are up to date or implemented the same, and/ or the Ultra must be in fixed volume, no EQ for every bit to be extracted. The latter is a bit weird to me because that's not about the sampling rate.
Neat!For a good-looking, matching Hypex companion poweramp:
The IOM Ultra is special designed for the Wiim® Ultra
The IOM Ultra is a high-end stereo power amplifier. It's housed in a compact full aluminium chassis with trigger on/off control.internetofmusic.nl
forum.wiimhome.com
page not found - it's movedReserved for @AdamG to kindly post the specs.
Manufacturer Specifications: (Due to the complexity and sheer amount of functionality and features of a modern Music Streamer/DAC. A link to the manufacturer’s website is the only reasonable method to present the full specifications for this type of device. Providing a link is for the convenience of our readers and does not indicate any type or form of endorsement or commercial entanglement. As non exits.)
WiiM Ultra
Looks Good, Sounds Great: The WiiM Ultra redefines your audio experience with its sleek aluminum design and premium components. This all-in-one music streamer boasts a ESS ES9038 Q2M DAC, a vibrant 3.5” touchscreen, state-of-the-art Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. Engineered for...shop.wiimhome.com
www.wiimhome.com
Well, maybe it helps somebody else. I bought It and measured it. In my case (active EQ and Crossover for Subs) I measured the delay of the Ultra with approx. 58,4 ms. So way to long to integrate it in a HT-setup.
The eARC input works fine and audio is perfectly in sync with video. Although maybe that’s because I’m using an Apple TV 4K as my streamer and I ran the 4K’s audio/video sync calibration though.
I should have added: I measured analog in (from AV preamp as source ) to analog out of the WIIM Ultra.
So we wonder how much of the delay was the ADC stage, since the line in is converted to digital before processing back out.
It is impossible to tell 100% for sure as the manufacturer has not said; however, all content that is PCM of 192KHz/24-bit or lower is fed full sample rate and resolution to external DACs if connected as such, regardless of DSP functions in use. Anything DSD or PCM higher than 192/24 (such as DXD) gets re/downsampled down to 192/24.
Edit: sorry, I reread your reply. Interesting, so 192 is digitally outputted even if processing is on? Hmm. Interesting
Right, there is always a possibility that it is re-upsampling the music back to the original sample rate and bit depth after processing, although that seems odd.
OK, thanks. I ask because I'm fairly new to 2 channel preamps (more home theater multichannel in the past). It amazes me that people buy hi res music when it's not fully known whether their equipment will play full fidelity. In the AV receiver space Trinnov can process at full 192, a few others process at 96kHz, and most consumer receivers are 48kHz.
I can tell you that, for example, a track that is 88KHz/24-bit or 96KHz/24-bit on Qobuz, that is the bit depth and sample rate that the WiiM sends to my DAC (currently Topping E70 Velvet, but have a Geshelli JNOG3 arriving on Monday, and a pair of double Sparkos SS2950 op-amps already on hand and waiting for the DAC to arrive), even though I am using both, EQ/room correction and bass management. This leads me to believe that the WiiM is able to perform everything at up to 192/24, hence why songs don’t get resampled. That also happens to make sense considering the DAC chips themselves in the WiiM are capable of more than 192/24, yet that’s the max resolution of the WiiM, regardless of which DAC (internal or external) is being used.
You can find this out very easily by applying a frequency sweep up to 100kHz and measuring the output. My NAD M33, for example, reaches 192kHz post-processing when DL is activated, which is the exception rather than the rule. Let's see how the DL implementation of the Bluesound Nodes handles this in the future.
Agreed, transparency can be achieved with quite low sample rates. It's just nice to know if I buy high res music, will it be downsampled before processing. I think as a consumer, I should have the right to know this.
I wouldn’t be overly concerned. My previous streamer was full bit-perfect for all sources, but lacked room correction and bass management. The WiiM sounded just as good before I even turned on bass management or room correction when I first got it and swapped it right in, despite not sending DSD natively to the DAC, and downsampling everything DXD down to 192/24. It then became no contest once I tuned up bass management and room correction—the system sounds significantly better than ever before bass management (high-pass filtering the KEF LS50 Meta loudspeakers significantly reduces low frequency distortion at higher playback volumes) or room correction which makes up for room effect problems in my setup.
