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WiiM Ultra

staticV3 said:
The sound will stay the same, but with ARC you can control volume using your TV remote, which is handy.


Automatic room correction works on Android as well, and you can even plug your UMIK into your Android phone for this.

However, WiiM's room correction algorithm still needs some improvement, so if you know how to do it manually using REW, that is preferred.

Also, please use english on ASR :D
Click to expand...
Thank you. I don't use the TV remote. The TV is quite old and the smart works slowly in it. I don't want to change the TV because it is 3D, and sometimes, nostalgically, I rewatch "Avatar" on it :) I control everything with the remote from the Xiaomi TV Stick 4K. So, for my purposes, the Wiim Pro Plus is quite suitable. The language was an accident. I copied the text from the wrong window in Google Translate. Thanks again.
 
BSerg said:
Thank you. I don't use the TV remote. The TV is quite old and the smart works slowly in it. I don't want to change the TV because it is 3D, and sometimes, nostalgically, I rewatch "Avatar" on it :) I control everything with the remote from the Xiaomi TV Stick 4K. So, for my purposes, the Wiim Pro Plus is quite suitable. The language was an accident. I copied the text from the wrong window in Google Translate. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
My Roku Ultra controls TV on/off and volume. Much easier than the TV remote. I currently don’t have ARC. Just optical.
 
Abdo said:
Please excuse my lack of knowledge, but what would it be like to use REW on the Wiim Ultra. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Could you please be more precise?

Shorty said:
@staticV3 ”…with ARC you can control volume using your TV remote, which is handy.”
If I’m not mistaken and unless this was rectified with an update, this would only have been possible with ‘eARC’, no?
Click to expand...
No. HDMI CEC is compatible with both ARC and eARC.

See WiiM's FAQ section:
faq.wiimhome.com

WiiM Ultra Questions & Answers

We're excited see all the interest in our next product -- WiiM Ultra. You can find the full specs on our forum post. TABLE OF CONTENTS Hardware Features/Software Display Music Services/Formats Availability How Tos What's included ...
faq.wiimhome.com faq.wiimhome.com
 
A quick note on screen size /utility. My Ultra sits in a system in my lounge so the whole family has access. Sure, you can't see detail from across the room - but if you are a bit closer it gives you details about what is playing at a glance.
More importantly, with 12 presets easily put in place you can quickly swipe across to that list on the screen and make a selection without having to get out a phone or tablet. That is something my family is finding very useful. There are a few radio stations and playlists that are often chosen by my family and this has them up and running with a minimum of fuss.
Might not be worth it for others, but has been good for my use case.
I also think it looks nice.
 
Last edited:
Latest update dropped this morning and adds Plex (beta) support on Android. Finally playback with all the data on screen.
No possibility to change track ratings as far as I can tell and no control from the native app while playing back on the Wiim but it's a great addition and one I was waiting for.

One other question, does anybody know if the Wiim supports embedded volume levelling? If so I will add +6dB to all my SACD DSD rips to remove the volume differences between different tracks in a playlist.
 
Abdo said:
This: However, WiiM's room correction algorithm still needs some improvement, so if you know how to do it manually using REW, that is preferred.

What's REW ?
Click to expand...
REW is a really powerful software to perform acoustic measurements and, among other things, correct for room modes. It's certainly more customizable than the WiiM RC and, with a bit of time and patience, the results are better than WiiM's.

All you need is a computer, a decent measuring microphone and some free time to learn how to use it. There's plenty of information in this forum as well as plenty of YouTube tutorials on how to perform basic acoustic measurements or use it for RC (using average full frequency measurements or alternative methods such at the moving microphone).

The usual output you get from REW is a number of filter values that you can manually input in the PEQ section of the WiiM App in order to get the sound of your system adjusted. I strongly recommend playing a bit with it because it's quite fun and it allows you to understand you room acoustics and easily improve the sound in your room.
 
lennyanders said:
I basically just ordered that stuff 2 days ago to do exactly that. And I ordered the WiiM Ultra too of course, so it can hopefully replace my BlueSound Node. I will report how it turns out, but I guess it will just work.
Click to expand...
Okay, everything arrived yesterday and I set everything up but I only used it for like 2-3 hours. So first I only tried my new cables, so coaxial to BNC adapter -> 25cm BNC cable -> Neutrik NADITBNC-M -> AES/EBU Cable -> Genelec -> AES/EBU Cable (I used normal microphone cable previously so now everything has correct impedance finally) -> Genelec. This worked pretty much without problems.

Then I switched my BlueSound Node for the WiiM Ultra which of course is the more important part in this review. First the setup was fantastic, it worked so flawless and in matter of few minutes (excluding a firmware update). Remembering how long it took and how many on my BlueSound node it's just a shame BlueSounds puts out such a product.
Auto Switching between something like Spotify connect and my TV (eARC) works perfect, just like it did with the BlueSound. But here I have an additional feature on the WiiM it says it can auto detect Optical input. So thats where my CD-Player is connected to. Sadly it seems to work semi good. When I'm in standard mode (so Wifi input I guess) and turn on the CD-Player it switches to the input correctly. When it first detect my TV (eARC) though and I turn on then my CD-Player it doesn't seem to want to switch. While when I first turn on my CD-Player and the the TV it switches easily to it. So I guess that is more smartness than in my BlueSound but still not perfect.

For the display I looked shortly at it. It's nice that it shows the song cover artwork when playing spotify (or chromecast or so I guess) but it's just distracting when watching TV or playing CD. I like to have almost no other light source when my TV. So an option for the display to be turned off when connected to eARC would be cool, but I have hidden the WiiM Ultra now completely inside my TV-bench, so I guess I would still keep it that way. Nice and minimalistic.

Sadly though I have noticed one major problem, I also had when I first got the Genelecs and tried to connect them directly through TV optical out -> optical to coaxial converter -> coaxial to aes/ebu cable -> genelecs. So sometimes the sound drops out but like not really. It's like first the left speaker goes quiet and immediately again to normal volume (feels like a smooth transition too) and directly after that the right speaker. It's not as often as with my initial connection method through the TV optical but on the Node I got it to be basically non existent. I turned on the "Optical/HDMI Audio De-noising" feature but it doesn't seem to help. I also tried another samplerate for the coax output, maybe that works better. I have to test some more in the following days. If I can't fix it I probably will switch back to the BlueSound, which would make me very sad, since it seems so great otherwise.
 
lennyanders said:
When it first detect my TV (eARC) though and I turn on then my CD-Player it doesn't seem to want to switch. While when I first turn on my CD-Player and the the TV it switches easily to it. So I guess that is more smartness than in my BlueSound but still not perfect.
Click to expand...
HDMI ARC always takes precedence over optical, if I remember correctly.
 
lennyanders said:
Okay, everything arrived yesterday and I set everything up but I only used it for like 2-3 hours. So first I only tried my new cables, so coaxial to BNC adapter -> 25cm BNC cable -> Neutrik NADITBNC-M -> AES/EBU Cable -> Genelec -> AES/EBU Cable (I used normal microphone cable previously so now everything has correct impedance finally) -> Genelec. This worked pretty much without problems.

Then I switched my BlueSound Node for the WiiM Ultra which of course is the more important part in this review. First the setup was fantastic, it worked so flawless and in matter of few minutes (excluding a firmware update). Remembering how long it took and how many on my BlueSound node it's just a shame BlueSounds puts out such a product.
Auto Switching between something like Spotify connect and my TV (eARC) works perfect, just like it did with the BlueSound. But here I have an additional feature on the WiiM it says it can auto detect Optical input. So thats where my CD-Player is connected to. Sadly it seems to work semi good. When I'm in standard mode (so Wifi input I guess) and turn on the CD-Player it switches to the input correctly. When it first detect my TV (eARC) though and I turn on then my CD-Player it doesn't seem to want to switch. While when I first turn on my CD-Player and the the TV it switches easily to it. So I guess that is more smartness than in my BlueSound but still not perfect.

For the display I looked shortly at it. It's nice that it shows the song cover artwork when playing spotify (or chromecast or so I guess) but it's just distracting when watching TV or playing CD. I like to have almost no other light source when my TV. So an option for the display to be turned off when connected to eARC would be cool, but I have hidden the WiiM Ultra now completely inside my TV-bench, so I guess I would still keep it that way. Nice and minimalistic.

Sadly though I have noticed one major problem, I also had when I first got the Genelecs and tried to connect them directly through TV optical out -> optical to coaxial converter -> coaxial to aes/ebu cable -> genelecs. So sometimes the sound drops out but like not really. It's like first the left speaker goes quiet and immediately again to normal volume (feels like a smooth transition too) and directly after that the right speaker. It's not as often as with my initial connection method through the TV optical but on the Node I got it to be basically non existent. I turned on the "Optical/HDMI Audio De-noising" feature but it doesn't seem to help. I also tried another samplerate for the coax output, maybe that works better. I have to test some more in the following days. If I can't fix it I probably will switch back to the BlueSound, which would make me very sad, since it seems so great otherwise.
Click to expand...

Have you tried analogue outs from WiiM to Genelec?

Your coax to AES seems overly complicated? Do you do the same with Bluesound?
 
AudioJester said:
Have you tried analogue outs from WiiM to Genelec?

Your coax to AES seems overly complicated? Do you do the same with Bluesound?
Click to expand...
I don't have cables for that. I only tried the complicated coax to AES shortly with the BlueSoind so I don't know if the same problem appears there. I could try using my simple coax to AES cable with the WiiM and see if it disappeares. I don't (want to) believe it though since my complicated coax to AES should be technically more correct when what I was doing before.
 
lennyanders said:
I don't have cables for that. I only tried the complicated coax to AES shortly with the BlueSoind so I don't know if the same problem appears there. I could try using my simple coax to AES cable with the WiiM and see if it disappeares. I don't (want to) believe it though since my complicated coax to AES should be technically more correct when what I was doing before.
Click to expand...

I have been there before. Getting overly complicated to be more technically correct often creates gremlins.
Sometimes simpler is better, particularly when in reality there is no audible difference.
 
lennyanders said:
I don't have cables for that. I only tried the complicated coax to AES shortly with the BlueSoind so I don't know if the same problem appears there. I could try using my simple coax to AES cable with the WiiM and see if it disappeares. I don't (want to) believe it though since my complicated coax to AES should be technically more correct when what I was doing before.
Click to expand...
That's a lot of connections and different media for a passive SPDIF to AES conversion. I have had similar problems with my D&D 8Cs, where using a passive SPDIF to AES solution, the cable runs are just too long to reliably get a good enough signal level, and you get dropouts from one speaker or the other after some random period of time. Maybe it works with the Bluesound because the level is just marginally higher.
 
somebodyelse said:
Time to make a feature request? A configuration option to use the newly appearing device, or to use a configurable preference order.
Click to expand...
It has nothing to do with Wiim, it's just how HDMI ARC works when CEC is enabled.
 
Sorry this is gonna sound embarrassing but the Genelec G3 arrived this morning along with some wireworld RCA connects cables.

But I'm sitting here just confused lol as the back of the Genelec monitor there is only 1 RCA input and not the usual RED and WHITE ones to connect to the back of my Wiim.
 
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