WiiM Ultra

[Nutul]

1. Thaat's how your TV handles the stream...
2. It looks like it is so.

 

[UprightCitizen]

1. Thaat's how your TV handles the stream...
2. It looks like it is so.

1. Yes I know, it was just something to compare with. Sure, either of the two could still be wrong but letting the tv spit pcm sounds more right to me.
2. More people should have noticed this?

 

[harkpabst]

Seems like the ultra can not decode dolby digital (with MAT?) correct?

The WiiM Ultra can decode Dolby Digital (AC-3) and only Dolby Digital (as far as multi-channel formats are concerbed).

Dolby MAT is not Dolby Digita AC3l, so the transcoding to Dolby digital must have been performed by a different device (possibly the TV) beforehand.

 

[UprightCitizen]

The WiiM Ultra can decide Dolby Digital (AC-3) and only Dolby Digital (as far as multi-channel formats are concerbed).

Dolby MAT is not Dolby Digita AC3l, so the transcoding to Dolby digital must have been performed by a different device (possibly the TV) beforehand.

I see. That I am still experiencing the same issue when playing blu-ray discs on the PS5 is a little too much of a coincidence though. Sure, the issue could be how the bitstream is handled by the TV, the PS5 signal is also passed through it. That would however mean that passthrough does not really mean what I think it should, which is actually quite likely when I think about it since ARC and eARC can handle different data rates. But, could it not also be that the bitstream contains metadata that the wiim can't handle properly?

 

[harkpabst]

That would however mean that passthrough does not really mean what I think it should, which is actually quite likely when I think about it since ARC and eARC can handle different data rates. But, could it not also be that the bitstream contains metadata that the wiim can't handle properly?

I understand your reasoning and your doubts. I still take it as a fact from WiiM's documentation and support that they don't support any of the newer formats (which would require a license fee). It's also worth noting that the Ultra doesn't support eARC, only plain ARC.

 

[UprightCitizen]

I understand your reasoning and your doubts. I still take it as a fact from WiiM's documentation and support that they don't support any of the newer formats (which would require a license fee). It's also worth noting that the Ultra doesn't support eARC, only plain ARC.

I'll just stick to PCM for now. May or may not make a difference to the best case scenario with atmos, ARC and a stereo setup. I am aware that the does not have eARC. I looked around a bit at the market segment and realize that streamers with hdmi capability rarely support the superior eARC protocol. It's not exactly bleeding edge tech, I wonder what the added cost would be...

 

[Jasperous]

I'll just stick to PCM for now. May or may not make a difference to the best case scenario with atmos, ARC and a stereo setup. I am aware that the does not have eARC. I looked around a bit at the market segment and realize that streamers with hdmi capability rarely support the superior eARC protocol. It's not exactly bleeding edge tech, I wonder what the added cost would be...

Licensing fees, it always licensing fees. If you’re playing something from blu-ray, manually change the audio stream selection to stereo.

Dolby licences are incredibly expensive and Wiim is a budget device. Atmos is also designed primarily for multichannel setups. Lastly, even the NAD M10 v3 does not support atmos.

 

[UprightCitizen]

Licensing fees, it always licensing fees. If you’re playing something from blu-ray, manually change the audio stream selection to stereo.

Dolby licences are incredibly expensive and Wiim is a budget device. Atmos is also designed primarily for multichannel setups. Lastly, even the NAD M10 v3 does not support atmos.

eARC is not Dolby though, and can handle higher bitrates regardless if it's PCM or a proprietary format.

 

[Jasperous]

eARC is not Dolby though, and can handle higher bitrates regardless if it's PCM or a proprietary format.

HDMI itself has its’ own associated fees.

What are the Licensing Costs Associated with HDMI?

HDMI is great, but there’s a lot of confusion about the licensing fees associated with it. We’ve created a quick reference guide to alleviate this confusion.

www.symmetryelectronics.com

 

[Nutul]

It's wonderful how all these cables / connectors / audio-standards are making our lives a little bit more crippled every day...
I may sound a bit "oldie", but when it comes to music, I listen in stereo. Only.
Movies are another realm, but since I watch them while wearing HP, more than stereo cannot apply here too.
I came, I saw, I said.

 

[Jasperous]

It's wonderful how all these cables / connectors / audio-standards are making our lives a little bit more crippled every day...
I may sound a bit "oldie", but when it comes to music, I listen in stereo. Only.
Movies are another realm, but since I watch them while wearing HP, more than stereo cannot apply here too.
I came, I saw, I said.

Bluetooth has licensing fees if you use wireless headphones. Otherwise your headphone amp is paying for some sort of technology licensing fee.

 

[harkpabst]

Dolby licences are incredibly expensive and Wiim is a budget device.

The original Dolby Digital standard is free by now and I bet that's the reason why WiiM are supporting just that when it comes to multi-channel audio.

eARC is not Dolby though, and can handle higher bitrates regardless if it's PCM or a proprietary format.

True, but the bandwidth supported by (non e)ARC is already sufficient for uncompressed HighRes PCM stereo and for lossily compressed Dolby Digital. Supporting eARC instead of ARC wouldn't buy WiiM anything, maybe except for more compatibility issues, which are a PITA already with ARC.

 

[777]

Does it work well with only 500Mb of memory?

 

[harkpabst]

Does it work well with only 500Mb of memory?

Yes, it does (to give an answer as detailed as the question).

Some more details: The Ultra runs a customized Linux operating system, but not any flavor of Android. The downside is that you cannot install third party apps (like e.g. Apple Music). But on the other hands it's a very compact and highly specialized OS, so 512 MB of RAM are plenty for what it does.

 

[777]

Yes, it does (to give an answer as detailed as the question).

Some more details: The Ultra runs a customized Linux operating system, but not any flavor of Android. The downside is that you cannot install third party apps (like e.g. Apple Music). But on the other hands it's a very compact and highly specialized OS, so 512 MB of RAM are plenty for what it does.

Very interesting... Is it bit-perfect ?

 

[harkpabst]

Very interesting... Is it bit-perfect ?

It is, if you want it to.

Only if you don't want to make use of EQ, room correction or volume control, of course .

 

[Jasperous]

I'll just stick to PCM for now. May or may not make a difference to the best case scenario with atmos, ARC and a stereo setup. I am aware that the does not have eARC. I looked around a bit at the market segment and realize that streamers with hdmi capability rarely support the superior eARC protocol. It's not exactly bleeding edge tech, I wonder what the added cost would be...

Have you checked the cable that you’re using? These cables have micro-controllers in them, and there’s a huge difference between HDMI 1.4 to 2.0 and 2.1 cables

 

[kyuu]

These cables have micro-controllers in them

Er, what? To my knowledge, your average HDMI cable contains only wires (and associated bits like insulation and shielding). The only "controllers" would be in active HDMI cables, which integrate a circuit to either amplify the signal or convert to and from optical.

 

[UprightCitizen]

Have you checked the cable that you’re using? These cables have micro-controllers in them, and there’s a huge difference between HDMI 1.4 to 2.0 and 2.1 cables

FIrst, wiim only supports ARC and not eARC so it should be fine with whatever cable basically. Second, I dont think there are any microcontrollers in the cable or the contact housing, to me that seems like a weird design choice. Either way, I'm using the cable that was included by wiim.

 

[harkpabst]

FIrst, wiim only supports ARC and not eARC so it should be fine with whatever cable basically.

ARC has been introduced with HDMI 1.4. I'm sure there are still non-compliant cables lying around in many drawers. And not all cables are certified.

I'm using the cable that was included by wiim.

WiiM supplied cables are reported to work well, even if they are not officially certified.