WiiM Vibelink Amp Review

[Ruediger]

PC works absolutely fine - it just has horrendous noise coming out of the speakers connected to the Vibelink whenever the GPU is under load

when I say bad noise I mean even at medium volume you can hear the digital noise /interference through the Speakers connected to the Vibelink and the intereference noise is as loud with the AVR at minimum volume/muted as it is at higher volumes

I had used active JBLs as Front Left Right a while back with no issues, and I have a Genelec active speaker as a center (8030C) - with no issues

pretty certain it's a ground loop and pretty certain its going to be very difficult to get rid of so the Vibelink might have to be returned

switching inputs on the Vibelink to coaxial or optical seems to isolate the ground loop which is a bit odd (nothing connected to those inputs though)

Especially optical isolates it away when it is indeed a ground loop.

But I guess that's no option with the Denon, the pre-out is analog only?

Lots of stuff on the PC can produce distortion. But if the interference is not there when you use the Denon amps, it's not that.

 

[john61ct]

MiniDSP PocketADC

Analog stereo input, S/PDIF outputs: both RCA coax and TOSlink, simultaneous

 

[anonyless]

switching inputs on the Vibelink to coaxial or optical seems to isolate the ground loop which is a bit odd (nothing connected to those inputs though)

it's not odd at all - going optical workarounds ground loop noise. i had some with Ultra+A5 amp, the second a sub was connected to the Ultra's sub output. once i switched to optical output on the Ultra (using a DAC) , ground loop noise was gone.
you should probably do return the Vibelink, but for completely different reasons

 

[Aure]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this very interesting forum.

I was wondering what you think about the RCA cable that comes with the WiiM Vibelink. I'm not asking about its sound quality, but rather its build quality.

Did you keep using the included cable, or did you replace it? If you replaced it, was it because of its build quality or for some other reason?

Thanks.

 

[Guddu]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this very interesting forum.

I was wondering what you think about the RCA cable that comes with the WiiM Vibelink. I'm not asking about its sound quality, but rather its build quality.

Just mass market cheap cable.

Did you keep using the included cable, or did you replace it? If you replaced it, was it because of its build quality or for some other reason?

Thanks.

Most likely would work fine, but Amazon basics RCA are cheap and reliable if one needs another no frills alternative.

 

[Aure]

Thank you very much for your reply.

That makes sense. I think I'll stick with the included RCA cable as long as it doesn't show any issues. It seems to get the job done.

 

[Ruediger]

I consider them amazon basic. Actually decent and no crap. If there is no issue... why not.

Personally I don't use them. Mainly because they are very long.

 

[Aure]

Thanks. You're right, the cable is a bit longer than I need.

I'm currently thinking about reorganizing my audio setup, so I'll see whether I end up needing shorter cables.

 

[anonyless]

Thank you very much for your reply.

That makes sense. I think I'll stick with the included RCA cable as long as it doesn't show any issues. It seems to get the job done.

i have a couple of these cables https://he.aliexpress.com/item/1005004710520685.html
they're cheap, you can choose the length from 0.2m to 5m, and quite thick

 

[harkpabst]

Thanks. You're right, the cable is a bit longer than I need.

I'm currently thinking about reorganizing my audio setup, so I'll see whether I end up needing shorter cables.

"Decent" and certainly "no crap" describes the included cables very well. They are totally fit for the job and there've been close to zero complains about failing cables in WiiM's own forum.

Generally speaking a shorter RCA cable (of the same quality) cannot be wrong, but unless you have a very specific reason for shorter cables (like better looks or keeping them from farther away from power cords) a shorter cable won't buy you anything in terms of sound quality.

 

[Ruediger]

Luckily we are in a forum that is beyond cablesound and the timbre/air in wallets when spending money on voodoo expectations.

It's nice that WiiM includes a full set of cables and all of them are good. Depending on the placement of the device those might come in handy. My devices are either on desktops or one level of a rack. Therefor my cables are pretty short. I also prefer solid metal plugs and a somewhat sturdy but still flexible cable.

Measurements of cables should give us absolutely nothing here. The capacity and resistance of the WiiM cables will be in the usual range far away from problematic for these devices. Only when diverting one of these RCA cables to a turntable/phono MM connection I would suggest to check the capacity first.

Some of the cables on amazon - basics, ugreen - seem to have the same plugs as the WiiM cables. I recently had a bad one from ugreen. I guess that can happen as no human (?) will be sitting there and making these.

 

[john61ct]

Yes, for me besides stiffness, solid grip and longevity of the terminators are all.

XLR of course is nice if balanced is an option, but usually means a jump in the price tier of the components

 

[Ruediger]

The usual cablemakers I use have quality offers for XLR/TRS cables in the € 15-25 range.

Of course there is no limit to what could be spent on cables in the Hifi world. It just doesn't make sense to not put that money towards speakers, where it actually matters.

 

[SampleSizeOne]

The usual cablemakers I use have quality offers for XLR/TRS cables in the € 15-25 range.

Of course there is no limit to what could be spent on cables in the Hifi world. It just doesn't make sense to not put that money towards speakers, where it actually matters.

I often scavenge cables at thrift stores. People often look at the brands and models of expensive hifi, but they never look at the cables. There's often a good amount of quality audio cables in the thrift stores around my place.

 

[Aure]

Luckily we are in a forum that is beyond cablesound and the timbre/air in wallets when spending money on voodoo expectations.

Thank you for your reply.

Don't worry, I've never been obsessed with cables. I've always just wanted cables that are well made and reliable.

When I first got into hi-fi around 2016 (I moved away from the audiophile mindset about six years ago), I bought a few cables from audiophile brands such as QED, Inakustik, AudioQuest, and Supra. Since I was never convinced by the claimed sonic improvements, I eventually sold them all and switched to Sommer Cable speaker wire. The only exception was a Supra USB cable that I kept.

Today I'm using basic Norstone speaker cable that cost about €2 per meter and came with my speakers, and all of my interconnects are the ones that were included with my equipment. The only cable I've bought separately is a KabelDirekt optical cable for my Chromecast Audio.

And honestly, I'm perfectly happy with that.

 

[Ruediger]

When I first got into hi-fi around 2016 (I moved away from the audiophile mindset about six years ago), I bought a few cables from audiophile brands such as QED, Inakustik, AudioQuest, and Supra. Since I was never convinced by the claimed sonic improvements, I eventually sold them all and switched to Sommer Cable speaker wire. The only exception was a Supra USB cable that I kept.

There is some serious snakeoil to be found at Inakustik, AudioQuest and Supra IMO.

But I would judge cables by their actual quality, specs and price advertised. F.e. QED has some very good RCA cables. Good connectors, sturdy yet flexible, some lengths available where others have nothing, price is reasonable for the quality. Audioquest has quite a standing in this forum as they offer a lot of stuff that I would describe as a bad joke at best. But they also have RCA phono cables that are true champs in terms of low capacity. Properly made for that exact use case. They can do it if they want.. I like the Supra RCA cable quality and feel, but they are all way too expensive IMO. Others do better.

A lot of my stuff is Sommer and GoldKabel. They often have kind of the golden middle of attributes.

 

[redjr]

analog input processing adc and same dac as the wiim amp pro?

18 months later this has likely already been answered, but no. Analog input is straight to the preamp section. No ADC involved. This is often referred to as 'Pure' mode. I was hoping for a bit better Sinad number, but it is very clean and organic sounding with a quiet pre feeding it - which is how I use it.

 

[redjr]

Yes. I can only imagine what WiiM could do if they had a target price point of $600…

Don't tempt them.

 

[redjr]

I also wondered why the Toslink but no USB input. They have probably foreseen the Toslink to easily hook up their WiiM Pro or Ultra streamers.

USB-IN would definitely be preferred if using the amp at a computer. I only use the the Analog-IN as I use a more competent DAC/streamer.

 

[harkpabst]

I was hoping for a bit better Sinad number, but it is very clean and organic sounding with a quiet pre feeding it - which is how I use it.

Since nobody complains about hum in practice, Amir's assumed reason for the low SINAD reading is probably true:

I started with the RCA analog input but had trouble getting optimal output due to ground loops (which could be unique to my setup with analyzer and such):