WiiM Vibelink Amp Review

[Toni Mas]

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[TimW]

Disagree. A DAC is necessary for digital inputs. Also, the $400 price point is not confirmed and is likely not accurate.

I just think a visually matching power amp for the Wiim Ultra at the lowest possible price without performance compromises makes the most sense. I understand the Vibelink is more of a multi-use product for potential pairing with the other Wiim streamers and could even be used on its own in some cases. I also know of the IOM Ultra which is basically what I describe, but more costly. It just seems hard to justify getting the Ultra and the Vibelink when a Wiim Amp Pro has most of the functionality and will potentially cost about half as much. Even if the Vibelink + a Wiim mini costs a little less than the Wiim Amp Pro, you get a nicer looking package and more functionality with the Amp Pro. And if you have the Ultra or any other streamer, there are many compelling options for power amps which are cheaper, more powerful, or higher performance than the Vibelink.

 

[kyuu]

It just seems hard to justify getting the Ultra and the Vibelink when a Wiim Amp Pro has most of the functionality and will potentially cost about half as much.

I agree, for me it'd be the Amp/Amp Pro all day. But not everyone wants a single box handling all the things, for whatever reasons.

Even if the Vibelink + a Wiim mini costs a little less than the Wiim Amp Pro, you get a nicer looking package and more functionality with the Amp Pro. And if you have the Ultra or any other streamer, there are many compelling options for power amps which are cheaper, more powerful, or higher performance than the Vibelink.

I think it's a little premature to say that given we don't know the actual pricing. At $400, you may be right. At $300 or less, what other options are there to give you as much clean power and similar features (such as the digital inputs)?

 

[TimW]

At $400, you may be right. At $300 or less, what other options are there to give you as much clean power and similar features (such as the digital inputs)?

If this amp does end up costing less than the $400 Amir stated, great. I suppose it could be a nice solution for many Wiim streamer owners or people with simple desktop setups. For a stand alone integrated amp, as others have stated, it lacks things that desktop class D amps typically have such as USB, BT, and a sub out. For a power amp to be used with the Ultra, there is no need for volume control or digital inputs. It has similar performance to other TI chip based amps with PFFB implementation from the likes of Fosi, 3e, Aiyima, etc. I'm sure it will work well for many people but personally I think a lower cost version without DAC, volume knob, and noise on the RCA input would be a better match for the Ultra.

 

[telemike]

WiiM Amp Pro doesn’t have phono input like the Ultra so it was a no go for me

 

[Old_School_Brad]

@amirm
I am surprised to see that the RCA level for the measurement was 0.41V, and not 2V RMS as most sources provide.
Same for Toslink, why not test at 0dB, then adjust the volume to reach 5W ?

Couldn't a better SINAD be obtained with a higher input signal?

Yeah, it does seem a bit strange. At first, I had the same thought.
It looks like some performance was left on the table.

The likely explanation is that, in this configuration (with the volume at max), it’s intended to function as a power amplifier. But is that really the case? Given the large volume knob, I’d assume its primary use case is as an integrated amplifier.

 

[Gremlins]

Having read all comments, it appears that this wiim amp vibelink is not well positionned against wiim amp and wiim amp pro, or against alternatives that provide USB inputs

They should have released a power amp only, at good price , to match the ultra , that's what is missing in their line up

 

[JSmith]

Not everyone wants to use an app to be able to use their integrated amp... I assume this model is for that segment of the market.


JSmith

 

[Basjebas]

How does this one fit in the rest of the Wiim line? I get that it does not have any streaming components or connections so we supply content. However, It's not for the ultra, it does not substitute the Wiim Amp Pro, or the Wiim Amp. Maybe match it with the Pro or Pro Plus. I dont see what space its supposed to be in when it does not have Sub Out / Bass Management that I can tell (still to up in their site). Yes its seems more powerful, but no Sub Out limits its application. @WiiM Team please comment.

You don’t need to fit in line to pick a grain of the TI chip based class D market, being a respectable brand nowadays…

 

[Scrivs]

Wiim Hoff will set everyone straight

 

[amirm]

I am surprised to see that the RCA level for the measurement was 0.41V, and not 2V RMS as most sources provide.
Same for Toslink, why not test at 0dB, then adjust the volume to reach 5W ?

It is a tough situation. As you know, power amplifiers generally don't have volume controls. They may have gain switches but that is it. In order to be able to compare integrated amplifiers like this one to them, I adjust the volume to 22 to 25 dB of gain. When done, typical drive voltages are in the neighborhood of 0.5 to .6 volts.

I could do as you say but then the results can't be compared to power amplifier as the effective gave would be quite low.

Then to make sure that the toslink results are comparable to analog, I keep the volume control the same place it was in analog input testing.

FYI, this is what I have been doing in dozens of AV Receiver products that are similarly situated. I believe Audioholics does the same.

 

[pathtonowhere]

Manufacturers should pay Amir if they want their products tested, because I'm sure donations aren't close to enough. The measurements are still objective, so it makes no difference for the readers. And he's still providing a huge service to the manufacturer by testing. I mean, it's not reasonable to just send the product and get a lot of coverage for free. I'm sure the ultra-subjective reviewers that don't measure anything get a lot of donations and Amir doesn't, because they think "he's going to measure it the same anyway", so they don't see the incentive, but you'd be more appreciated by the community if you supported the site. A lot of products measure about the same. Support the site to make it easier for me to choose the manufacturer if the products are similar.
The ultra-subjective reviews are ok, too, if you aren't that confident in your product, but I, personally, don't buy anything if I don't see a review here.

 

[Audiophonics]

It is a tough situation. As you know, power amplifiers generally don't have volume controls. They may have gain switches but that is it. In order to be able to compare integrated amplifiers like this one to them, I adjust the volume to 22 to 25 dB of gain. When done, typical drive voltages are in the neighborhood of 0.5 to .6 volts.

I could do as you say but then the results can't be compared to power amplifier as the effective gave would be quite low.

Then to make sure that the toslink results are comparable to analog, I keep the volume control the same place it was in analog input testing.

FYI, this is what I have been doing in dozens of AV Receiver products that are similarly situated. I believe Audioholics does the same.

I was not aware of this, it make sense if you adjust the gain to 22-25dB.
At least to compare the performance against power amplifier.

But this somewhat reduces the advantage of having the volume management as close as possible to the amplification module, an advantage of an integrated amplifier in real use.

 

[morillon]

I was not aware of this, it make sense if you adjust the gain to 22-25dB.
At least to compare the performance against power amplifier.

But this somewhat reduces the advantage of having the volume management as close as possible to the amplification module, an advantage of an integrated amplifier in real use.

the debate around this machine is:

integrated with a dac, very limited in input etc?
or a power amp with numeric input very adapted to the streamers of the brand or others ?
(and an rca input which questions in quality and type etc for the moment, like the nature of the integrated dac)?
funny ...it occupies the discussions incredibly ..
like the "should have been like this with if and that"
;-)

Originally, just a power amplifier was expected for the ultra...
it is possible that the slightly bastard aspect is a bit counterproductive in the end...(?) wait and see ;-)
just here a "amp pro" simplified , with more tension/watt??

 

[telemike]

Does it come with a remote?

 

[AudioSceptic]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Vibelink stereo class D amplifier with DAC. It was sent to me by the company and I believe will cost US $400.
View attachment 434832
I was relieved from the point of view of testing that is NOT a streaming product so no need to mess with apps and such to use it. Controls as you see are limited to just input select of RCA, Toslink and Coax digital input and volume control. I found the input selection button to be somewhat difficult to use in that pushing it doesn't quickly change selection. I had to hold it in for a bit for it to take action (or was it a delayed action)? Volume control is analog and I tested the amplifier at max volume (which happened to land in target area I like as far as gain).

Back panel has great attention to layout and design even though most people will never face it that way:
View attachment 434833
I have grown fond of the recessed binding posts (adapters are provided to bring them out), make them a breeze to using my locking banana plugs. Nice to see trigger input provided. But mostly, the appreciate goes toward included AC power supply (its competitors using the same design have chunky external ones).

If you are not familiar with amplifier measurements, please watch my tutorial on it:

[And subscribe to the channel ]

WiiM Vibelink Amp Measurements
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):
View attachment 434834
So I switched to Toslink input which not only solved that issue, but upped the performance as well:
View attachment 434835
Very nice to see distortion that is below threshold of hearing at -115 dB or so. That let's SINAD just be a measure of noise which at 100 dB, puts the Vibelink in very respectable ranking:
View attachment 434836
View attachment 434837
Unless noted, I stayed with Toslink for the remainder of tests, starting with signal to noise ratio:
View attachment 434838

One of the important tests for these chip-based class D designs is to see if the output filter is part of the feedback loop (PFFB) as to eliminate load dependencies. We see that the Vibelink is essentially there:
View attachment 434840

Channel separation is excellent:
View attachment 434841

For multitone, I had to switch to analog input as Toslink doesn't support 192 kHz which is the native sampling rate of that test file:
View attachment 434842

But for 19+20 kHz, I could go back to digital, showing very respectable output:
View attachment 434843

We have good bit of power for its size and class:
View attachment 434844
View attachment 434845
Especially when we allow 1% distortion:
View attachment 434846

Dropping down to 40 Hz instead of 1 kHz above, we still have healthy amount of output:
View attachment 434847
View attachment 434848

It was challenging to run my "FTC like" power sweep as the distortion that is captured at 20 kHz would NOT rise to 1% THD. So I had to lower that which means it causes less power to be measured than how we measured other amplifiers (and testing above):
View attachment 434849

This became more complicated when trying to measure reactive loads as my AudioGraph loadbox does not like floating ground in these bridged amplifiers in the right channel. So I not only had ot drop down to 1 channel, but per above, also change the criteria for max distortion to get through the test:
View attachment 434850
View attachment 434851

No, I don't know why it likes 2 ohm with 60 degree inductive phase. I repeated the test a few times and consistently got that result.

Edit: forgot to post frequency vs power sweep:

View attachment 434911
NOTE: all power ratings have built-in error in such tests. Run to run variations show a few percentage point differences due to measurements being a the knee of an exponential graph.

Amplifier is stable on power up:
View attachment 434852

The top hardly changed temperature during testing. The bottom got a bit warmer but nothing remotely concerning so I didn't bother with taking thermal images. Either it doesn't get very hot internally and/or doesn't sync that to the case.

Conclusions
The Vibelink is a well executed class D (TI 3255?) amplifier with nice inclusion of a DAC that works together produce performance that is quite good. For those of you who already have a front-end that has streaming/EQ, this would be perfect pairing. Cost is more than some of its competitors but they don't have built-in power supply or in most cases, a nice DAC.

Overall, I am happy to recommend the WiiM Vibelink Amp. I believe it is slated to be on sale sometime this month (March).

NOTE: company has said that they want to make a donation to the forum. I have told them that while I appreciate that, it would not change how I review their product. And indeed can't due to nature of the objective measurements.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

So did you accept the donation?

 

[Matt_Holland]

Does it come with a remote?

I asked this earlier. You would think it would have to have one. Otherwise as an integrated amp it’s even less useable. If it does have a remote then the question is how it works when a Wiim streamer, with its own remote, is used with it.

 

[harkpabst]

I still don't think it's intended to be an integrated amplifier.

 

[Deleted member 72219]

I still don't think it's intended to be an integrated amplifier.

A plastic spoon is intended for consumption of soup or sauce but for me it is still just a thermal paste spreader. Intent is merely in the mind of the creator.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Ed

 

[Matt_Holland]

I still don't think it's intended to be an integrated amplifier.

It’s accidentally one?