….but probably much, much lower than 100mV after the external regulators on the board. Probably less than 1 mV before reaching the analog stage ?
Further , Opa 1611 has a CMRR of 120 dB. Its rather unsensitive to ripple.
This is why the Ultra dac has a SINAD of 115 dB at audiosciencereview.
To get the sound more earfriendly , one has to make it measuring worse with some analog colorations - high end style. My five cents…
Further , Opa 1611 has a CMRR of 120 dB. Its rather unsensitive to ripple.
This is why the Ultra dac has a SINAD of 115 dB at audiosciencereview.
To get the sound more earfriendly , one has to make it measuring worse with some analog colorations - high end style. My five cents…
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As the best thing since sliced bread switchers are small, light, cool and power efficient but they do have some electrical drawbacks and appear to practically always have factors of hundred more ripple voltage, more noise and EMI contrary to their older linear cousins. So purely from an electrical point of view linear ones are unbeatable in small power.
But a linear one simply does not fit in such a small casing. Regardless of the SMPS the Ultra has good measurements. Still I think one can hear the difference after having replaced the PSU immediately (just like with Eversolo DMP-A6). After many of such builds I have yet to have a situation where the result is equal or worse whatever audio Meisters may think about that. In a few cases where I did put time in finding the "why" I found leakage current and/or RF, both occurring way less with even simple linear PSUs. One can break the head by finding out the "why" or just accept SMPS to be less desirable and go that path and take measures. If that measures turn out to be an improvement all is OK.
But a linear one simply does not fit in such a small casing. Regardless of the SMPS the Ultra has good measurements. Still I think one can hear the difference after having replaced the PSU immediately (just like with Eversolo DMP-A6). After many of such builds I have yet to have a situation where the result is equal or worse whatever audio Meisters may think about that. In a few cases where I did put time in finding the "why" I found leakage current and/or RF, both occurring way less with even simple linear PSUs. One can break the head by finding out the "why" or just accept SMPS to be less desirable and go that path and take measures. If that measures turn out to be an improvement all is OK.
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We does not have to guess any more … extensive teardown of the ultra here :
Holy... Well done on that video... the spec sheets support outstanding insight and analysis, which is exactly what is required to conclude about a product's quality. Beautiful!
And thanks for the link.
I'd remove the Bluetooth module and feed the streamer with a nice external 12V linear power supply, bypassing the internal power supply section completely. Everything else seems pretty good... Well, maybe I'd look at the analog path from the ES DAC chip... to find out if the SMD sound coupling caps were used along the way. I'd leave everything else as is.
And thanks for the link.
I'd remove the Bluetooth module and feed the streamer with a nice external 12V linear power supply, bypassing the internal power supply section completely. Everything else seems pretty good... Well, maybe I'd look at the analog path from the ES DAC chip... to find out if the SMD sound coupling caps were used along the way. I'd leave everything else as is.
If you build similar devices DIY with similar functionality and also a very good app to control it we are all ears.
Doesn't stop us discussing a product with potential to either modify or borrow ideas
How do these devices perform using the USB out ? They look perfect for streaming Amazon music to external dacs , more convenient than pc or laptop . My dacs USB input so hoping these devices stream up to 192k smoothly without any stuttering/buffering . I like the look of the Wiim features it's just a shame you can't use an external psu like the Bluesound Nano . Just need to decide which to get
Bluesound nanos biggest con , apart from the plastic case, is the lack of any roomcorrection and PEQ. And no HDMI input. This makes the Ultra sound much better in real use with speakers in a normal room. I have tried both streamers at the same time at my home. The volume control implementation is worse for the nano.
If one wants anything better than the Ultra it seems that the bluesound Icon fits that bill. Or do the Teddy pardo mod for the ultra ( 450 dollars ).
If one wants anything better than the Ultra it seems that the bluesound Icon fits that bill. Or do the Teddy pardo mod for the ultra ( 450 dollars ).
Ultra has asyncron usb output up to 24 bit 192 KHz with 32 bit resolution volume regulation , and the digital output follows the sampling frequency of the source material which is the reason WiiM players sounds better than many other solutions, like Yamaha wxc50 ( I have both ) . The roomcorrection and PEQ and EQ is sent through spdif or usb out to an external dac if thats prefered. The dsp is very transparent and clean sounding.
The usb output dont have subwoofer bass management because of the asyncron function .
I use a I2SoverUSB into a reclocking board into a FIRDAC so the USB output of the Wiim Ultra is really useful. It just looks a better convenient way than my MacBook usb out
I had a NAS in raid 0....
after a hard drive failure...I was a bit in a bad mood...
Now raid1....capacity divided by 2, but peace of mind! 😇
after a hard drive failure...I was a bit in a bad mood...
Now raid1....capacity divided by 2, but peace of mind! 😇
About the very low 11 Ohm DAC output impedance of the ultra ( measured by onlyoneme at WiiM forum ) .
One should really solder a 50 or 100 ohms resistor in series with + inside the rca contact in the cable connected from the dac output of the ultra. Without this, theres a risk for oscillation of the opa1611.
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