Hmm... it has a USB-C... you telling me it's just for power?
Dang it then... you're right, I just took a look at it again.... they call it a power port. I guess I'll be returning it.... sad as it looks pretty neat. OTOH... my DACs all have an SPDIF input... hmm... that could be an interesting interface to use as well. I think I'll give that a try before I get too hasty.
In the meantime, I've been enjoying the Ultra.
Thanks for the heads up.
@jean-paul You have the Eversolo DMP-A6? So, why your interest in the WiiM Ultra? Until you posted this thread I wasn't paying much attention to WiiM and just happened to hit it when it went on sale on Amazon... I got to thank you for this thread as I ran into something that I had been looking for quite a while and it solves my issues getting bit perfect audio play while allowing me to use my favorite DACs and front ends...
Dang it then... you're right, I just took a look at it again.... they call it a power port. I guess I'll be returning it.... sad as it looks pretty neat. OTOH... my DACs all have an SPDIF input... hmm... that could be an interesting interface to use as well. I think I'll give that a try before I get too hasty.
In the meantime, I've been enjoying the Ultra.
Thanks for the heads up.
@jean-paul You have the Eversolo DMP-A6? So, why your interest in the WiiM Ultra? Until you posted this thread I wasn't paying much attention to WiiM and just happened to hit it when it went on sale on Amazon... I got to thank you for this thread as I ran into something that I had been looking for quite a while and it solves my issues getting bit perfect audio play while allowing me to use my favorite DACs and front ends...
First I don’t use it as an IT device to test IT features and connectivity. It is used to playback music with as least extra devices as possible so purpose oriented. Second it has possibility for internal SSD (I do not wish to use US content providers). Third it has better properties like an aluminium casing, larger display and XLR outputs. Should be better as it is mid priced and not low budget audio like WiiM. As said, I use audio players for more than 20 years and am always interested in new devices in the 0…1500 Euro range. Had quite a few Frikadelle in the past, stuff today mainly works pretty well. The WiiM Mini lacks basic features I desire but it was a milestone in audio players for a very low price. The Ultra seems a very good first attempt to attract the serious audio hobbyists.
Yeah you turned from opponent without having tried one to aficionado. Proves that assumptions generally don’t work.
Yeah you turned from opponent without having tried one to aficionado. Proves that assumptions generally don’t work.
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Hmm... maybe it's in your mind that you thought I was an "opponent"? Maybe, did you think that I was being interested and that being a working engineer I might be researching the product and asking questions? Ever done a peer review at your work?
Heck as it is, I did make an assumption on the Mini... but I might be able to salvage it as it has an optical output.
As "cheap".. well, I'm not looking for a High End DAC.. I mean, I got some pretty good sounding devices already... including a very nice RME ADI2 FS Pro ( the AD/DAC ) which is a whole World unto itself. Plus the op-amp'ed rolled Burson, the Topping D90LE, a really nice Nitsch Pietus Maximus (only USB on that one) and a few Nuforce units.... after all, I've been doing digital audio since around '95 when I was using a Windows NT box with PCI cards built in...
I find that for the 300 bucks I paid, the Ultra is a steal for what it does... I hope I can get the Mini to work, although I think I might return it and get another Ultra. Even as it sells now for 350 -including shipping. I need the USB to drive the fancy "Multibit" USB in the Nitsch.
Hmm... I forgot, I also got a Schiit Syn for a surround set up when I get around to it... hmm...
Oh, XLR, the Topping and RME have balanced outputs.... so does the Pearl 3. As I noted, I'm not looking at the Ultra as a DAC, only as a bridge to sat up a a bit perfect path for Tidal and Spotify streaming. For my own recordings done off my TT at 24/96 IO use foobar with a PC into a DAC. Those are all stored in the NASs.
Oh, I am my own IT - I am root. I got a fully wired (and wireless) house with 120TB of NAS storage. So, that part doesn't bother me much... since I was doing Internetworking when we called it DARPAnet... before the WWW even existed.
Heck as it is, I did make an assumption on the Mini... but I might be able to salvage it as it has an optical output.
As "cheap".. well, I'm not looking for a High End DAC.. I mean, I got some pretty good sounding devices already... including a very nice RME ADI2 FS Pro ( the AD/DAC ) which is a whole World unto itself. Plus the op-amp'ed rolled Burson, the Topping D90LE, a really nice Nitsch Pietus Maximus (only USB on that one) and a few Nuforce units.... after all, I've been doing digital audio since around '95 when I was using a Windows NT box with PCI cards built in...
I find that for the 300 bucks I paid, the Ultra is a steal for what it does... I hope I can get the Mini to work, although I think I might return it and get another Ultra. Even as it sells now for 350 -including shipping. I need the USB to drive the fancy "Multibit" USB in the Nitsch.
Hmm... I forgot, I also got a Schiit Syn for a surround set up when I get around to it... hmm...
Oh, XLR, the Topping and RME have balanced outputs.... so does the Pearl 3. As I noted, I'm not looking at the Ultra as a DAC, only as a bridge to sat up a a bit perfect path for Tidal and Spotify streaming. For my own recordings done off my TT at 24/96 IO use foobar with a PC into a DAC. Those are all stored in the NASs.
Oh, I am my own IT - I am root. I got a fully wired (and wireless) house with 120TB of NAS storage. So, that part doesn't bother me much... since I was doing Internetworking when we called it DARPAnet... before the WWW even existed.
You’re welcome ☺️
The spdif(optical) is also bit-perfect so why not try with your Ultra first. Spdif more jittery though so see how your Topping DAC handles this…
Also, I see you have Analog gear based on LP12. How does your digital gear stack up with the Ultra upgrade 😉
Hmm.... so many changes.
Two weeks ago I had a Keel and Ekos -2 tonearm mounted... Grado Master 2.... Karousel, Lingo, etc... Pearl 2 and Pearl 3 (op amp rolling)... so many toys.
The sound is changing so much all over my systems... and I happen to have a life -work from home. The overall sound is less lively now, mostly less colorations and the instruments now come from a much blacker background,... it was worth the money. But I got to retune my listening.
Check out lp12bits.com I got the Keel "used"... more like open box for 40% off MSRP...
The LP front end sounds fantastic. It simply blows the digital... although right now the WiiM is in a different set up (home office) as the LP (living room). For "real" listening. I bring out the LPs and sit down on the couch and just listen.... Digital is more friendly in that I can work while the music is on... or I can cook or do dishes, etc.. But for sheer quality of the music reproduction I find the LP12 is much better.
I think my wife wants to make our living room back to a "living room" instead of an audio salon. I wonder why? The WiiM is my olive branch so she can listen to her stuff in the back of the house while I got my stuff in the front of the house.
I mean she controls the den and that has a Big OLED TV.. who is she to complain about the Maggies in the living room? Huh? Huh?
Two weeks ago I had a Keel and Ekos -2 tonearm mounted... Grado Master 2.... Karousel, Lingo, etc... Pearl 2 and Pearl 3 (op amp rolling)... so many toys.
The sound is changing so much all over my systems... and I happen to have a life -work from home. The overall sound is less lively now, mostly less colorations and the instruments now come from a much blacker background,... it was worth the money. But I got to retune my listening.
Check out lp12bits.com I got the Keel "used"... more like open box for 40% off MSRP...
The LP front end sounds fantastic. It simply blows the digital... although right now the WiiM is in a different set up (home office) as the LP (living room). For "real" listening. I bring out the LPs and sit down on the couch and just listen.... Digital is more friendly in that I can work while the music is on... or I can cook or do dishes, etc.. But for sheer quality of the music reproduction I find the LP12 is much better.
I think my wife wants to make our living room back to a "living room" instead of an audio salon. I wonder why? The WiiM is my olive branch so she can listen to her stuff in the back of the house while I got my stuff in the front of the house.
I mean she controls the den and that has a Big OLED TV.. who is she to complain about the Maggies in the living room? Huh? Huh?
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Thanks for sharing your experience and insights. So you have got bit-perfect feed into your DAC but still not able to better your analog gear. To me the DAC you have may not be good enough. Have you tried other DACs to compare. The LP12 Klimax with Urika-2 is largely digital, >$30k. Perhaps some opportunity to emulate with cheaper gear?
The thread is about a 399 Euro budget audio player. Maybe it is a good time to focus on that again.
I read somewhere that several devices can connect to the WiiM over WiFi concurrently.
I did it once... I had the music streaming over Tidal Connect from a Chromebook and then I used the WiiM Home app in an android tablet because I wanted to see the bit rates ( word width and time rate ). The front panel of the Ultra is too small and it doesn't show that info -at least I can't see it.
What would happen if two devices tried to connect via Tidal connect simultaneously? I suppose I could do it using both my wife's and my account... our family subscription has four accounts.
Another thing... has anyone tried to play local files over a music player like Foobar on the WiiM devices?
I did it once... I had the music streaming over Tidal Connect from a Chromebook and then I used the WiiM Home app in an android tablet because I wanted to see the bit rates ( word width and time rate ). The front panel of the Ultra is too small and it doesn't show that info -at least I can't see it.
What would happen if two devices tried to connect via Tidal connect simultaneously? I suppose I could do it using both my wife's and my account... our family subscription has four accounts.
Another thing... has anyone tried to play local files over a music player like Foobar on the WiiM devices?
Care to share what the tablet is please?! Looking for something half decent with good screen but affordable used, just for Wiim use
OK, I'm using some older Samsung Android Tablets. Nothing special... Normally I buy my tablets from Costco whey they go on sale at $199, then I add a 1TB SD Card into them.
Right now...
Galaxy Tab A7 is the one that I'm using today, running the WiiM home app, so I can monitor the Ultra. Looking at the bit rates. This is about four years old now.
For streaming, I'm running it off an Acer Chromebook. Tidal HiFi ... connect. Paid $199 at Costco ( plus the SD Card from Amazon ). It's about four months old. It has a touchscreen. I got it on a half price sale.
I also tried streaming from my Samsung Note 8. It works fine as well. That one has a 512GB SD card.
It's audio, so it's not like you need a huge amount of bandwidth on them.
Right now...
Galaxy Tab A7 is the one that I'm using today, running the WiiM home app, so I can monitor the Ultra. Looking at the bit rates. This is about four years old now.
For streaming, I'm running it off an Acer Chromebook. Tidal HiFi ... connect. Paid $199 at Costco ( plus the SD Card from Amazon ). It's about four months old. It has a touchscreen. I got it on a half price sale.
I also tried streaming from my Samsung Note 8. It works fine as well. That one has a 512GB SD card.
It's audio, so it's not like you need a huge amount of bandwidth on them.
Sure!
Tab S2, SM-T710
It was recommended and shown on the WIIM site by a member there, thanks to the member I learned about then ordered it.
Rick
Tab S2, SM-T710
It was recommended and shown on the WIIM site by a member there, thanks to the member I learned about then ordered it.
Rick
May cause lockup. Sometimes Tidal connect looses control entirely especially if remote device inactive for long periods - needs WiiM App to restore. Other times I use WiiM App to remotely disable if wife’s choice of music becomes annoying 😒 😊
Right now I'm using the Chromebook to stream the music to the WiiM using Tidal Hifi over WiFi.
Then I'm using WiiM Home to connect to Tidal Connect to the WiiM. I can use it as a remote control as well... FWD/BACK/PAUSE/PLAY.... just like the remote.
But I can not go to the main Tidal home that I see in the Chromebook.
That tells me that Tidal Connect is small piece of software that is running in the WiiM that serves as an "agent". Seems to me like there is a two way connection between Tidal Connect in the WiiM to the Tidal App running in the Chromebook.
The same thing runs also if I run Tidal App in the Samsung Android Tablet as well as WiiM Home.
I guess I'm running it in a rather complex way, but I want to stress the set up to see how it works... Most of the time, with the WiiM Ultra, you'd set up the Tidal App to streaming and then control the Tidal Connect App with the included remote.
I think that for most people using a simple, cheap Android tablet or phone running the audio app ( Tidal, Spotify ) would be sufficient as both remote and WiiM Home monitoring and Remote.. The small included remote is a handy plus just to control the flow of music.
If you use the build in DAC - I don't- then you could also control the volume.
Next, tomorrow, I'll try the Mini with the optical output to the DAC.
Then I'm using WiiM Home to connect to Tidal Connect to the WiiM. I can use it as a remote control as well... FWD/BACK/PAUSE/PLAY.... just like the remote.
But I can not go to the main Tidal home that I see in the Chromebook.
That tells me that Tidal Connect is small piece of software that is running in the WiiM that serves as an "agent". Seems to me like there is a two way connection between Tidal Connect in the WiiM to the Tidal App running in the Chromebook.
The same thing runs also if I run Tidal App in the Samsung Android Tablet as well as WiiM Home.
I guess I'm running it in a rather complex way, but I want to stress the set up to see how it works... Most of the time, with the WiiM Ultra, you'd set up the Tidal App to streaming and then control the Tidal Connect App with the included remote.
I think that for most people using a simple, cheap Android tablet or phone running the audio app ( Tidal, Spotify ) would be sufficient as both remote and WiiM Home monitoring and Remote.. The small included remote is a handy plus just to control the flow of music.
If you use the build in DAC - I don't- then you could also control the volume.
Next, tomorrow, I'll try the Mini with the optical output to the DAC.
You don't need an expensive tablet like that..... in fact, just grab an old one that you have around.
I only paid around $60 or $70 for it in mint condition and the display is very nice to look at so I feel this is not a bad way to go at all.
I did not have a tablet I could use so had to buy one anyway and for that price, not an issue
I bought to use the the Pro Plus then decided I wanted the Ultra so have that now.
I did not have a tablet I could use so had to buy one anyway and for that price, not an issue
I bought to use the the Pro Plus then decided I wanted the Ultra so have that now.
The A7 -I got one- is running Android 12... I also got an A8, using it for something else. The A7 with Android 12 supports the WiiM nicely.
I dug out an A, running Android 8.. that one is too old. It's no longer supported and the Play Store keeps crashing on me.
Which brings me to one of my many beefs.
I have some mid 70s vintage audio units that work fine today... heck, anything that is/was analog is working fine today.
But anything that is digital or uses ANY kind of computer to operate becomes obsolete in four years or so and you can't use it anymore.
Speaking of obsolete... I'm gonna return the WiiM mini... I need the USB interface to the DAC.
I dug out an A, running Android 8.. that one is too old. It's no longer supported and the Play Store keeps crashing on me.
Which brings me to one of my many beefs.
I have some mid 70s vintage audio units that work fine today... heck, anything that is/was analog is working fine today.
But anything that is digital or uses ANY kind of computer to operate becomes obsolete in four years or so and you can't use it anymore.
Speaking of obsolete... I'm gonna return the WiiM mini... I need the USB interface to the DAC.