24bit 96khz and up buffering

[CJ Heitz]

My Wiim Mini for the last few months has been dropping out while playing HD music on Amazon Music. Anything over 24bit 48khz will randomly drop out/buffer. The network status says it's "Excellent" and the mesh point is within 3 ft of the Mini. I've been waiting for an update that might fix it but, it's still doing it. Super annoying. The system is:

Emotiva TA1 ( capable of 24/192)
Emotiva A2
Wiim Mini

The network is Comcast Business Gigabit running through a Google Wifi Mesh with 4 points. I've tried everything I can. It worked flawlessly for a long time. Then a few months ago just started pooping out.

 

[merifon]

My Wiim Mini for the last few months has been dropping out while playing HD music on Amazon Music. Anything over 24bit 48khz will randomly drop out/buffer. The network status says it's "Excellent" and the mesh point is within 3 ft of the Mini. I've been waiting for an update that might fix it but, it's still doing it. Super annoying. The system is:

Emotiva TA1 ( capable of 24/192)
Emotiva A2
Wiim Mini

The network is Comcast Business Gigabit running through a Google Wifi Mesh with 4 points. I've tried everything I can. It worked flawlessly for a long time. Then a few months ago just started pooping out.

Did you try another toslink cable?

 

[CJ Heitz]

Did you try another toslink cable?

I haven't. Do they just go bad?

 

[Mr Ee]

I haven't. Do they just go bad?

Probably not all by themselves, but too much bending / flexing can cause issues.
Have you tried the analog output? If that has the same issue then it would seem to be a connection problem rather than a digital output / cable problem.
Also, what happens if you set the mini output to 48khz max? Again, this should show whether it's connection or cable.

 

[CJ Heitz]

Probably not all by themselves, but too much bending / flexing can cause issues.
Have you tried the analog output? If that has the same issue then it would seem to be a connection problem rather than a digital output / cable problem.
Also, what happens if you set the mini output to 48khz max? Again, this should show whether it's connection or cable.

Shouldn't be too much bending or flexing the Mini is next to the receiver. I didn't specifically set the Mini to 48khz but it definitely would play anything at 48khz and below without issue. Since posting this I mounted the Mini to the wall with double sided tape a bit further away to make the Toslink cable straighter and it hasn't buffed/dropped out.

Any cable recommendations?

I've been using FOS Audio cables from Amazon for years without issue but, this may be my first.

 

[Mr Ee]

Shouldn't be too much bending or flexing the Mini is next to the receiver. I didn't specifically set the Mini to 48khz but it definitely would play anything at 48khz and below without issue. Since posting this I mounted the Mini to the wall with double sided tape a bit further away to make the Toslink cable straighter and it hasn't buffed/dropped out.

Any cable recommendations?

I've been using FOS Audio cables from Amazon for years without issue but, this may be my first.

If straightening the toslink cable has fixed it, then I'd say it must have had too tight a bend for the high sample rate signals to 'flow' properly. Yes, this is a real thing!!
My suggestion re. setting mini to 48 max was to see if a higher input, say 96, that the mini downsampled to 48 then sent out over optical worked or not. If not, then it's an incoming signal issue, if so then it's an optical output/cable issue.

Many seem to do fine with the supplied optical cable.

 

[CJ Heitz]

If straightening the toslink cable has fixed it, then I'd say it must have had too tight a bend for the high sample rate signals to 'flow' properly. Yes, this is a real thing!!
My suggestion re. setting mini to 48 max was to see if a higher input, say 96, that the mini downsampled to 48 then sent out over optical worked or not. If not, then it's an incoming signal issue, if so then it's an optical output/cable issue.

Many seem to do fine with the supplied optical cable.

Ok. I spoke too soon. It just popped out on a 24/44.1 track. I swapped back to the cable supplied and set the output of the Mini to 48khz max. Will test and report back.

Thanks for all the feedback so far!

I do love this Mini. It's sound quality smokes the Google Audio.

 

[Mr Ee]

Also check that the optical connection is tight at both ends.

 

[CJ Heitz]

Also check that the optical connection is tight at both ends.

The cable is secure. I heard a click at both ends. It's now dropping out with 16/44.1 tracks. Seems to have gotten worse with the factory cable. Leads me to believe it's a cable problem.

Any cable recommendations or these two are just bad-ish

 

[CJ Heitz]

It's just garbage now. The Wiim Home app is becoming unresponsive and it won't play even 16/44.1 tracks. It will just drop in and out and only play about 20 seconds of a 3 minute song. Starting to think it is either an app issue or Mini issue.

I'm perplexed how it could play fine for a couple hours then just not play anything.

 

[Wiimer]

Have you tried reinstalling the app and factory resetting your device?

 

[CJ Heitz]

Have you tried reinstalling the app and factory resetting your device?

I did, accidentally, factory reset the Mini earlier in this thread. I just swapped back to the FOS Power Toslink and rebooted the Mini. So far so good but, only 2 songs in. I'm hesitant to reinstall the app because I have a lot of time setting the graphic eq. I guess I could screenshot it....

If it's better with this cable then I think it's the cable because I'm seeing a difference between the cables.

The weird part is the Wiim Home app becoming unresponsive.

 

[Wiimer]

I did, accidentally, factory reset the Mini earlier in this thread. I just swapped back to the FOS Power Toslink and rebooted the Mini. So far so good but, only 2 songs in. I'm hesitant to reinstall the app because I have a lot of time setting the graphic eq. I guess I could screenshot it....

If it's better with this cable then I think it's the cable because I'm seeing a difference between the cables.

The weird part is the Wiim Home app becoming unresponsive.

Do you have the same problem with streaming other than Amazon music?

 

[Wiimer]

Also, if you have access to AlexaCast, check to see if you have the same problem.

 

[CJ Heitz]

Do you have the same problem with streaming other than Amazon music?

I only use Amazon Music through the Wiim Home app. I would use YouTube music but it isn't available on the Mini. I have sailed through about 4 songs at 24/48 and it just dropped out while typing this. I am leaning towards it being a cable issue because it's better with this one over the other I tried earlier.

Any cable recommendations?

 

[CJ Heitz]

Also, if you have access to AlexaCast, check to see if you have the same problem.

I don't use Alexa. I have all Google Home products.

 

[CJ Heitz]

Every time I think I have it figured out it messes up. Now it is dropping out on every song. Regardless of bit rate. Closing the app and reopening doesn't matter. Cable doesn't seem to matter too much.

When it "drops out" the app even keeps scrubbing backwards to where it's actually playing when it does start playing but it could have silence for almost 30 seconds then play for a few seconds and drop out again.

When it started happening I thought it was a network issue but, now I'm leaning towards a bad Mini.

Dunno.

 

[Wiimer]

I used the cable that came with the Mini and the Amazon basic cable. There were no problems with either of them. But now I'm using AUX.

The recommended cable has been introduced by someone in another thread. Please try searching.

 

[Wiimer]

Every time I think I have it figured out it messes up. Now it is dropping out on every song. Regardless of bit rate. Closing the app and reopening doesn't matter. Cable doesn't seem to matter too much.

When it "drops out" the app even keeps scrubbing backwards to where it's actually playing when it does start playing but it could have silence for almost 30 seconds then play for a few seconds and drop out again.

When it started happening I thought it was a network issue but, now I'm leaning towards a bad Mini.

Dunno.

Want to try Spotify for free?
I think we need to see if it's just an Amazon issue.

However, it is also possible that your mini has been broken. Please don't forget to submit a ticket to support from feedback.

 

[CJ Heitz]

As a last ditch effort I've uninstalled the app and reinstalled it. Thankfully the eq settings were somehow retained. Testing now.

How do submit a ticket?