Re your “annoyances”, the best way to get WiiM’s attention and get fixes on their roadmap (if users here can’t help) is to submit a ticket thru the WiiM Home app, with a separate bug/feature request ticket for each item. That helps focus their attention and categorise the issue - the more feedback they get on a particular issue, the better the chance of them fixing it.
24bit toslink out to DAC broken. Wiim fixed it for me!.
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Longfellow78
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So I seem to have worked out some of the issue. It is something to do with the linking my android phone and the Ultra with amazon music. When the ultra is in standalone mode or with the wiim app it works 90% of the time (still has problems sometimes with alexa occasionally) and very quick.
But when I connect with my phone through amazon music it seems to have problems, it seems to get confused. there seems to be two ways to connect - chromecast, and the regular wifi linking. Both are buggy and this is the cause of my problems and when I use the voice control on the remote the phone and the wiim get out of sync. Seems to be something to do with joining vs controlling the session. This didn't happen on the pro.
I tried with an old iphone it works a little better, but still glitchy.
The USB music streaming works perfectly though.
But when I connect with my phone through amazon music it seems to have problems, it seems to get confused. there seems to be two ways to connect - chromecast, and the regular wifi linking. Both are buggy and this is the cause of my problems and when I use the voice control on the remote the phone and the wiim get out of sync. Seems to be something to do with joining vs controlling the session. This didn't happen on the pro.
I tried with an old iphone it works a little better, but still glitchy.
The USB music streaming works perfectly though.
No such thing as regular WiFi linking. It's either Google Chromecast or Amazon AlexaCast, which is a streaming protocol, not a device.
WiiM confirmed that the Ultra uses a new "Chromecast" stack, which Google seems to enforce, and seems to be called CastLite. Well possible that there are still some things to iron out, unfortunately.
Longfellow78
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Very interesting. So what I mean then is, when the phone is out of the loop, and it is connecting directly to the Internet with phone off, it works fine. So this is presumably alexacast? But if it's connected to the phone, it messes up. But I think there are two ways the phone connects. One is clearly chrome cast, the other I think is where the phone acts as the remote to tell the player what to play, but the "data" comes from the Internet. It is the communication between the phone and the device which is messing up.. That's my amateur guess.
That exactly is the AlexaCast bit, working in a very similar way as Chromecast.
Unfortunately, that's where my experience ends. I don't have Amazon Music Unlimited, but just the Prime plan, which makes AM almost unusable.
Longfellow78
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I fixed it! It was setting the optical connection to 24 bit that was the problem. When I switched it to 16 bit it seems to work fine now! That's why it was working with some tracks and not others. Any that were playing in 24bit with the wiim set to 24 bit were causing the messing up. But 16bit songs played fine. That's why it was so erratic. This fixed all issues. Seeing as humans basically can't tell the difference between 16 and 24 bit this is no great loss. Weird tho!
Sorry, I can't remember your setup, what DAC in use?
Maybe a different optical cable could work, but usually I rather notice problem reports with higher sampling frequencies, not with a higher bit depth.
Anyway, I agree that 16 bit as the final output to the DAC is probably good enough.
Changing your post title to proclaim not to use 24 bit is misleading and wrong - it might not work for you and your DAC/cable, but I and others can assure you 24 bit Amazon Music does work with the Ultra and other WiiM devices...
It shouldn't require such workaround but the whole story is a bit weird to me. Which protocol do you use to control the playback with AM? Can you post the screenshot?
Longfellow78
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I have the wiim optical cable into my smsl do400. That's the answer. It's outputting optical in 24 bit. When I play straight from the Ultra into my headphones it works.
When I switch to optical 24bit it messes up. This is a wiim problem, not my smsl I am
It's an smsl do400. Yes this was definitely the problem. Playing 24 bit into the direct is fine. It is sending the signal out of it by toslink that causes the issue. I will buy a coax cable and see if that fixes it.
Longfellow78
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Fair enough. I changed it. Toslink 24bit out seems to be bugged. I tried it not even plugged into anything same problem.
Longfellow78
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100% I found the problem. Whenever Android phone connected to the Ultra via Chromecast or the other way (not sure if it's Chromecast or something else) And the Ultra outputs 24bit via toslink to a DAC, Amazon Music will lag out when playing 24bit tracks. And the voice remote wont work. It's fine with 16 bit tracks. When phone not connected, it works fine. Have tested this 10 times now. 100% consistent results. Buying a coax cable to test that. Will report back.
Fine here casting via AlexaCast from my iPad’s Amazon Music app to my Ultra over optical into my amp…
It's quite important because Chromecast is really buggy currently on the Ultra. Does your DAC report the sample rate of the stream?
Longfellow78
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It's very confusing. But I bought a coaxial cable to see if that works. That's what I used with my wiim Pro and never had this issue. Maybe there is some weird interaction between my DAC and the toslink.... But that doesn't make sense as it only messes up when Android is involved. Using it with the phone disconnected works fine. Someone smarter than me will have to work it out. My solution is play in 16 bit or try a coax.
Longfellow78
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Yes it does. It correctly shows 44 48 or 96
Longfellow78
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So are you using the DAC in the Ultra or is it a dac amp? I'm guessing the latter otherwise you would be outputting analogue to your amp? If so mine isn't working in the same config as yours.... That suggests it's an android issue with amazon music. I do have an iPhone that seemed to work better. But it wasn't perfect.Fine here casting via AlexaCast from my iPad’s Amazon Music app to my Ultra over optical into my amp…
View attachment 9970
Ok, if it shows the same sample rate as shown in WHA app, then you do not use a Chromecast.
BTW, what happens if you use WHA to play AM? Is it bugged also?
In the Amazon music app, open Device Connections and make sure Ultra is connected to Alexa Cast.
Alexacast is a round icon, Chromecast is a square icon.
