Amp ultra review

[EddNog]

Respectfully, it's puzzling that he would reacon that the Ultra+Vibelink would sound better than the Amp Ultra. That's not a very credible comment is it? I have subscribed to Cheap Audio Man for about 6 months. While he is a good source of information on new products he seems to always be in a rush except for promoting products that he receives incentives on. He's not he only one. I do like his excitement but his discussions are always rushed leaving out a lot of detail. I have unsubscribed to quite a few but kept him. Still can't decide if his channel is worth the time. Oh well.

His earlier stuff was better and reasonably oriented towards achieving decent sound on a budget. Over time he became more of a shill, and has weird subjective takes to boot, not sure if in order just to differentiate himself/his channel. I haven't unsubscribed, but mostly because I like it when he reviews something from a manufacturer I haven't heard of or haven't see new stuff from lately (his Geshelli Labs and Schiit reviews are cool). If I had to be partial to any...subjectivist...content producers on YouTube, I lean away from Old Guy HiFi and Cheap Audio Man and more towards Passion for Sound and Darko Audio, if I really had to choose. Tharbarmar is okay, as well; however, I don't take any one of these people for gospel given it's all subjective anyway.

Frankly, I'll take real measurements and my own ears first before anything subjective I find on the internet nowadays since half the stuff they say really is just in their heads.

-Ed

 

[Danny Linguini]

His earlier stuff was better and reasonably oriented towards achieving decent sound on a budget. Over time he became more of a shill, and has weird subjective takes to boot, not sure if in order just to differentiate himself/his channel. I haven't unsubscribed, but mostly because I like it when he reviews something from a manufacturer I haven't heard of or haven't see new stuff from lately (his Geshelli Labs and Schiit reviews are cool). If I had to be partial to any...subjectivist...content producers on YouTube, I lean away from Old Guy HiFi and Cheap Audio Man and more towards Passion for Sound and Darko Audio, if I really had to choose. Tharbarmar is okay, as well; however, I don't take any one of these people for gospel given it's all subjective anyway.

Frankly, I'll take real measurements and my own ears first before anything subjective I find on the internet nowadays since half the stuff they say really is just in their heads.

-Ed

I don’t subscribe to anybody because, well, I just loathe the whole ‘like me and subscribe’ thing. STFU and get a real job. That being said, when I go review hunting, I try to wade through the subjectivity and find commonalities among the various reviewers. Outliers one way or the other are usually easy to spot and go to the bottom of the GaS (give a s**t) list, and the rest generally coagulate into a valuable opinion. In fact I just went through the process researching a sub. Other than some wildly varying opinions on ported vs sealed cabinets, the one I settled on was pretty much universally praised for punching above its weight.

 

[Wiimer]

The only international review channels I watch are ASR, Erin's Audio Corner and The Hook Up

 

[EddNog]

The only international review channels I watch are ASR, Erin's Audio Corner and The Hook Up

Erin’s great; I just didn’t lump him in under the category of subjectivists; he’s 90% objectivist (as opposed to 110% objectivist ASR).

-Ed

 

[Machiavelli]

Beitrag von Erin's Audio Corner

One thing I have a hard time with is not caring what some people think. Especially ignoring the negative comments. For some reason, I can have 9 positive com...

youtube.com

 

[harkpabst]

Erin is OK, indeed.

The fact that he didn't get along too well with
"the one other objective guy that doesn’t run ads ..." and
"... owns a custom install business that sells product and recently took on distribution of another up-and-coming speaker brand"
doesn't speak against him.

 

[DariuszP]

Yet another review with "highly recommended" conclusion --> https://www.ecoustics.com/reviews/wiim-amp-ultra-2025/

 

[Burnside]

Yet another review with "highly recommended" conclusion --> https://www.ecoustics.com/reviews/wiim-amp-ultra-2025/

Another reviewer who is either unaware of AlexaCast or perhaps who is in a region where it’s unavailable…

 

[purpleyams]

Erin is OK, indeed.

The fact that he didn't get along too well with
"the one other objective guy that doesn’t run ads ..." and
"... owns a custom install business that sells product and recently took on distribution of another up-and-coming speaker brand"
doesn't speak against him.

Is he talking about Amir?

 

[harkpabst]

Is he talking about Amir?

Sure.

Amir just became the US distributor for AsciLab speakers.

 

[DariuszP]

Another reviewer who is either unaware of AlexaCast or perhaps who is in a region where it’s unavailable…

Well, the functionality list is so long that it is probably not possible to grasp all of them why you are just a reviewer, not a long-term user. And even being "user-enthusiast" (my case) does not guarantee that you will understand all the functions and options - e.g. I still do not really know how to steer WiiM via Alexa voice commands - in most cases I get the answer that a particular function is not supported. Btw: have any of you encountered a comprehensive list of commands working with Alexa? E.g. is it possible to trigger a preset?

 

[Burnside]

Well, the functionality list is so long that it is probably not possible to grasp all of them why you are just a reviewer, not a long-term user. And even being "user-enthusiast" (my case) does not guarantee that you will understand all the functions and options - e.g. I still do not really know how to steer WiiM via Alexa voice commands - in most cases I get the answer that a particular function is not supported. Btw: have any of you encountered a comprehensive list of commands working with Alexa? E.g. is it possible to trigger a preset?

If my comment only appears as an afternote on the article, at least it draws attention to what is still a unique selling point for WiiM devices. I know of no other third party devices that support bit perfect casting up to 24/192 from the Amazon music app. That alone should make it noteworthy enough for inclusion in a review.

In terms of Alexa commands specific to WiiM devices, there’s a faq in the WiiM support pages: https://faq.wiimhome.com/en/support...my-wiim-voice-remote-and-wiim-voice-remote-2-

That page used to list commands to open presets but WiiM never implemented those commands and the latest version of that page now omits them.

In terms of general voice commands to control music playback, this blog (despite not having been updated for a while) contains a very comprehensive list: https://www.smartenlight.com/alexa-music-voice-commands/

 

[DariuszP]

In terms of Alexa commands specific to WiiM devices, there’s a faq in the WiiM support pages: https://faq.wiimhome.com/en/support...my-wiim-voice-remote-and-wiim-voice-remote-2-

Thank you very much for your help, but actually most of those commends do not work for me - they rather trigger streamer in my Denon AVR, not WiiM. Even if I use WiiM remote and also add to the commend the Wiim's name as assigned in Alexa. I think I can only: change source, mute / unmute and change volume. Very frustrating experience. EDIT: It is a kind of strange that there is no WiiM Alexa skill that could make this more usable?

 

[Burnside]

Maybe a refresher on basic use as per the first half of this post might help.

https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/...usic-problems-getting-started.2016/post-30459

It sounds like you might have the Denon set as preferred speaker in the room group containing the echo you’re asking. Also, note the advice in that link to simplify the name of your WiiM device in the Alexa app - Alexa has problems understanding “WiiM” as part of its name and that’s why my Mini is called “puck” (clearly ) . Maybe that’s why using the remote and the WiiM device name isn’t functioning.

Also, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s probably the case that WiiM devices having been implemented using the Alexa MRM precludes a skill being written for their device specific functions - I don’t know of any skill that controls an echo device for example. It looks like they are implemented using the Amazon AVR model, so selecting inputs is supported but opening presets isn’t as that’s not a generic avr command.