Hi everyone, I’m new here.
I’ve read loads of great reviews about the WiiM Ultra, but it was Chris Frankland’s comments that finally convinced me to give it a try for a month.
At first, the digital streaming didn’t blow me away. But when I switched to the phono stage, I was genuinely surprised,it sounded far better than I expected, especially next to my 30-year-old Linn Kairn phono stage. I meant to do a quick comparison but ended up listening through a whole album side without even realizing it.
Then I decided to take the Kairn out completely and use the Ultra as a preamp. At first the sound seemed a bit odd, but I noticed the rhythm and drive had really picked up and the track seemed more enjoyable ,eadier to follow the bass playing.My Linn Klout was having a field day with this Ultra thingy .
Unfortunately, there was an annoying hum between tracks. It didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the music but it must have been contributing to the odd sound .
After checking connections, I found that the earth wire connector touching one of phono plugs. Once I moved it away the hum and strange sound disappeared and ive now forgotten what the Kairn sounds like.
Is digital volume control really this good these days?
I'm not saying and dont know which is better at the moment but the Ultra is not stopping me enjoying my records or making me feel the need to go back .Weirdly enough back in the day the the switch mode Kairn made me want to go back to this LPS Kairn,and not saying LPS is better than smps.
One thing I’ve found is that at 2 Vrms output, the volume gets too loud around 25/100, whereas with the Kairn I normally listen around 55/100. Dropping the Ultra to 500 mVrms makes 57/100 feel about right.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? WiiM recommends 2 Vrms for the best signal-to-noise ratio, but 500 mVrms seems more usable in my setup.
The Utra is still going back and itll be interesting to see if I can live without it.
I'm trying the £800 Silent Angel SL1P next month.
Thanks for your time.
I’ve read loads of great reviews about the WiiM Ultra, but it was Chris Frankland’s comments that finally convinced me to give it a try for a month.
At first, the digital streaming didn’t blow me away. But when I switched to the phono stage, I was genuinely surprised,it sounded far better than I expected, especially next to my 30-year-old Linn Kairn phono stage. I meant to do a quick comparison but ended up listening through a whole album side without even realizing it.
Then I decided to take the Kairn out completely and use the Ultra as a preamp. At first the sound seemed a bit odd, but I noticed the rhythm and drive had really picked up and the track seemed more enjoyable ,eadier to follow the bass playing.My Linn Klout was having a field day with this Ultra thingy .
Unfortunately, there was an annoying hum between tracks. It didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the music but it must have been contributing to the odd sound .
After checking connections, I found that the earth wire connector touching one of phono plugs. Once I moved it away the hum and strange sound disappeared and ive now forgotten what the Kairn sounds like.
Is digital volume control really this good these days?
I'm not saying and dont know which is better at the moment but the Ultra is not stopping me enjoying my records or making me feel the need to go back .Weirdly enough back in the day the the switch mode Kairn made me want to go back to this LPS Kairn,and not saying LPS is better than smps.
One thing I’ve found is that at 2 Vrms output, the volume gets too loud around 25/100, whereas with the Kairn I normally listen around 55/100. Dropping the Ultra to 500 mVrms makes 57/100 feel about right.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? WiiM recommends 2 Vrms for the best signal-to-noise ratio, but 500 mVrms seems more usable in my setup.
The Utra is still going back and itll be interesting to see if I can live without it.
I'm trying the £800 Silent Angel SL1P next month.
Thanks for your time.
