Arcam A25 + WiiM pro

[ralas]

Hey everyone,

Sorry if this is a silly question I'm very new to the hifi world.

I have an arcam A25 and up until recently i used the usbc connection with my phone to play hi res music from tidal. When doing so, on the display it shows PCM and the kHz.

But recently i purchased a WiiM pro and have connected it via coax and still using tidal but now PCM is no longer showing on the display, just the varying kHz.

Am i doing something wrong? or do i have my wires crossed (pun intended) with how this all works?

Cheers

 

[Brantome]

Which app is displaying what when? I’m a little confused

 

[ralas]

Which app is displaying what when? I’m a little confused

Sorry should have clarified, on my amps display it shows pcm and kHz while phone is connected via usbc. But the display only shows kHz when using Wiim pro via coax. Both instances using tidal.

 

[Brantome]

Thanks. That would suggest that your phone is using its internal DAC and converting the digital stream to PCM before sending it out over usb, while the WiiM is sending the digital stream over its coax and passing the job of digital to analogue conversion to your Arcam.

 

[ralas]

Thanks. That would suggest that your phone is using its internal DAC and converting the digital stream to PCM before sending it out over usb, while the WiiM is sending the digital stream over its coax and passing the job of digital to analogue conversion to your Arcam.

Ah i see, thanks for explaining that. So the other potentially silly question is am i getting lesser sound quality using the WiiM via coax?

 

[DRC]

That would suggest that your phone is using its internal DAC and converting the digital stream to PCM

PCM is digital. My guess is that the USB can handle PCM and DSD but the coax can handle only PCM so there is no need to display that it is PCM with coax.

 

[Brantome]

Ah i see, thanks for explaining that. So the other potentially silly question is am i getting lesser sound quality using the WiiM via coax?

The WiiM devices are “bit perfect” in that whatever they receive is passed on without any unwanted change so no information is lost. The “sound” part comes later when your Arcam converts it from digital to analogue (hence DAC - digital to analogue convertor) to send the audio to your speakers.
You can also try connecting the WiiM via its analog line out connections into your Arcam and compare it to the coax connection - in the former case you’d be using the DAC in the WiiM and not the DAC in the Arcam.

Decide which you prefer - there’s no universal ‘best’ as it all depends on the rest of your kit, speakers, room acoustics, preferences, ears and brain which will be different to everyone else’s

 

[ABAstroUK]

Hi. I have a similar setup to you with an Audiolab 7000A amp rather than the Arcam. My Wiim Pro Plus is connected to the Optical Out so using the DAC on the Amp. I also have it connected through the analog RCA inputs (using the Wiim DAC). Interestingly, when playing via the Optical in, my Amp displays PCM and kHz (dependant on the source) whereas through the analog in it doesn't show either (as it's being sent an analog signal) so it seems that the Arcam is slightly different in what it displays. I'd be interested to hear which sounds best to you, either the WiiM DAC or the Arcam DAC?

PS I'm streaming from Amazon Music Unlimited rather than Tidal.

 

[Brantome]

PCM is digital. My guess is that the USB can handle PCM and DSD but the coax can handle only PCM so there is no need to display that it is PCM with coax.

Sorry, another senior moment on my part - at least I have age as an excuse