Audiopro A26 with WiiM Ultra

[FunkmasterP]

Hello everyone,

I have a pair of Audiopro A26 bookshelf speakers as per the thread title. Would there be any benefit to adding an Ultra to my setup or would it just be an expensive way to display album art? For reference I'm using the A26 for movies, games and music. HDMI ARC would be used for the TV. Leaving optical or AUX out for music.

Any help and advice appreciated

 

[Burnside]

The ultra would give you access to room correction that the Audiopro wouldn’t, plus could give you an opening into using Dolby Digital 5.1 wireless playback with other WiiM devices/speakers for movies.

 

[FunkmasterP]

Thanks for the response. I'm assuming there would be no benefits to audio quality for music or movies?

 

[Burnside]

Thanks for the response. I'm assuming there would be no benefits to audio quality for music or movies?

For music , I guess the ultra might offer something as it supports Qobuz Connect and Amazon Music AlexaCast that the AudioPro’s won’t - not even sure that they support Tidal Connect from the quick look I’ve had at their manual/spec. I guess the Ultra could output up to 24/192 over optical into the A26 (assuming it could handle that), but if the A26’s stereo pair are using Linkplay grouping, then that’ll be reduced to 16/48 anyway. So while the Ultra may support more music services and means of connection (casting etc) , any audio benefit beyond 16/48 might be lost at the speaker end.

In terms of movies, that resolution limit might not be an issue given that’s ll you’d normally get from a tv, but the Ultra does have a sub output I forgot to mention that might be of benefit for watching movies as well.

 

[FunkmasterP]

Thanks for all the advice. It looks like the A26 can output upto 24/96 so I'm assuming no benefit from the Ultra in that regard. I think I will just stick to HDMI ARC for TV and WiFi streaming direct to the speakers for Tidal. I just have to stick with the rudimentary Audiopro app for using Tidal. I was hoping there'd be a way to utilise the better DAC on the Ultra but it appears not.

I might invest in an audiopro sub instead as they're a similar price.

 

[harkpabst]

I'm assuming there would be no benefits to audio quality for music or movies?

Why would audio quality for music or movies not benefit from room correction? That's what room correction is made for, providing better audio quality in real world rooms.

I just have to stick with the rudimentary Audiopro app for using Tidal. I was hoping there'd be a way to utilise the better DAC on the Ultra but it appears not.

The A26 has an analogue input, so you could connect the analogue output provided by the WiiM Ultra's better DAC to it.

 

[FunkmasterP]

The only analogue input is a 3.5mm aux. Would the DAC in the speaker not convert this? I don't think room correction alone is worth the cost of the unit.

 

[harkpabst]

The only analogue input is a 3.5mm aux. Would the DAC in the speaker not convert this? I don't think room correction alone is worth the cost of the unit.

A DAC cannot convert an analogue signal.

The A26 my use an ADC to convert the analogue input into a digital signal before its DAC converts it to analogue again. I don't know if this is the case. Look it up in the manual. If so, you cannot bypass the internal DAC.

 

[FunkmasterP]

Thanks again for all the advice and answers. I might give it a go with an RCA to Aux cable and swap to optical, see if I can hear a difference. It would be good to have Tidal connect from the Ultra as opposed to having to use the Audiopro app. Just deciding if other features are worth the price.

 

[FunkmasterP]

So I got the Ultra today. I must say room correction makes a difference to the overall sound of the speakers. I'm running music through optical as I couldn't get aux to work for some reason. All working fine at 24 bit 192kHZ with output set to max on Tidal app.

The firmware update worked on both the Ultra and the A26. The only downside so far is that the voice remote won't work with Tidal. I have the TV hooked up through HDMI ARC but not tested yet. I'm impressed so far.

 

[FunkmasterP]

Sorry! One more question. I've been playing with volume settings and to keep it simple I've set the Audiopro to max so I can control from the WiiM with phone, remote, TV remote or manually on the WiiM. I've tried lower volume on the WiiM and using the volume on the speakers but this cuts out the multiple control options. I can't tell any difference and just wondered if this was okay to do?