Aux-In Latency

[jeffpm]

Hello all,
I am trying to set up a budget whole-house audio solution and the WiiM mini looks like a perfect fit for me. I want to use the line-out on my Yamaha network receiver, and connect to a Wiim mini via aux-in. From there, I'd have a WiiM mini in every room where I want audio. My question is: if I have the receiver connected to speakers and playing music, how much latency should I expect on the mini devices over Wi-Fi? Will the latency be noticeable?

I want to go with this approach as I use my network receiver for Spotify and also my turntable, and would rather not buy a separate phono preamp and rely on the mini's DAC for everything. My primary listening room is in the living room with the receiver, and the additional rooms would be more supplemental or background audio.
Thank you!

 

[Wiimer]

Hello all,
I am trying to set up a budget whole-house audio solution and the WiiM mini looks like a perfect fit for me. I want to use the line-out on my Yamaha network receiver, and connect to a Wiim mini via aux-in. From there, I'd have a WiiM mini in every room where I want audio. My question is: if I have the receiver connected to speakers and playing music, how much latency should I expect on the mini devices over Wi-Fi? Will the latency be noticeable?

I want to go with this approach as I use my network receiver for Spotify and also my turntable, and would rather not buy a separate phono preamp and rely on the mini's DAC for everything. My primary listening room is in the living room with the receiver, and the additional rooms would be more supplemental or background audio.
Thank you!

Hi,

I don't know if this will help you.

I have a WiiM amp connected to the front pre-out of my Yamaha AV receiver. There is a big delay when going through the WiiM amp. The front speakers lag behind other surround speakers, so I adjusted the speaker distance in Ypao.

As you can see in this image, the distance between the front speakers has been changed from 2m to 19m to eliminate the delay. If your receiver is equipped with Ypao, you may be able to do the same.


However, I haven't tried this on a WiiM Mini, so I don't know how much lag there is on the Mini.

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

The minis would be grouped, and this in itself introduces a delay.
For example, if I have tv optical into one of my wiims and my wiims are grouped, I get somewhere in the region of 0.5 to 1 sec delay on all wiims.
Not measured it precicely, but it's waaaay too big to watch tv due to lip sync.

For spotify, I'd have the main room mini going optical in to the receiver (seeing as it's a network streamer it has an optical input, surely) and cast to that instead of the receiver, and this way all rooms can be in sync.
The real issue, if it is one, is that the turntable into the receiver then out to grouped wiims will be pretty significantly delayed in the other rooms, unless you can do something like @Wiimer suggested.

 

[jeffpm]

@Wiimer thank you for the suggestion, unfortunately it's a stereo receiver and does not have any ypao functionality. I looked to see if there were any options to introduce a delay but there isn't.

@Mr Ee thank you for the feedback on the latency with grouped Wiims. I was hoping to have a comprehensive (streaming and turntable) solution that wouldn't sacrifice any audio quality from my turntable to receiver. Perhaps I need to save up for a Wiim amp and separate phono preamp to get what I truly desire.

 

[Mr Ee]

@Wiimer thank you for the suggestion, unfortunately it's a stereo receiver and does not have any ypao functionality. I looked to see if there were any options to introduce a delay but there isn't.

@Mr Ee thank you for the feedback on the latency with grouped Wiims. I was hoping to have a comprehensive (streaming and turntable) solution that wouldn't sacrifice any audio quality from my turntable to receiver. Perhaps I need to save up for a Wiim amp and separate phono preamp to get what I truly desire.

If you are happy with your receiver as an amplifier then I think a wiim pro plus and a phono preamp may well be a better option than a wiim amp.
But note that some here have had some issues with some phono preamps into wiims. Essentially a gain thing I believe, maybe do a search or maybe someone else will chime in here. Again.

 

[Wiimer]

@Wiimer thank you for the suggestion, unfortunately it's a stereo receiver and does not have any ypao functionality. I looked to see if there were any options to introduce a delay but there isn't.

@Mr Ee thank you for the feedback on the latency with grouped Wiims. I was hoping to have a comprehensive (streaming and turntable) solution that wouldn't sacrifice any audio quality from my turntable to receiver. Perhaps I need to save up for a Wiim amp and separate phono preamp to get what I truly desire.

If you're not in a hurry, I think waiting for the WiiM Ultra with a phono input is also worth considering.

WiiM Ultra

As mentioned in a user reply from the WiiM/Linkplay CEO on the WiiM Fan Page on Facebook, WiiM are developing a new device called the WiiM Ultra which will have a screen, aluminium case and USB audio output. It should be available Q2 2024, so a good five to six months away. Guess @Smartplug is...

forum.wiimhome.com

 

[Mr Ee]

Budget...