Beginner Question: comparatively low volume from RCA input

[aka_ogden]

Hi! Made the jump from portable Bluetooth speakers to a WiiM Amp Pro and passive speakers this month, and I am so overjoyed with the quality of life improvements.

One thing I’m confused about: with wifi streaming through the app, my happy neutral volume setting is around 30. With 1/8” to RCA in from my laptop, it’s more like 90 (and sometimes 100 isn’t quite enough, with source volume levels set as high as possible). Have I chosen a convoluted or otherwise unadvisable way to connect, or is this a scenario where I may just need a separate preamp?

The use case for this is reviewing draft mixes from my group’s mixing engineer through FilePass, so I don’t think there’s a way for me to do that without the laptop.

 

[d6jg]

Use a USB to Optical converter and connect to the WiiMs Optical input. Set the laptop volume at 100%.

 

[harkpabst]

@aka_ogden, using a digital input and generally watching the laptop volume setting are the best way to go.

Just in case you still want or need to use the RCA (line input) of your WiiM Amp Pro and the input source is low volume, you can apply (positive) pre-gain to this input from within the WiiM Home App. See device settings (the cog icon on the device card) => Audio Input => Pre-Gain.

Adding too much pre-gain can cause digital clipping, so it should only be applied if the source is really low in level. But if it is, it's a perfectly valid way to achieve the desired volume.

 

[aka_ogden]

@harkpabst thank you for this! It sounds like I should just go the optical route, but this is really helpful context