Listening impressions with the WiiM Ultra compared to the WiiM pro+ and compared to other streamers

[moe14]

without RC, there was some bominess when using both speakers with sub. Run RC, it shave 12db on 90hz. Now, sounds more balanced. There were some minor cut and boost in the range of frequency but the biggest cut was 90hz.

Thanks for the tip. It helped.

 

[seth_success]

Personally I can’t hear a difference between my Pro and Ultra over coax into my £3.5k Linn nor would I expect to …

I came here to share this. Is anyone able to notice a discernible difference between Ultra or Pro over coax.

Setup

• Denafriaps Ares 12th DAC
• Schitt Freya+
• Schiit Dual Aegir 2
• JBL 530s

Streaming Tidal both sources through the DAC I'm having a trouble hearing much difference between USB on the Ultra and Coax on the Pro. I would say the USB sounds slightly wider but I doubt I could tell blindfolded.

 

[Imsjry]

I came here to share this. Is anyone able to notice a discernible difference between Ultra or Pro over coax.

Setup

• Denafriaps Ares 12th DAC
• Schitt Freya+
• Schiit Dual Aegir 2
• JBL 530s

Streaming Tidal both sources through the DAC I'm having a trouble hearing much difference between USB on the Ultra and Coax on the Pro. I would say the USB sounds slightly wider but I doubt I could tell blindfolded.

I just finished a round of testing with coax from the Pro and USB from the Ultra both feeding my Pontus II DAC. No EQ or room correction and fixed volume on both WiiMs. Using the same tracks from Qobuz hires feeding Focal Clear headphones.

I can absolutely tell the USB from the Ultra sounds more realistic with better definition between instruments then coax from the Pro. BUT, the Pro still sounds wonderful and I’d be perfectly happy with it.

A aside, for some reason I think the treble frequencies sound a bit duller on the Ultra.

 

[Musician]

I just finished a round of testing with coax from the Pro and USB from the Ultra both feeding my Pontus II DAC. No EQ or room correction and fixed volume on both WiiMs. Using the same tracks from Qobuz hires feeding Focal Clear headphones.

I can absolutely tell the USB from the Ultra sounds more realistic with better definition between instruments then coax from the Pro. BUT, the Pro still sounds wonderful and I’d be perfectly happy with it.

A aside, for some reason I think the treble frequencies sound a bit duller on the Ultra.

Nice to have input from people with more expensive dacs , thanks .
Is the pro used with the original smps ? Used as a digital transport, my pro sounds slightly better through coaxial spdif with an iPad charger.

 

[Musician]

I came here to share this. Is anyone able to notice a discernible difference between Ultra or Pro over coax.

Setup

• Denafriaps Ares 12th DAC
• Schitt Freya+
• Schiit Dual Aegir 2
• JBL 530s

Streaming Tidal both sources through the DAC I'm having a trouble hearing much difference between USB on the Ultra and Coax on the Pro. I would say the USB sounds slightly wider but I doubt I could tell blindfolded.

Nice to have your input

 

[adias]

It all depends on the DAC being used. For DACs with great filtered ports and precision clocks yes absolutely.

 

[Musician]

It all depends on the DAC being used. For DACs with great filtered ports and precision clocks yes absolutely.

Maybe its hard to hear any difference if both spdif and usb inputs in the dac are done in a good way ?
And maybe the other way to, if the dac is poorly made it might sound the same on all inputs ?

 

[adias]

Maybe its hard to hear any difference if both spdif and usb inputs in the dac are done in a good way ?
And maybe the other way to, if the dac is poorly made it might sound the same on all inputs ?

However good the S/PDIF implementation is USB should have an advantage because the DAC controls the clock.

 

[Imsjry]

And no offense to the Ultra as it’s very fine, but I just need a budget streamer with a coax and USB output without the DAC, screen, and all the inputs.

 

[Musician]

However good the S/PDIF implementation is USB should have an advantage because the DAC controls the clock.

Thats true, but remember usb also has a potential issue and that is usb packaging noise at 8 KHz . Thats why spdif sometimes sounds better.

 

[Imsjry]

Streaming Music Receiver SR11

The SR11 is a high-performance lossless streaming music receiver, also known as a music streamer, supporting various network streaming protocols. When paired with an external decoder, it allows you to easily set up a streaming HiFi system, enabling you to enjoy high-bitrate lossless streaming audio.

www.fiio.com

This looks perfect but no Qobus support which is what I use. Darn.

 

[onlyoneme]

This looks perfect but no Qobus support which is what I use. Darn.

It does not support any streaming service. It supports airplay and Roon instead

 

[adias]

It does not support any streaming service. It supports airplay and Roon instead

A great advantage of WiiM is supporting Chromecast a great way to cast.

 

[Imsjry]

A great advantage of WiiM is supporting Chromecast a great way to cast.

I find it a little clunky from Qobuz and notice the sound isn’t as good as using the WiiM app. I think it uses much more of my phone battery too.

 

[harkpabst]

I find it a little clunky from Qobuz and notice the sound isn’t as good as using the WiiM app. I think it uses much more of my phone battery too.

Chromecast hardly puts any strain on your phone batteries. It does the same thing as the WiiM Home App: It tells your WiiM which resource to retrieve from the streaming service and that's it. I don't know how well or how bad Qobuz might have integrated Chromecast.

 

[adias]

I find it a little clunky from Qobuz and notice the sound isn’t as good as using the WiiM app. I think it uses much more of my phone battery too.

WiiM is debugging Chromecast on Ultra. It is not working for anything above 48kHz.

Chromecast is a great handoff mechanism. You can start it in an app and shut down the app as the chromecast receiver takes over. AirPlay and Bluetooth requires the sender to continue sending, not Chromecast.

 

[adias]

Chromecast hardly puts any strain on your phone batteries. It does the same thing as the WiiM Home App: It tells your WiiM which resource to retrieve from the streaming service and that's it. I don't know how well or how bad Qobuz might have integrated Chromecast.

The problem is in the Ultra not Qobuz.

 

[Smartplug]

WiiM is debugging Chromecast on Ultra. It is not working for anything above 48kHz.

Chromecast is a great handoff mechanism. You can start it in an app and shut down the app as the chromecast receiver takes over. AirPlay and Bluetooth requires the sender to continue sending, not Chromecast.

Why this chromecast is different from other wiim? Is this a better version?

 

[harkpabst]

The problem is in the Ultra not Qobuz.

Your statement is unrelated to what I wrote.

 

[adias]

Your statement is unrelated to what I wrote.

I was agreeing with you adding that the problem was not with Qobuz.