Meet WiiM Ultra - The Digital Hub for Your Music

[alpha_zulu]

If what you suggest doesn't drain the battery like I experienced I could get away with a Wiim puck. Of course, I would not turn the tablet off because I would need to leave it on to make selections and such.

The only thing you need to do is installing the WiiM Home app on your tablet and select "wifi" for audio-in and "line out" for audio-out. You will find all that things in the settings of the app.

You said sound quality is not really important for you when streaming. So, you can go with the mini (at least for testing).

 

[Mike in NY]

Oh, they come all assembled now, just get a case? It must have been the 1900s the last time I looked. Back when I looked they were kits that one had to build and one also had to research to buy a case or have one custom made! That is really good to know. That said, I like the idea of just loading LMS on the PC or something since it is already on network and it is dead easy to get the squeezebox on network and all. As I said though, the Squeezebox has become nostalgia, though it would be interesting to get it up and running again, I just learned that getting a Wiim puck or something may be a better way to go if I want more convenience.
I don't do a lot of background music with streaming, but enough to maybe warrant it.

LMS on your PC is free, other than 20-30 minutes of getting familiar with the setup. The venerable Squeezebox is also free, so it provides an easy way to decide if LMS is a suitable solution for you.

Then if it is, the WiiM devices operate in Squeezelite mode except for WiiM mini which so far has not (and may never) receive that feature. But the WiiM Pro/Pro Plus/Ultra would all then be viable Squeeze endpoints for any working LMS instance on your PC.

The reason people tend to use an RPi for this nowadays is the tiny electricity consumption as compared to a PC, if you offload the LMS task to an RPi, you can then turn your PC off at will, but leave the RPi on and at the ready for music 24/7.

 

[Yoku-San]

Oh, they come all assembled now, just get a case? It must have been the 1900s the last time I looked. Back when I looked they were kits that one had to build and one also had to research to buy a case or have one custom made! That is really good to know. That said, I like the idea of just loading LMS on the PC or something since it is already on network and it is dead easy to get the squeezebox on network and all. As I said though, the Squeezebox has become nostalgia, though it would be interesting to get it up and running again, I just learned that getting a Wiim puck or something may be a better way to go if I want more convenience.
I don't do a lot of background music with streaming, but enough to maybe warrant it.

You could just use your Alexa to play Spotify tracks from a WiiM device. You would not even need your smart phone (just for the setup).

 

[alpha_zulu]

You could just use your Alexa to play Spotify tracks from a WiiM device. You would not even need your smart phone (just for the setup).

Yes, that's right. But for its application (discovering music, if I understand it correctly) I would find it more practical to see the information on a display. There are often several possible albums that contain the same (or similar) songs. Alexa would play something without you knowing exactly what.

 

[BrooklynNick]

Ok, so I could connect the Ultra then. The question then becomes:
Doesn't all that other stuff on it get in the signal path?
It also seems like a waste of money to get it just for streaming. Paying $329 for a makeshift preamp that streams and not use all it offers doesn't make much sense. If I were to use all it offers it would be a severe downgrade in sound for me. If it were just a streamer like the Squeezebox, I'd pay $250 without much thought.

> Doesn't all that other stuff on it get in the signal path?

Do you mean when I run Wiim Pro -> DAC -> pre-amp? No, because with the volume set to fixed the Wiim's output is bit perfect. So, it would be no different than using the digital output of a CD player.

> It also seems like a waste of money to get it just for streaming.

That is a value judgement only you can make. You can get a Wiim Pro for $149.

> Paying $329 for a makeshift preamp that streams and not use all it offers doesn't make much sense

I would not call it "makeshift." Don't get so hung up on its pre-amp functionality. You don't need to use it. Devices like the Wiim streamers try to support a lot of use cases. Almost no one is going to use all of the inputs and outputs. Do you feel it is a waste if you don't use every single input and output on your pre-amp?

 

[pbr]

Is the question list not being updated anymore?

 

[Balthazar B]

Yeah, if I knew how to build an program a raspberry or whatever. Also, they are a bit pricey. Last I heard it would cost around $350 to build one of those things. Again, I don't have a clue how. What is an LMS?

It's really not that difficult, and it's always fun and instructive using a Pi for some useful function or other. And an adequate Pi is not that expensive.

Beginner's Guide for LMS on Raspberry Pi - Lyrion Music Server

lyrion.org

 

[canard]

It's really not that difficult, and it's always fun and instructive using a Pi for some useful function or other. And an adequate Pi is not that expensive.

Beginner's Guide for LMS on Raspberry Pi - Lyrion Music Server

lyrion.org

thank you.... ;-)
I will see if we can find tutorials on installation and use under Android on my phone (towards wiim plus)...
I know that a very complete approach..(for me, it will only be for these radiofrance pluggings ...)
,-)

 

[Achim1811]

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

How the f*** have they got hold of that so early? Especially as that appears to be such a small channel, judging by viewing figures of their previous videos.

And it’s not Chinese or American.

I suspect a number of reviewers have these ready are under an NDA.

The biggest surprise is that it’s so much larger than the WiiM Amp, despite not having to contain an amplification stage.

I can only suspect that this is to keep internal components as separate as possible so as to perform/measure as well as possible.

Which is a good thing.

 

[Achim1811]

How the f*** have they got hold of that so early?

And it’s not Chinese or American.

The biggest surprise is that it’s so much larger than the WiiM Amp, despite not having to contain an amplification stage.

I can only suspect that this is to keep internal components as separate as possible so as to perform/measure as well as possible.

Which is a good thing.

No idea, its the German distributor.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

No idea, its the German distributor.

It was a rhetorical question, I suppose. But thanks for the info.

 

[ABAstroUK]

The biggest surprise is that it’s so much larger than the WiiM Amp, despite not having to contain an amplification stage.

I can only suspect that this is to keep internal components as separate as possible so as to perform/measure as well as possible.

Which is a good thing.

The size surprised me too, even though I'd looked at the measurements and compared to my Audiolab. I'll still have to wait for the silver version though.

 

[joostdh]

For me the first suprise in the video is “available from August” (in the EU). I had an earlier date in my head though that might just have been wishful thinking

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

For me the first suprise in the video is “available from August”. I had an earlier date in my head though that might just have been wishful thinking

Bi-lingualism is both a blessing and a curse.

 

[harkpabst]

Bi-lingualism is both a blessing and a curse.

Rest assured, the information WiiM gave you in this forum is no less accurate nor complete as what their German distributor said.

Since WiiM did not officially announce availability in Europe at all, this aspect is covered as well.

 

[pieterv1]

Me: throwing money at the screen

 

[MaRsS72]

Yes! Finally a long video footage of the product. This video already answers the questions i had for myself. The display gives me what i want to see, so i won't have to worry about that.

Only thing that could be better is the menu interface. The homescreen looks a little bit childish due to the used candy look icons/colorscheme. I hope this will be adjustable.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

Mid-August (if that’s what it is) nicely coincides with my own timetable, so that’s all good.

 

[pieterv1]

Yes! Finally a long video footage of the product. This video already answers the questions i had for myself. The display gives me what i want to see, so i won't have to worry about that.

Only thing that could be better is the menu interface. The homescreen looks a little bit childish due to the used candy look icons/colorscheme. I hope this will be adjustable.

Indeed... It reminds me a bit of a cheap car stereo from AliExpress luckily the multifunctional homescreen will stays out of sight most of the time.

I think they were going to offer different themes though.

Also: it wouldn't hurt add some sort of transition effect for the cover art, like a slide or a short fade.