Meet WiiM Ultra - The Digital Hub for Your Music

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No idea why they announce it in Munich when it's real release is actually in the US.
It's all about timing, it just happens to be a reasonably major event at the right time to stick a device in front of journos. Nothing to do with target market and folks in EU. Real marketing is online which is global and I'm sure devices will be going to Darko, cheapaudionman et al very soon to drive the bulk of demand. Pretty sure I'll be buying one as soon as released, current WiiM Amp will find another role in the house.
 
With all these great features, I would love to see an extended remote controller for the Ultra. Audio Pro (using Linkplay as well) has some nice models for their devices.
 
I wonder why WiiM moved from an AKM to a ESS chip. I'm not getting an Ultra (happy with my Pro into a Naim DAC) but I am happy to see WiiM doing well and introducing new products. Hope Munich is good to them!
 
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Two items are disappointing;
  1. Why does it use ES9038Q2M instead of ES9039Q2M? They are equally priced but 9039 is a later version with slightly higher specs.
  2. No balanced output - I cannot drive balanced power amps or active speakers
I believe WiiM Pro Plus + Balanced DAC be a better choice for me. I purchased a Wiim Pro Plus as soon as I saw WiiM Ultra picture a couple of weeks ago.
 
It’s lovely but I’m trying to justify a use case for buying it. I have a Mini and cd player > SMSL SU-1 dac > Pioneer Elite receiver. Main benefit is screen and ESS dac chip I suppose. I don’t plan to connect to a tv. Am I missing something?
 
Two items are disappointing;
  1. Why does it use ES9038Q2M instead of ES9039Q2M? They are equally priced but 9039 is a later version with slightly higher specs.
  2. No balanced output - I cannot drive balanced power amps or active speakers
I believe WiiM Pro Plus + Balanced DAC be a better choice for me. I purchased a Wiim Pro Plus as soon as I saw WiiM Ultra picture a couple of weeks ago.
No business will produce everything in one product otherwise there won’t be any future release. It’s all incremental from one to another.
 
Congrats WiiM !! Delivering an awesome piece of tech to continue disrupting the Hifi market.. Just don't update the WiiM amp too soon so us owners don't feel outdated yet.. ;)
 
Phase yes no latency adjustment. I’m not sure if ultra has more adjustments over amp on subwoofer. I like to have both hi and low pass along with wide range of slope like butter worth.
The crossover on the Wiim Amp puts high pass on the speakers and low pass on the sub. It does both
 
Personally, I'd simply love to have a WiiM Pro Plus Balanced.
With sub out?
For me, absolutely not.

This would feed an analog audio chain that first routes into a professional-grade* stereo mixer (Ashly LX-308B), from which the mains out is to a professional grade converter (RME ADI-2 Pro), after which the audio is sent balanced to professional-grade active speakers (KH 120A).

Audio processing will be done by an off-board processor (e.g, RPi for DSP) connected into the RME, which is where I would also separate out the post-mixed audio into Left / Right / Sub channels. And until that point in the audio chain, I don't want to have any additional processing on the original audio from the network stream (WiiM) other than the DAC on the WiiM Pro Plus Balanced into the analog output.

For those who want processing—such as extracting out subwoofer—done on the WiiM, you now have the Ultra. Of course, a WiiM Ultra Balanced would be awesome for you. But for me, I only want the Pro Plus Balanced for DAC conversion and nothing else.

* The use of the word "professional" here means balanced audio, vs. the "commercial" unbalanced that is output from the WiiM Pro Plus (non-balanced).
 
No reason you can't use an XLR to rca adapter.
I think they meant the opposite of what you mention. Their desire (as is mine) is that the WiiM Ultra would have balanced output because they can use it in their setup. With the current Ultra*, they will still be sending unbalanced (RCA) output from the WiiM into their balanced (XLR/TRS) amplifier and speakers.

And yes, doing RCA to XLR/TRS works. But you lose out on a few elements including the increased noise rejection across the interconnect cable; and if the balanced audio is fully implemented with the DAC, you can also gain an even lower noise floor from the WiiM itself.

* Which, by the way, is a hell of a device at that price point. So as others noted, this could be in a future upgraded WiiM Ultra Balanced version... but we can still say that since it was give the name "Ultra", having balanced output and the higher end DAC chips would have better fit the marketing name.
 
'Balanced' is necessary for professional audio installations.

It's overkill for domestic hi-fi use imho.
IMHO, your IMHO is not wrong at all. Unbalanced is perfectly fine for home audio. I've nowhere suggested pulling WiiM Pro Plus.

But, some of us have semi-pro or even full-pro audio devices for a variety of reasons. So don't assume everyone is just sending their WiiM to a Sonus speaker or their Denon AVR system (both of which I also do in my kitchen and living room).

One of those reasons is that until about 3 to 5 years ago (i.e., with the rise of measurably high quality ChiFi at very affordable cost), many of us found that we could get far better audio equipment (at far lower prices) by skipping the Audiophile category and instead purchasing equipment that is sold to the music recording industry for home studio / small professional studios. From Sweetwater, Dale Pro Audio, etc. Not only for our DACs and amplifiers, but perhaps even more so for the near-field active speakers in our home office settings. Thus, the proliferation of RME, Genelec, Neuman, etc. And in my case, I wanted a stereo "mixer" rather than an "input selector" for my various audio devices, work laptop, personal computer, etc.; and the Ashly LX-308B was the best fit — both for features, and being a 1U device that mounts in the AV rack next to my desk.

And now, the ChiFi industry has been releasing extremely high quality Balanced versions at not much of a premium cost over their similar Unbalanced lines. The multi-channel support in amazingly high quality DACs from AKM and ESS (at very low cost) has made implementing balanced audio very affordable. Even for a home office audio setting where we don't "need it".

And of course, some people are actually musicians and recording artists who have that equipment anyway.
 
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Atlast " Ultra " unveiled and have to wait till October to see it in the market.

Seems to be promising spec wise and fingers crossed to see the performance on par with the existing Streamers with Screen, which are around this price bracket to bit higher viz., Matrix i4mini / Eversolo DMP A6 ( I know its too much for the asking )

Only disappointment is lack of Coaxial IN, which could have been a complete all in one (Streamer cum DAC )
 
Atlast " Ultra " unveiled and have to wait till October to see it in the market.

Seems to be promising spec wise and fingers crossed to see the performance on par with the existing Streamers with Screen, which are around this price bracket to bit higher viz., Matrix i4mini / Eversolo DMP A6 ( I know its too much for the asking )

Only disappointment is lack of Coaxial IN, which could have been a complete all in one (Streamer cum DAC )

I think the release schedule has been updated, and we’ll see these during Q3, so between 1st July (US first) and 30th September at the very latest.
 
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