Meet WiiM Ultra - The Digital Hub for Your Music

[Daniel_son0]

It's been updated. Thanks for catching that.

Any chance of revisiting the spreadsheet Q&A fully?
So many good questions and interested parties in the Ultra be a shame for such a good method of communication to be only 50% utilised.

 

[Brantome]

Any chance of revisiting the spreadsheet Q&A fully?
So many good questions and interested parties in the Ultra be a shame for such a good method of communication to be only 50% utilised.

Personally I feel that there are a good number of questions in that spreadsheet that can be confidently answered by members here, and if they can’t then by all means pass them on to WiiM to answer.

 

[harkpabst]

Just ordered mine from Peter Tyson. What’s the best option for connecting to my amp, optical or coaxial? Are both bit perfect?

What's your amp?

 

[spenner72]

What's your amp?

Dayton Audio HTA-200

 

[harkpabst]

Thanks. The input sensitivity was the potential issue I was concerned about.

The available options should really suit most every regular amp:



If you are just a bit into soldering (four resistors in total) it makes a lot of sense to reduce the gain on the 306. Less sensitivity, lower distortion, lower noise due to higher feedback. Makes it a better fit for modern sources.

 

[harkpabst]

Dayton Audio HTA-200

Unfortunately, Dayton Audio don't publish any specs on the DAC of this amp. The best snippet of information we get from the user manual:



A sample rate of 48 kHz and 16 bit bit depth don't indicate an overly ambitious design or advanced hardware setup. Since there's no digital processing taking place, your best option is probably neither optical nor coaxial. As @rccarguy indicated, the AUX input of the HTA200 is probably your best bet.

Input sensitivity is specified as 630 mV, with no input explicitly specified.



That's the input voltage required for maximum output voltage and this maximum output power. There are only two analogue inputs (AUX and PHONO), so we can safely assume that this value is the sensitivity of the high level AUX input. The output voltage of the WiiM Ultra can be set to either 500 mV or 800 mV. If you select 500 mV you are safe to never overdrive the HTA200, but cannot drive it to maximum power. If you go for 800 mV you can get full power and the effective SNR will be slightly better, but if you turn the volume control fully clockwise there is a risk of inadvertantly overdriving the amp into clipping. The best choice depends on your listening habits.

It's probably more conveniant to set the WiiM Ultra's output to fixed and use the HTA's volume control.

At least if you don't want to connect a subwoofer. The Ultra provides much better controls for seamless integration of sub and mains, but this will only work if volume is controlled by the Ultra and only for sources connected to it. The same is true for WiiM room correction. To make use of these features you had to connect all sources to the Ultra and none (except for the Ultra) to the HTA200.

You can still try if you like either coax or optical better than the AUX in. I don't think it will, but you are free to try.

 

[spenner72]

Unfortunately, Dayton Audio don't publish any specs on the DAC of this amp. The best snippet of information we get from the user manual:

View attachment 9022

A sample rate of 48 kHz and 16 bit bit depth don't indicate an overly ambitious design or advanced hardware setup. Since there's no digital processing taking place, your best option is probably neither optical nor coaxial. As @rccarguy indicated, the AUX input of the HTA200 is probably your best bet.

Input sensitivity is specified as 630 mV, with no input explicitly specified.

View attachment 9023

That's the input voltage required for maximum output voltage and this maximum output power. There are only two analogue inputs (AUX and PHONO), so we can safely assume that this value is the sensitivity of the high level AUX input. The output voltage of the WiiM Ultra can be set to either 500 mV or 800 mV. If you select 500 mV you are safe to never overdrive the HTA200, but cannot drive it to maximum power. If you go for 800 mV you can get full power and the effective SNR will be slightly better, but if you turn the volume control fully clockwise there is a risk of inadvertantly overdriving the amp into clipping. The best choice depends on your listening habits.

It's probably more conveniant to set the WiiM Ultra's output to fixed and use the HTA's volume control.

At least if you don't want to connect a subwoofer. The Ultra provides much better controls for seamless integration of sub and mains, but this will only work if volume is controlled by the Ultra and only for sources connected to it. The same is true for WiiM room correction. To make use of these features you had to connect all sources to the Ultra and none (except for the Ultra) to the HTA200.

You can still try if you like either coax or optical better than the AUX in. I don't think it will, but you are free to try.

Thanks for your reply, most appreciated. I spent a lot of time reading up on this while at a kids birthday party today. What about going from the USB out on the WiiM to the USB B input of the Dayton? Much higher resolution??

 

[wiffle]

Thanks for your reply, most appreciated. I spent a lot of time reading up on this while at a kids birthday party today. What about going from the USB out on the WiiM to the USB B input of the Dayton? Much higher resolution??

Try them all and trust your ears. Start with analog and usb.

 

[Smartplug]

What makes wiim unique was they keep adding features for free. High end product just gives bug fixing rarely provide additional features. What else could we want affordable price with almost endless updates?

 

[Jls]

What makes wiim unique was they keep adding features for free. High end product just gives bug fixing rarely provide additional features. What else could we want affordable price with almost endless updates?

Sonos subtracts features at no additional charge. My question would be, does Wiim support rolling back updates?

 

[Brantome]

My question would be, does Wiim support rolling back updates?

Not that I’ve experienced

 

[harkpabst]

Thanks for your reply, most appreciated. I spent a lot of time reading up on this while at a kids birthday party today. What about going from the USB out on the WiiM to the USB B input of the Dayton? Much higher resolution??

Nobody knows, because USB out is not there, yet.

If the nominally high resolution of the HTA's USB input really translates into higher fidelity, I have no clue.

 

[Brantome]

Nobody knows, because USB out is not there, yet.

If the nominally high resolution of the HTA's USB input really translates into higher fidelity, I have no clue.

I downloaded a 24/384 track to my Android phone and while it played ok to my WiiM Amp over USB out, the display on my Linn showed 24/192. On checking, that’s all my amp supports on its USB input so I guess the test was moot

However I suspect that may be all the Amp/Ultra delivers as well…

 

[rccarguy]

wiim could go down the BMW method

 

[Jls]

wiim could go down the BMW method

That sucks. I pay less than that for maps, road service and emergency satellite requests.

 

[harkpabst]

How likely is that?

PS:
BMW are by far not the only car maker trying this perverted business model.

 

[MGJ]

Cool! Do you have more pictures of the display, interface and the VU meter (in action) or better yet a video?

Here are some pictures. Sorry for the poor quality and reflections.

 

[pieterv1]

Here some pictures. Sorry for the poor quality and reflections.

Is there also just a static display for when in hdmi mode? Does power/volume over HDMI CEC work as expected? And does the Ultra change to HDMI input automatically when the tv is turned on?

 

[MGJ]

Is there also just a static display for when in hdmi mode? Does power/volume over HDMI CEC work as expected? And does the Ultra change to HDMI input automatically when the tv is turned on?

I added more pictures showing volume display. No static display for HDMI input that I figured out unless you have the screen set to off. The HDMI CEC does work as expected. The Ultra does switch to HDMI automatically if it's in standby or streaming and the TV is turned on. You can switch back to streaming while the TV is on and use the volume controls without it switching back to HDMI/TV input.

 

[MGJ]

Here are some WiiM Home app pictures also.