Meet WiiM Ultra - The Digital Hub for Your Music

[Kenny Lam]

1. When you set a resolution in audio settings, you’re saying that’s the Max resolution that’s supported by the device you’re connecting your Ultra to, not the resolution it upsamples everything to. Spotify is 320kbps at best and when that’s output as a digital stream it’ll show as 16/44.1 but lossy.
You’d need to set fixed resolution at 24/192 for it always to show that all the time irrespective of source. The firmware to do that for the ultra is still in development, but you’d only generally use that if your external DAC had issues switching sample rates and produced clicks or pops when doing so.

2. You can turn the display off under screen settings on the Ultra’s screen, but not yet in the app. I think WiiM are considering adding an option for it to turn off in standby.

Thank you so much

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

Isn't it illegal to supply to the UK without a UK plug though. Years ago I bought a Medion PC from Tesco that came with some PC speakers that had a European plug with an adaptor. A while later they recalled the speakers because of the non UK plug.

If they deliver to the UK, it may well come with a UK plug.

 

[slartibartfast]

If they deliver to the UK, it may well come with a UK plug.

If someone orders one they can tell us

 

[Brantome]

If they deliver to the UK, it may well come with a UK plug.

I'd doubt that tbh - US Amazon warehouses will stock US versions. No need to stock other regions if they'll have their own stock soon

 

[pieterv1]

I solely use ultra as a streamer and use my teacher nt503 to upscale to DSD and for to introduce amp ， the sound is much clear then before

How do you mean the sound is much clearer than before? Compared to what?
If I understand correctly, you're not even using the Ultra's built-in DAC?

 

[Brantome]

Isn't it illegal to supply to the UK without a UK plug though. Years ago I bought a Medion PC from Tesco that came with some PC speakers that had a European plug with an adaptor. A while later they recalled the speakers because of the non UK plug.

That's a UK retailer selling in the UK though. If we were to follow that logic, we'd not buy electrical gear from abroad. Anyway, I think such a trifling matter has probably had enough airing

 

[Kenny Lam]

How do you mean the sound is much clearer than before? Compared to what?
If I understand correctly, you're not even using the Ultra's built-in DAC?

Yes, I don't use ultra built in dac instead I want to upscale to DSD so that I decode with teac , however I find that the sound a little bit clearer compare to pervious set up

 

[mlsstl]

View attachment 9393

Nice! And there is always this prayer: "God, grant me patience. And I want it NOW!"

 

[Brantome]

Yes, I don't use ultra built in dac instead I want to upscale to DSD so that I decode with teac , however I find that the sound a little bit clearer compare to pervious set up

WiiM devices don't upscale/transcode to DSD

 

[Wiimer]

I think WiiM are considering adding an option for it to turn off in standby.

Android RC beta app has it and should be coming soon. (Right now it doesn't seem to be working yet.)
@Kenny Lam

 

[d6jg]

WiiM devices don't upscale/transcode to DSD

I read that the Teac does upscale 16/44.1 but not clear what it does with other bit/sample rates

 

[slartibartfast]

I read that the Teac does upscale 16/44.1 but not clear what it does with other bit/sample rates

Oh it's TEAC, I did wonder about Teacher

 

[adias]

Yes, I don't use ultra built in dac instead I want to upscale to DSD so that I decode with teac , however I find that the sound a little bit clearer compare to pervious set up.

Eventually you can do that but I encourage you to try the bit perfect native resolution. Transcoding may add other artifacts.

 

[Bozzz]

Just open boxView attachment 9391

Waiting for

 

[Dennis from Venice]

the longer written review says that the Ultra is better sounding than bluesound node and equal with the six times more expensive eversolo dmp a8

And near the end he has a VU meter on the Ultra screen!!

 

[mlsstl]

Just adding a data point. I'm in the US and had an existing pre-order with Crutchfield placed on June 4.

The status changed today to "Order Placed" and then to "Shipped" about an hour later with a UPS tracking number assigned. Don't have a specific expected delivery date yet but am hoping for early next week.

Happy to report the Ultra showed up today -- a day early. Box is in good shape and everything looks fine. Now I just need to try it out.

 

[Smartplug]

Happy to report the Ultra showed up today -- a day early. Box is in good shape and everything looks fine. Now I just need to try it out.

Give us your feed back on your opinion how it sound on your system.

 

[mlsstl]

Happy to report the Ultra showed up today -- a day early. Box is in good shape and everything looks fine. Now I just need to try it out.

Setup was a breeze -- less than 10 minutes to get going and half of that time was a firmware update on initial boot after setting the wireless connection. Again, with the WiiM app on my phone, this is one of the easiest streaming systems to get going. Alexa setup was easy and the voice remote worked fine to select and play music from my Amazon Music subscription. The Ultra also had no problem connecting to my Qobuz account and playing music using the WiiM phone app. The player was also immediately listed as a Squeezelite player on my LMS server and played music from there. So, kudos for an easy-to-setup and use streamer.

Sound-wise, I've only listened to a smattering of music using some headphones (nothing fancy - Grado SR125e.) Sound was very good with plenty of clear volume at 50% the way up. Music so far has consisted of some classical, some classic rock and a bit of eclectic folk. Note these are not the headphones I commonly use (that's a pair of Hifiman Sundara's with a Schiit Midgard headphone amp) but I was pleased the sound quality I heard.

Next step is to move this into my living room system and see how it works in that setup. I'm particularly interested in how it will compare to my Schiit Lyr 3 preamp with a multibit DAC card and RPi 4 player. I'm curious if the Ultra will work as a preamp replacement for the Lyr itself as I'm quite fond of it's sound. However, I'm impressed enough at the moment, that short of uncovering some tragic flaw, the Ultra is a keeper even if it doesn't replace the Lyr. More to be revealed!

 

[Musician]

Setup was a breeze -- less than 10 minutes to get going and half of that time was a firmware update on initial boot after setting the wireless connection. Again, with the WiiM app on my phone, this is one of the easiest streaming systems to get going. Alexa setup was easy and the voice remote worked fine to select and play music from my Amazon Music subscription. The Ultra also had no problem connecting to my Qobuz account and playing music using the WiiM phone app. The player was also immediately listed as a Squeezelite player on my LMS server and played music from there. So, kudos for an easy-to-setup and use streamer.

Sound-wise, I've only listened to a smattering of music using some headphones (nothing fancy - Grado SR125e.) Sound was very good with plenty of clear volume at 50% the way up. Music so far has consisted of some classical, some classic rock and a bit of eclectic folk. Note these are not the headphones I commonly use (that's a pair of Hifiman Sundara's with a Schiit Midgard headphone amp) but I was pleased the sound quality I heard.

Next step is to move this into my living room system and see how it works in that setup. I'm particularly interested in how it will compare to my Schiit Lyr 3 preamp with a multibit DAC card and RPi 4 player. I'm curious if the Ultra will work as a preamp replacement for the Lyr itself as I'm quite fond of it's sound. However, I'm impressed enough at the moment, that short of uncovering some tragic flaw, the Ultra is a keeper even if it doesn't replace the Lyr. More to be revealed!

This is the kind of review we need !, thanks

 

[Kman]

I just got my Ultra, got it setup, and can't play any music. It is not yet Roon Ready (expected) and does not seem to work correctly with AirPlay. I had understood that it would support AirPlay and my plan was to use that until it was Roon certified. I knew it was not going to support AirPlay2 right away, but I thought it would support basic AirPlay like the Pro.

Also, there does not seem to be any option to use the USB as an output.

Broken promises. Very disappointed.

Right now, there is no way for Roon users to stream to the Ultra.

Why not set up Ultra as a Chromecast endpoint for Roon? You just need to download the Google Home app and set up your Ultra.