New to Wiim (Wiim amp ultra) and loving it!

[Indydan]

Hi all!
I just bought my first Wiim product 2 days ago; the Amp ultra. Wow, what a machine!
I have owned a lot of expensive audio gear over the years. I have a seperate dedicated streamer/DAC and integrated from a reputable high end company. This combo is many, many times more expensive than the Wiim Amp Ultra. I replaced this combo with the Wiim.
I am getting at least 90% of the sound quality I had with the more expensive combo. Yes, the more expensive combo was fractionnaly better, but not by much.
Plus, the Wiim has many more settings, is more user friendly and has a much better app.
This is a game changer product in my humble opinion. Well done Wiim!

 

[Indydan]

I am trying to get one of my friends, who has a high end integrated amp and streamer, to try the Wiim.
He is really hesitating. It is as if he does not want to believe an affordable product can hang with his gear. He went to a dealer to check out the Wiim amp ultra. The dealer tried to upsell him to a 3900$ Yamaha.
It is not in the dealer's best interest to tell the whole truth about the Wiim amp ultra. They could not justify selling 1000$ power cords and 10K$ amps.

 

[Indydan]

My sceptical friend came over to listen to my system with the Wiim amp ultra. He was shocked at how good it was. He agrees with me, that the Wiim is 90% as good as my expensive high end streamer and integrated amplifier. He is thinking of selling his gear and buying the Wiim.
Today, my brother is coming over. He also owns high end gear and is sceptical. Time to make another believer

 

[Indydan]

I really question the value of expensive niche high end gear. I was a firm proponent that you had to pay crazy prices for great sound. The Wiim has changed that. Companies like Naim, McIntosh and others charge very high prices, for gear that is only a few percentage points better than the Wiim.
Also, their apps are miles away from what the Wiim home app does. My high end streamer has a very rudimentary app and feature set. I am officially off the high end gear merry go round.

 

[Skull]

My WiiM ultra is the most expensive bit of my system
The new wave of cheap Chinese hifi amplifiers and WiiM just shows how much you can get for a limited outlay

 

[Indydan]

My WiiM ultra is the most expensive bit of my system
The new wave of cheap Chinese hifi amplifiers and WiiM just shows how much you can get for a limited outlay

I fully agree! The old ways of using massive linear power supplies with big transformers and caps, to drive ineffecient class A and class AB amps is coming to an end.
The newer technologies like switch mode power supplies and class D amplification are now on par with the older technologies in sound quality. But, they have many advantages: much more efficient, more powerful, smaller and less current hungry.

 

[HighNRG]

And sometimes they heal "income related social envy"

 

[Goodnews]

I really question the value of expensive niche high end gear. I was a firm proponent that you had to pay crazy prices for great sound. The Wiim has changed that. Companies like Naim, McIntosh and others charge very high prices, for gear that is only a few percentage points better than the Wiim.
Also, their apps are miles away from what the Wiim home app does. My high end streamer has a very rudimentary app and feature set. I am officially off the high end gear merry go round.

High-end is primarily buisness

Well, I've had the Wiim Amp Ultra for exactly three weeks now.
I still have a Mac Mini / Audirvana Studio & external DAC as a source, as well as IK Multimedia DSP.

For the amp, I have various D-amps with the TI TPA3255 chip, among others.

So, from a technical standpoint, streamer = computer/DSP DAC & 2 x mono amp.

In terms of functional reliability, there is a world of difference between the two setups.

The Wiim Amp Ultra constantly refuses to import external hard drives correctly.

Most albums are imported two or three times under one cover, and covers are assigned incorrectly. It's only a small hard drive with ~250 albums.

I'd have to be crazy to connect my large NAS with 10,000 albums to test this.

If I compare only the two setups mentioned, on the same LS system, the internal amp of the Wiim Amp Ultra shows its problem with the other amplification path, especially < 100 Hz. This is also due to electrical engineering.
It would have been so simple to make the sub out stereo.


The price difference
between the Wiim Amp Ultra and the other source path is
1:6, which is a completely normal investment range.

That's a fact.

With significantly less effort, better results can be achieved than, for example, 10 years ago.

No more and no less.