Newb: Wiim Amp and HDMI Audio without a TV

[actualJP]

I updated the firmware as soon as I opened the box, a few days ago. My goal is to connect a DVD player to play CDs and an Apple TV to the HDMI port on the Wiim Amp (not Pro). I don't have an ATV yet, but the DVD player isn't working. I have a cheap SPDIF extractor and I can siphon the audio into the TOSLink port, but I'd rather not. The phone app tells me that the DVD player is connected, and shows the data rate, but the light on the Amp is orange (amber) and no audio. Is there a way to do what I want WITHOUT putting a whole TV with ARC into the chain? Is there a known-good HDMI switch that will correctly pass HDMI audio to the Amp?

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I have a 1Mii DS700 that I works great as a "USB DAC" to route the Wiim streaming services or TOSLink sources out to my Sony XM5s (BT-LDAC). It has a TOSLink in and out, but I don't want to turn it on if I'm not using the headphones. If I use the HDMI audio extractor that I have, I have to reconfigure the DS700 every time I switch from Amp to Headphones.

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[hgo58]

I updated the firmware as soon as I opened the box, a few days ago. My goal is to connect a DVD player to play CDs and an Apple TV to the HDMI port on the Wiim Amp (not Pro). I don't have an ATV yet, but the DVD player isn't working. I have a cheap SPDIF extractor and I can siphon the audio into the TOSLink port, but I'd rather not. The phone app tells me that the DVD player is connected, and shows the data rate, but the light on the Amp is orange (amber) and no audio. Is there a way to do what I want WITHOUT putting a whole TV with ARC into the chain? Is there a known-good HDMI switch that will correctly pass HDMI audio to the Amp?

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I have a 1Mii DS700 that I works great as a "USB DAC" to route the Wiim streaming services or TOSLink sources out to my Sony XM5s (BT-LDAC). It has a TOSLink in and out, but I don't want to turn it on if I'm not using the headphones. If I use the HDMI audio extractor that I have, I have to reconfigure the DS700 every time I switch from Amp to Headphones.

View attachment 22994​

The WiiM Amp HDMI is ARC input only, not HDMI audio (it's two different things). So the DVD will not work unless it has ARC and I have never seen that.

You will need to use the extractor or connect the DVD to the TV.

 

[EddNog]

I might be wrong on this, but I think ARC must go to/through a TV first before being output (from the TV) to the WiiM's ARC input.

-Ed

 

[harkpabst]

I have no idea if this unit ...

https://www.fruugo.co.uk/hdmi-compatible-to-arc-4kx2k-hdmi-to-arc-converter-for-laptop-dvd/p-108740636-229488133

... is available where you live, even less if it's known to work with WiiM devices. But at least there are converters that claim to take HDMI audio as input and provide HDMI ARC as output.

 

[actualJP]

The WiiM Amp HDMI is ARC input only, not HDMI audio (it's two different things). So the DVD will not work unless it has ARC and I have never seen that.

You will need to use the extractor or connect the DVD to the TV.

That makes sense; hadn’t considered that. Seems odd that the Amp will correctly identify the stream but can’t use it. Frustrating.

 

[actualJP]

I have no idea if this unit ...

https://www.fruugo.co.uk/hdmi-compatible-to-arc-4kx2k-hdmi-to-arc-converter-for-laptop-dvd/p-108740636-229488133

... is available where you live, even less if it's known to work with WiiM devices. But at least there are converters that claim to take HDMI audio as input and provide HDMI ARC as output.

This is promising. I’ll look for something in the US, of course, but I’m not above rolling the dice at AliExpress.

 

[harkpabst]

That makes sense; hadn’t considered that. Seems odd that the Amp will correctly identify the stream but can’t use it. Frustrating.

It's not actually deciding anything. .The pins that carry the HDMI audio signal are certainly not even connected to any audio circuitry. Remove the HDMI cable, select HDMI as the input and tap the Play button on the WiiM Home app playback screen. You will see the same data rate, bit rate and sampling frequency displayed. It's just a default placeholder.

HDMI ARC is not just a different format, it uses physically different pins.

Good luck finding a suitable converter. The one I linked to seems to not be available from this very vendor in the US (even though they do have a US website).

 

[actualJP]

Update: I've done a lot of searching, and not found the answer that I want. What I want is a dongle or a box that can turn an HDMI audio signal into an HDMI ARC stream, but those either don't exist or I can't find one. Devices that might do what I want are mostly unbranded, so finding one for sale in/to the US is hard. It's still a gamble if I could get one, because the only thing harder to find than the box is the manual for the device.

In 2025, a TV with ARC is cheap, but I don't want a TV due to space constraints; I can find 10" TVs, but not with ARC. I found one that's only 19", but that's still far too big. Projectors with ARC are becoming more common, and that's the direction I'm leaning. I don't care about the picture, so the fact that a $150 projector is a bad projector isn't a problem. Even though ARC was added to the HDMI 1.4 profile list in 2009, it's not a requirement. Small brands, like the white-box problem above, aren't good at listing the feature, and the big retailers (Best Buy, Amazon, B&H, etc) aren't good at making it a selectable filter. I haven't found an ARC projector yet with only one HDMI port, so at least I can eliminate most of them by looking at the picture.

So that's where I am: Looking for the cheapest projector in the US, in the smallest chassis I can find, with HDMI ARC. I'm sure that most of them are based on reference PCB designs, but nobody in their right mind would expose which one they're based on in a product sales listing.