"it says audio compression is high via bluetooth" and "can I run the ethernet from the google wifi to back of Wiim for wired connection to lose the bluetooth?"
Welcome Nuthin! Youngsters are welcome here! The replies above to your question about Tidal should be useful to you to get the data streamed from Tidal (the digital music) into the WiiM streamer and on to your Onkyo AVR (in this case, the amplifier) without the compression issues that are the result of using BlueTooth as the input to the WiiM. What follows is just my interpretation of the technology involved in what will be an oversimplified explanation of how this all works. It will not always be technically correct, but should help clarify a few things. My apologies in advance if I am relating concepts that you are already familiar with or if my explanations are not technically correct due to oversimplication.
Think of the WiiM as a hub for getting music from a source (Music Service or Digital Audio File) into your Onkyo AVR that will amplify the music to play it on your speakers. As Mr. Ee and Adias point out music sources (
Music Services) can be found on the
Browse Tab of the
WiiM Home Application on your phone or tablet. What can be confusing is that there is always more than one way to accomplish the same thing. You connected to your Tidal account over the internet using your phone and then used your phone to send that digital music your phone recieved to the WiiM over BlueTooth. BlueTooth uses a "Codec" to wirelessly deliver the music your phone received from Tidal to the WiiM. Due to limitations of BlueTooth it must compress the digital signal being delivered wirelessly. On the other hand, when you go to Music Services on the Browse Tab of the WiiM App and choose Tidal, you have told the WiiM device to connect directly over the internet with Tidal. Tidal then delivers the music directly to the WiiM without going through your phone.
Since you use the WiiM Home App on a mobile device to control the operation of the WiiM, it is easy to feel like your phone must deliver the digital music to the WiiM. But while it can be done...you did it by logging into Tidal and sending the music you were receiving from Tidal on your phone to the WiiM using BlueTooth...it is not always the best way. When possible use the WiiM Home App on your mobile device to tell the WiiM what source (Music Service) to connect to and where to send the output (line out to your Onkyo).
Some concepts to keep in mind:
The internet. Your "Google puck" is part of your local network and is a way to connect to the internet. Your router connects all of the devices in your house with each other to form a
LAN (Local Area Network) and gives them access to the
WAN (Wide Area Network) otherwise known as the
Internet. The WiiM is connected to your LAN (and router), and therefore the internet, either through a wired connection or apparently in your case a wireless connection also know as WIFI. WiiM uses the term "Ethernet" to describe its connection to your LAN and the Internet, whether that connection is wireless or wired. You apparently are using your "Google puck" to make that connection to your LAN. Your mobile device must also be connected to your network (the LAN) to control the WiiM using the WiiM Home App. Your WiiM Home App on your mobile device does not use the internet to control the WiiM. It connects to the WiiM over your LAN.
Digital Audio Files and
Analog input/output:
The WiiM device is able to send (Stream)
Digital Audio from your source to your amp (in your case the Onkyo AVR). The signal that the WiiM is sending to your amplifier is an Analog signal if using the Line Out. (See
Audio Output below.)The WiiM has a
Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) to produce a high fidelity analog signal to send to the amp when using Line Out. Digital audio files come in many formats...FLAC, MP3, WAV, etc. Some of these formats are Lossy (not all of the original audio information is lost); some are Lossless and contain all of the original recorded audio information. Tidal mostly streams FLAC files that are compressed, but Lossless, giving good fidelity to the output.
Source Inputs. We have already discussed some of the
Music Services available like Tidal on the
Browse Tab. If you scroll on down the Browse Tab you will see
Source Input.
Ethernet: If you use one of the Music Services and Stream the music from say Tidal, the WiiM will connect to the Internet over the "Ethernet," log into your Tidal account, and the input of the Tidal digital audio into the WiiM will be over the internet.
BlueTooth: If you pair a device like your phone, tablet, computer, TV, etc., with your WiiM you can have it's audio output sent to the WiiM and then output to your amplifier or other audio device. (This is how you first connected Tidal to the Wiim...by BlueTooth.) Again BlueTooth may not be the best way to input audio in to the WiiM, but can be useful in certain circumstances.
TV: If you have a TV or other device with an HDMI ARC output (not eARC), you can connect it to the WiiM HDMI input. If the device has CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) you can control the volume with the device's remote control. In your case you have a 7.1 channel AVR so you would not connect the TV to the WiiM if you want to use the AVR as a home theater with surround sound.
Line In: To connect an audio device with RCA connectors with an analog signal input. Say you have a turntable with a built-in phono preamp or a CD player that only has analog out RCA connectors. (Do not use to connect a turntable with no preamp. Use Phone In.)
Optical In: Digital input using TOSLINK cable.
Phone In: To connect a turntable that does not have a pre-amp.
Outputs: To control the Output of the WiiM you use the
Devices tab on the WiiM Home App. Choose
Devices, then the cog icon that represents the Device's settings, then
Audio Output.
Line Out: Line Out provides an analog signal that has been through the WiiM's DAC that can be connected to your system's amplifier. In your case the AVR.
Optical Out: A digital signal that bypasses the WiiM's DAC and can be sent to another audio device that has a digital input like an external DAC or amplifier.
COAX Out: A digital signal that bypasses the WiiM's DAC and can be sent to another audio device that has a digital input like an external DAC or amplifier.
Headphone Out:
Bluetooth Out: Pair BlueTooth to send output to a BlueTooth enabled device like powered speakers.
Hope this info is useful.
