One week experience - Review (updated after a month)

[Larek]

Hello together,

(not sure if this or "Troubleshoot WiiM Amp issues with the community" is actually the better one, but i go with here. Feel free to move.)
soo, i bought the WiiM Amp because my old one broke(really old, with an external logitech bluetooth receiver ) down and i needed a new one and i got some really nice help in the matrix audiophile channel and as I used just 2 speakers anyway, the WiiM Amp got recommended to me. The WiiM seemed like a nice package and it kinda is, the sounds is good as far as i get it but we have some problem. So the usage is like this - its connected with hdmi to the TV. I'm playing music mostly with bluetooth directly from smartphone and i was about to set up DLNA on my OpenMediaVault-NAS.

Pro

1. Connection with the TV works like a charm
2. My connection with Bluetooth works pretty well over all
3. Internal stream from my NAS via DLNA seems to work nice, just set it up for one day
4. The app is available as APK directly through the website (with a problem, still, offering that in the first place)
5. The app works without google services (one of the reasons i bought it in the first place)
6. Build quality is amazing
7. Sound is really good out of this amp

Neutral

1. When changing the output from TV to Bluetooth its sometimes really slow or i do have to change it manually
2. The wording of some stuff in the app is sometimes a bit funny, even in english
3. When streaming spotify through the amp and wanting to change the volume the app has to be open. Bluetooth works all the time. Its a technical thing and not really possible to change that as far as i know, thats why thats just neutral.
4. https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.linkplay.wiimhome/latest/
   1. Trackers. Yeah, one is analytics and the second one is just crash reporting. You are a company, thats understandable.
   2. Camera - probably for a service that lets you connect with QR-Code i haven't seen yet?

Contra

1. https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.linkplay.wiimhome/latest/
   1. Why location Access at all?
2. When opening the app it requests the location every time - why the fuck?
3. Bluetooth for my partner is not possible. No chance. My smartphone, no problem, partner can pair initially but seems to cannot connect to the WiiM Amp finally? So strange. Never seen that problem before and i used a lot of different bluetooth-stuff
4. "Pairing mode" - "Setup mode" - when trying to solve the bluetooth problem for my partner, i put the Amp in setup mode at least two times and it seems i cannot abort it? I had to setup the Amp multiple times because of that. A 10 minute windows sounds nice. https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/exit-setup-mode.3444/
5. The APK available through the website is really old. Isn't it possible to get an automatic update there? I had to download through other services.
6. Because of the old APK i wrote a support-mail but it never got answered. I could not connect the remote because the option in the app was missing. Turns out, the website-apk was old. Now i can't find a trace of that e-mail to be honest and i'm questioning myself if i even wrote it?
7. When opening without beeing connected to my WLAN it tells me "your smartphone does not allow connection to Wi-Fi" - well, it does, you are simply not connected. Not possible to look at anything in the app now, cannot check anything. Thats really annoying.
8. When adding spotify to the quick access it adds the song to the favorites, not the playlist. Therefore when i start playing the favorites it aaalways starts with the same song. (Not sure i missed something there). For some reason i expected it to add the playlist to the quick-access and resume there it paused the last time (But, thats maybe a wrong expectation by me, i'll be honest here)
9. The UI for the internal streaming with DLNA is somewhat clunky and it would be good if after the inital initalization there would be fewer steps to connect to it.
10. Streaming with spotify
    1. It changes the volume at random
    2. It sometimes stops the track and resumes after about 5-30 seconds. Left us the whole time wondering if the app crashed
    3. It sometimes stops and then simply forwards to the next track in the middle of playing a track

So, the spotify through the app is REALLY wonky and we could simply stream with bluetooth like before and it would be nice, but boy, i really cannot get the bluetooth connection to work at my partners phone. I let it forget, reconnected, set the amp to pairing mode and set it to setup mode multiple times (lead to setting it up in two apps again for some strange reason).
So, currently i don't see a reason to use the app because streaming via bluetooth directly with the spotify app has some beneifts (can change the volume when phone is locked, its resumes at the playlist where it stopped the last time) but bluetooth is not working for my partner, so its out. If we can get bluetooth to work for my partner, we might keep it. I will try this weekend to get this to work.

Maybe i'm really missing something here and I'm happy to check or change stuff to try. I have some days left before my window to send it back expires.

 

[Larek]

I got informed that the location information access is needed/possible because bluetooth is considered location information. (Thanks audiophiles matrix chat again! ) Thats a strange one on android side then. So Contra 1 and 2 might be irrelevant.

 

[Wiimer]

Hello together,

(not sure if this or "Troubleshoot WiiM Amp issues with the community" is actually the better one, but i go with here. Feel free to move.)
soo, i bought the WiiM Amp because my old one broke(really old, with an external logitech bluetooth receiver ) down and i needed a new one and i got some really nice help in the matrix audiophile channel and as I used just 2 speakers anyway, the WiiM Amp got recommended to me. The WiiM seemed like a nice package and it kinda is, the sounds is good as far as i get it but we have some problem. So the usage is like this - its connected with hdmi to the TV. I'm playing music mostly with bluetooth directly from smartphone and i was about to set up DLNA on my OpenMediaVault-NAS.

Pro

1. Connection with the TV works like a charm
2. My connection with Bluetooth works pretty well over all
3. Internal stream from my NAS via DLNA seems to work nice, just set it up for one day
4. The app is available as APK directly through the website (with a problem, still, offering that in the first place)
5. The app works without google services (one of the reasons i bought it in the first place)
6. Build quality is amazing
7. Sound is really good out of this amp

Neutral

1. When changing the output from TV to Bluetooth its sometimes really slow or i do have to change it manually
2. The wording of some stuff in the app is sometimes a bit funny, even in english
3. When streaming spotify through the amp and wanting to change the volume the app has to be open. Bluetooth works all the time. Its a technical thing and not really possible to change that as far as i know, thats why thats just neutral.
4. https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.linkplay.wiimhome/latest/
   1. Trackers. Yeah, one is analytics and the second one is just crash reporting. You are a company, thats understandable.
   2. Camera - probably for a service that lets you connect with QR-Code i haven't seen yet?

Contra

1. https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.linkplay.wiimhome/latest/
   1. Why location Access at all?
2. When opening the app it requests the location every time - why the fuck?
3. Bluetooth for my partner is not possible. No chance. My smartphone, no problem, partner can pair initially but seems to cannot connect to the WiiM Amp finally? So strange. Never seen that problem before and i used a lot of different bluetooth-stuff
4. "Pairing mode" - "Setup mode" - when trying to solve the bluetooth problem for my partner, i put the Amp in setup mode at least two times and it seems i cannot abort it? I had to setup the Amp multiple times because of that. A 10 minute windows sounds nice. https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/exit-setup-mode.3444/
5. The APK available through the website is really old. Isn't it possible to get an automatic update there? I had to download through other services.
6. Because of the old APK i wrote a support-mail but it never got answered. I could not connect the remote because the option in the app was missing. Turns out, the website-apk was old. Now i can't find a trace of that e-mail to be honest and i'm questioning myself if i even wrote it?
7. When opening without beeing connected to my WLAN it tells me "your smartphone does not allow connection to Wi-Fi" - well, it does, you are simply not connected. Not possible to look at anything in the app now, cannot check anything. Thats really annoying.
8. When adding spotify to the quick access it adds the song to the favorites, not the playlist. Therefore when i start playing the favorites it aaalways starts with the same song. (Not sure i missed something there). For some reason i expected it to add the playlist to the quick-access and resume there it paused the last time (But, thats maybe a wrong expectation by me, i'll be honest here)
9. The UI for the internal streaming with DLNA is somewhat clunky and it would be good if after the inital initalization there would be fewer steps to connect to it.
10. Streaming with spotify
    1. It changes the volume at random
    2. It sometimes stops the track and resumes after about 5-30 seconds. Left us the whole time wondering if the app crashed
    3. It sometimes stops and then simply forwards to the next track in the middle of playing a track

So, the spotify through the app is REALLY wonky and we could simply stream with bluetooth like before and it would be nice, but boy, i really cannot get the bluetooth connection to work at my partners phone. I let it forget, reconnected, set the amp to pairing mode and set it to setup mode multiple times (lead to setting it up in two apps again for some strange reason).
So, currently i don't see a reason to use the app because streaming via bluetooth directly with the spotify app has some beneifts (can change the volume when phone is locked, its resumes at the playlist where it stopped the last time) but bluetooth is not working for my partner, so its out. If we can get bluetooth to work for my partner, we might keep it. I will try this weekend to get this to work.

Maybe i'm really missing something here and I'm happy to check or change stuff to try. I have some days left before my window to send it back expires.

Hi,

First, can you tell us what phone model you and your wife have?

Have you not downloaded the WiiM home app from the Google Play store? (Is it a model that does not have the Play store on the phone?)

Normally, Spotify Connect allows you to change the volume with the phone's volume keys.

 

[Larek]

I'm using a xiaomi mi 9 with a custom android without google play services and my partner a xiaomi poco x3 nfc with stock rom and google play services. As said, i expected problems on my side Although i know xiaomi or the MIUI-Android is sometimes a bit wonky itself.

Partner downloaded through google play store, i have at first downloaded the old apk through the website (no google play store) and as i compared with my partner i got its an old one i downloaded a recent one with "APKUpdater".

Dunno, my partner started the WiiM App, changed there with the favorite to the spotify app, starts playing, locks phone and then tries to change volume with the smartphone buttons. But its not working because she just changes smartphone-volume and not Amp-Volume. When opening the wiim app and then changing the volume, it works - the volume of the amp changes and not the smartphone volume.
That one was kinda expected or is explainable to me, so thats why its just neutral.

 

[Wiimer]

I'm using a xiaomi mi 9 with a custom android without google play services and my partner a xiaomi poco x3 nfc with stock rom and google play services. As said, i expected problems on my side Although i know xiaomi or the MIUI-Android is sometimes a bit wonky itself.

Partner downloaded through google play store, i have at first downloaded the old apk through the website (no google play store) and as i compared with my partner i got its an old one i downloaded a recent one with "APKUpdater".

Dunno, my partner started the WiiM App, changed there with the favorite to the spotify app, starts playing, locks phone and then tries to change volume with the smartphone buttons. But its not working because she just changes smartphone-volume and not Amp-Volume. When opening the wiim app and then changing the volume, it works - the volume of the amp changes and not the smartphone volume.
That one was kinda expected or is explainable to me, so thats why its just neutral.

Strangely enough, my Xiaomi 12T pro can control Spotify volume even in sleep mode. I think most of the problem is probably related to your phone or network.

Are you using Spotify Connect now? That is, do you see the WiiM amp icon on the playing screen of the Spotify app?

 

[Larek]

We have the Fritzbox 6850 5G set up, i made the channel-selection manually to a low-used band and we are on the 2,4GHz.

As far as i know in spotify shows the icon on the bottom left. So you say don't use the wiim app but the spotify app directly instead?

I can check definitely today evening.

 

[Mr Ee]

We have the Fritzbox 6850 5G set up, i made the channel-selection manually to a low-used band and we are on the 2,4GHz.

As far as i know in spotify shows the icon on the bottom left. So you say don't use the wiim app but the spotify app directly instead?

I can check definitely today evening.

Even if you choose Spotify in the wiim app it simply opens the Spotify app.

 

[Wiimer]

We have the Fritzbox 6850 5G set up, i made the channel-selection manually to a low-used band and we are on the 2,4GHz.

Did you first check the operation of the WiiM amp on 5GHz Wi-Fi? You may want to reset router.

Before doing so, if possible, try connecting the router and WiiM via Ethernet and see if Spotify Connect works properly.

As far as i know in spotify shows the icon on the bottom left. So you say don't use the wiim app but the spotify app directly instead?

I can check definitely today evening.

Yes.

 

[harkpabst]

Where did you download the APK? I don't think it's available from the WiiM homepage?

Maybe a "generic" Linkplay app? As @Mr Ee pointed out, you cannot use Spotify from within the WiiM Home app ...

 

[Larek]

> Did you first check the operation of the WiiM amp on 5GHz Wi-Fi? You may want to reset router.

I guess there is an translation error? I will not reset my router, there are too much stuff i have changed. But i will try connecting the wiim amp with an ethernet cable and if that works i will switch to 5GHz and try that.

App is available through https://wiimhome.com/app - but its an old version, as mentioned in my posts before. Therefore i used the open source app "APKUpdater" to download a recent version.

And, yes, i'm aware of that the wiim app simply opens the spotify app. But the volume of the amp does only change if the wiim app is open. In the spotify app or when doing something else it just changes the volume of the smartphone, not of the amp.

 

[Doublej]

I am not sure if what I am about to say will be useful.

My WiiM Pro Plus goes wonky if the network connection is not stable. Last night when I was listening to Spotify on my Pro Plus, my network had a problem. I knew something was up when Spotify switched the output to my iPhone and all of my Spotify endpoints were showing as unavailable.

For some reason that caused my WiiM Pro to be unresponsive to my WiiM Bluetooth remote. Perhaps it was spending all of its cycles dealing with network connectivity. I got frustrated ended my listening session.

This morning I restarted my internet modem and WiFi router in case anything was funky from last night. My WiiM appears to be functioning normally again.

Long winded way to say, make sure your network connection to your ISP is stable and the connection between the WiiM and your network is stable. I use the 2.4GHz band for stability reasons.

 

[harkpabst]

App is available through https://wiimhome.com/app - but its an old version, as mentioned in my posts before. Therefore i used the open source app "APKUpdater" to download a recent version.

I never noticed the APK download button (because I don't need it) but you're right, it's there. Since that's not the version you are using, it doesn't matter much.

Which version of the WiiM Home app are you actually on? See Settings -> App version. It should read something like 2.9.8.xxxxxx right now.

And, yes, i'm aware of that the wiim app simply opens the spotify app. But the volume of the amp does only change if the wiim app is open. In the spotify app or when doing something else it just changes the volume of the smartphone, not of the amp.

Can't confirm that. When casting from your phone to the WiiM Amp using Spotify Connect the WiiM Home app isn't even involved. I can play, pause skip and adjust the volume right from the Spotify app and the Amp just does what it's told. I would call it rock solid.

If this doesn't work for you it rather looks like your phone doesn't pass pressing on the volume buttons on to Spotify. In this case, there is nothing that WiiM or their App could do about it.

Same behaviour when casting from the Spotify app using the Chrome Cast protocol. Not sure if you did enable Chrome Cast when setting up the Amp and if it's even available using your custom ROM. I didn't bother trying Bluetooth since it's inferior in most any way, but seems to work for you (not your partner) anyway.

What's the firmware revision of your Amp?

Did you already send feedback to WiiM through the WiiM Home app? The wording might be a little unusual, but submitting feedback actually means filing a ticket. Device logs will be sent along to potentially aid them in trouble shooting.

 

[slartibartfast]

> Did you first check the operation of the WiiM amp on 5GHz Wi-Fi? You may want to reset router.

I guess there is an translation error? I will not reset my router, there are too much stuff i have changed. But i will try connecting the wiim amp with an ethernet cable and if that works i will switch to 5GHz and try that.

App is available through https://wiimhome.com/app - but its an old version, as mentioned in my posts before. Therefore i used the open source app "APKUpdater" to download a recent version.

And, yes, i'm aware of that the wiim app simply opens the spotify app. But the volume of the amp does only change if the wiim app is open. In the spotify app or when doing something else it just changes the volume of the smartphone, not of the amp.

I just downloaded from that page by clicking on the Android apk link and received 2.9.8. How did you download from there.

 

[Larek]

So, i was able to test a bit yesterday. First some additional information i completely forgot in my first post: My current app ist 2.9.7.240511.75e4ab and the Amp has Firmware 5.0.617255. Build-Date 20240517.

Second, i adress some of your questions:

I am not sure if what I am about to say will be useful.

My WiiM Pro Plus goes wonky if the network connection is not stable. Last night when I was listening to Spotify on my Pro Plus, my network had a problem. I knew something was up when Spotify switched the output to my iPhone and all of my Spotify endpoints were showing as unavailable.

It was usefully and Luckily i'm able to connect the Amp easy to my modem/switch and it seems that solved a lot of stuff.

Which version of the WiiM Home app are you actually on? See Settings -> App version. It should read something like 2.9.8.xxxxxx right now.

See above.

Can't confirm that. When casting from your phone to the WiiM Amp using Spotify Connect the WiiM Home app isn't even involved. I can play, pause skip and adjust the volume right from the Spotify app and the Amp just does what it's told. I would call it rock solid.

As said above, it really seems the smallest problem with the connection leads to some weird problems. I would say i have set up my router really properly, i set up the two antennas i a way that should cover everything the best way possible but anyway, i am able to connect it with the amp easy directly with ethernet so it will stay that way. Seems to have solved a lot of problems.

Did you already send feedback to WiiM through the WiiM Home app? The wording might be a little unusual, but submitting feedback actually means filing a ticket. Device logs will be sent along to potentially aid them in trouble shooting.

I was sure i did, but i never got an confirmation e-mail or something like that, so i'm not sure. Additionally i was doing it with the old app version, because i discovered that one afterwards. So i don't know if that got through and i cannot cancel that But i guess that might have lead to the next point

I just downloaded from that page by clicking on the Android apk link and received 2.9.8. How did you download from there.

According to the HTTP-Header the site was updated yesterday And now its the recent version.

Neutral 3 seems solved. Contra 1 and 2 is explained (bluetooth is consedered location by android for some reason...), 5 is solved (the website got updated), 9 should actually just be neutral, DLNA UI is a bit annoying but works, 10 is solved with the ethernet connection instead of WiFi.
So, for now its like this:
Pro

1. Connection with the TV works like a charm
2. My connection with Bluetooth works pretty well over all
3. Internal stream from my NAS via DLNA seems to work nice, just set it up for one day
4. The app is available as APK directly through the website
5. The app works without google services (one of the reasons i bought it in the first place)
6. Build quality is amazing
7. Sound is really good out of this amp
8. Save individual colume per source. Discovered today after having to set up high volume for TV and then getting an heart attack when switching to music

Neutral

1. Changing output from TV to Bluetooth sometimes slow or have to manually change.
2. Wording sometimes funny, even in english.
3. Trackes are understandable, still not so sure about the camera-access. But i still guess a "scan QR to connect" for one of the services.
4. When not connected with WiFi and opening the WiiM App it just tells me "Your phone does not allow WiFi connection. Pleace activate WLAN and try again." even if i just want to look at the app version or the last save firmware version in the app to answer questions in the forum A "Open app anyway"-Button could solve that?
5. DLNA streaming UI "Home Music Share". Maybe because i haven't set up favorites yet? And no playists? Dunno, as of now it works fine, but it feels there is one unneccesary step to click around everything.

Contra

1. Bluetooth for my partner not working. Have to try again today or tomorrow whats up there. Not really important now as Spotify seems to work fine, but sometimes to throw something with bluetooth there could/would be nice.
2. pairing mode vs setup mode (thats not abortable btw. according to the thread i mentioned). It feels like i have to get lucky if i hit setup mode or bluetooth pairing mode.
3. spotify quick access in the WiiM App just points to an song and starts always at the song, not just opening the playlist resuming at the last position

If the app-website update is really due to this thread or to my reporting in the app (where i still don't know if that even happend), noice, really fast action there in my opinion (would be a really big coincidence them updating it right after someone telling about that ).
Reduced the Contra massively and even added a pro. Most of the contra now is simply a bit annoying, but not really woth sending the Amp back. If nothing bad comes up next week i think we are conna keep the WiiM Amp.

Thanks already for this community here, really appreciate the help!

 

[Wiimer]

Neutral.

1. Trackes are understandable, still not so sure about the camera-access. But i still guess a "scan QR to connect" for one of the services.

Normally it is no problem to turn off most permissions; you can also turn on permissions when the Wiim app displays a warning dialog.

1. When not connected with WiFi and opening the WiiM App it just tells me "Your phone does not allow WiFi connection. Pleace activate WLAN and try again." even if i just want to look at the app version or the last save firmware version in the app to answer questions in the forum A "Open app anyway"-Button could solve that?

You can't manage your WiiM device when your phone's Wi-Fi is off.

1. Bluetooth for my partner not working. Have to try again today or tomorrow whats up there. Not really important now as Spotify seems to work fine, but sometimes to throw something with bluetooth there could/would be nice.

If the phone is paired with other devices, try unpairing all of them. Also, a network reset of the phone may be helpful.

1. 
   
2. spotify quick access in the WiiM App just points to an song and starts always at the song, not just opening the playlist resuming at the last position

Do you mean presets?

 

[Wiimer]

@Larek,
Also, the latest version of the Android app is 2.9.8.240515.
2.9.7.240511 is the previous version.

 

[simbun]

1. Trackes are understandable, still not so sure about the camera-access. But i still guess a "scan QR to connect" for one of the services.

In the Send us feedback section of the app, this permission gets triggered when you attach a photo/video. Not sure why as it just needs access to your media, so might be another Android oddity.

 

[Wiimer]

In the Send us feedback section of the app, this permission gets triggered when you attach a photo/video. Not sure why as it just needs access to your media, so might be another Android oddity.

It is the permission required to activate the camera with feedback. You can take a picture and post it immediately.

 

[simbun]

It is the permission required to activate the camera with feedback. You can take a picture and post it immediately.

Ah. I only gave it limited access to media so it didn't prompt me to take a picture, but that makes sense.

 

[Larek]

Updated via Website APK download to 2.9.8.240515.51c872 (sorry, i updated after starting to write the post while checking what slartibartfast said )

You can't manage your WiiM device when your phone's Wi-Fi is off.

Yeah, thats clear. But in my opinion someone should be able to check app settings even if not connected to a specific device. But yeah, thats a personal one and i admit, its really not important.

If the phone is paired with other devices, try unpairing all of them. Also, a network reset of the phone may be helpful.

Managed to connect partners phone properly and discovered WiiM Amp does not support more than one Bluetooth connection at the same time. For me it would probably go into Neutral, not in Contra. If its known, its managable

Do you mean presets?

Yeah, presets. Dunno how we did it, but it seems we managed to add one song specifically after following the preset-instructions. See the first one - its just a song. The second one seems to be the playlist.


My thought now is the following:
Maybe i managed to add the first preset with the old app version and there was something faulty there? The second got added with my partners phone now and its the playist and it starts at the song where it ended the last time it played - not the same song every time. Like we want / expected.