Optical vs aux sound quality

[Jeffcs]

what Is the difference between optical out vs 3.5 mm aux out on the Wiim mini? im connecting my Wiim mini to a stereo receiver. Is the sound quality better with optical?

 

[d6jg]

The 3.5mm out uses the onboard DAC
The optical out uses the DAC in the device it’s connected to.
The onboard DAC chip is ok but that’s all so yes optical out is likely to be better SQ depending on what it is plugged into

 

[Jeffcs]

Thank you! I’ll give optical a try. I’m connecting to an Onkyo TX8220 receiver.

 

[Maurizio]

what Is the difference between optical out vs 3.5 mm aux out on the Wiim mini? im connecting my Wiim mini to a stereo receiver. Is the sound quality better with optical?

Moreover if you don’t use optical you cannot have bit-perfect sound

 

[Jeffcs]

Moreover if you don’t use optical you cannot have bit-perfect sound

But I assume the bitrate is reduced anyways if I’m streaming ALAC via Airplay 2, correct?

 

[Maurizio]

Yes, correct

 

[d6jg]

Thank you! I’ll give optical a try. I’m connecting to an Onkyo TX8220 receiver.

I have an Onkyo and I think it has the same DAC as in the TX8220 in which case I’d say it is better than onboard one

 

[Mr Ee]

Moreover if you don’t use optical you cannot have bit-perfect sound

Why not?
What's the difference between the wiim outputting a bit perfect (i.e. not intentionally modified) digital signal for an external dac to convert, or that same digital signal being converted by the wiim's internal dac?

 

[Klipscher]

Why not?
What's the difference between the wiim outputting a bit perfect (i.e. not intentionally modified) digital signal for an external dac to convert, or that same digital signal being converted by the wiim's internal dac?

Short answer, the built in DAC uses a decent chip but quality isn’t as good as a good as a higher quality separate DAC with better chip and more expensive components.

It woulda added uto the cost and most user use it for streamer function with a better DAC.

 

[Mr Ee]

Short answer, the built in DAC uses a decent chip but quality isn’t as good as a good as a higher quality separate DAC with better chip and more expensive components.

It woulda added uto the cost and most user use it for streamer function with a better DAC.

But that's not answering my question
I'm not disputing potential improvements from using an external dac, just the assertion that the only way to get bit perfect sound (whatever that means) is to get an external dac to convert.
i.e. any dac, no matter how good or bad it is, that's processing an unaltererd signal is providing 'bit perfect sound'.

 

[Jeffcs]

So I’ve been experimenting with Optical vs. aux output on the Wiim mini connected via optical to my receiver (Onkyo TX-8220). Interestingly I don’t think my receiver support 24/192 because when I attempt to play the sample sound in the WiiM app there is no audio. If I switch my input from optical to aux out i am able to get 24/192 but not over optical. Then I checked the manual for my receiver and it states:
“Supported sampling rates for PCM signals (stereo, mono) from a digital input are 32 kHz,
44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz/16 bit, 24 bit”

 

[Mr Ee]

If you like the sound from your receiver's dac more then you could set the wiim max output to 24/96 so it downsamples 192 before sending it out.

 

[Brantome]

Why not?
What's the difference between the wiim outputting a bit perfect (i.e. not intentionally modified) digital signal for an external dac to convert, or that same digital signal being converted by the wiim's internal dac?

Bit perfect is used to compare digital streams so that the output bits match the input bits. You can”t really say an analog output from a DAC is bit perfect, but it will sound different between different DACs.

 

[Maurizio]

I've always seen an external DAC similar to a turntable cartridge.
Different cartridge, different sound.
Different DAC different sound.
I think the analogy is correct.

 

[Jeffcs]

If you like the sound from your receiver's dac more then you could set the wiim max output to 24/96 so it downsamples 192 before sending it out.

Yes, 24/96 seems to be the max my TX-8220 will support which is still a big improvement over streaming via my receivers built in Bluetooth connection. Overall, I much prefer the sound quality I’m hearing with DAC in the receiver over the Wiim Mini.
I’m liking the Wiim Mini so much I decided to pick another one up for my other receiver (Sony STR-DH190). However, my Sony receiver doesn’t have optical/digital connection so I have it connected via aux out to RCA Analog in. The Bluetooth 4.2 implementation on the Sony sounds good so I’m not sure if the SQ of streaming with the Wiim Mini is all that much better than using native Bluetooth on the receiver.

 

[Marcus]

Hi, putting aside the relative quality (or lack thereof) of the built in DAC in the Wiim vs a dedicated one or one in another component, does anyone know the highest bitrate the aux out will put out? Is it just 16 bit CD quality? I understand that “bit perfect” output is limited to the optical out, but I have a lot of hi res files (24/96 and 192) on my Plex NAS and was hoping to use the aux out for now to play them to my stereo. Does anyone know? Thanks

 

[Jeffcs]

The bit rate for WiiM Mini on the output is 24/192kHz for aux-out and SPDIF.

 

[Marcus]

Thanks much. It may not be a perfect onboard DAC, but I don’t own one otherwise, and it doesn’t sound bad to me at all.

 

[Mr Ee]

To clarify, asking about bit rate for aux out makes no sense - it's analog output...
But, as Jeffcs implies, the wiim dac will accept up to 24/192 for conversion.

 

[bazzast]

For my taste the quality of WiiM mini internal dac is quite good, I'm using its analogical out with an old Knight ka25 and when I listen to them I don't care about technical masturbation about bits and dacs, just listen to music.

does anyone know the highest bitrate the aux out will put out?

The aux out is an analogical output, no bit but volt.