Or, WiiM Amp Ultra II

[PaintItBlack]

I was about to write something half nice about Kimber Kable, along the lines of "at least a well made product" ...

... but then I found out that as of today 2 x 3m of their least expensive speaker cable, the 4PR VariStrand, configured with banana plugs on both ends would set me back no less than 390 EUR.

Thanks, but no thanks. Your cables might have become collectibles by now.

The 4PR in old brown-black strands is the cable I got. I've seen it second hand in ebay for 150€ 2x2.5, but here in Spain you can get it at 22€/m bare cable without bananas, the price you quote is even higher.

Regarding the original post, if your budget allows for it, I’d personally go for the Ultra paired with a state-of-the-art Purifi or Hypex-based amp — the 1ET6562SA would be my pick. But, if you’d rather save around 1200 €, the WiiM Amp Ultra is also a very good choice, provided you’re okay with its 100 W @ 8 ohm rating. I’ve been using mine hard recently and only heard distortion right at the very top of the volume range (95–100), which is really pushing it. But this distortion could be attributed to my Dynaudio Focus 140, though they are rated to 200W@4 ohm.

 

[harkpabst]

I’ve been using mine hard recently and only heard distortion right at the very top of the volume range (95–100), which is really pushing it. But this dostortion could be attributed to my Dynaudio Focus 140, though they are rated to 200W@4 ohm.

I don't say that this is the reason, indeed, but be aware that the maximum power rating of loudspeakers are totally different from output power ratings for amplifiers.

Speaker power ratings don't relate to distortion values at all. The only requirement is that the speaker doesn't fail during the test or suffers permanent damage. The speaker is just guaranteed to "survive" 200 W (and no, contrary to common believe and what AI might try to tell us, that's usually not continuously and forever, but going through on and off cycles).

 

[PaintItBlack]

I don't say that this is the reason, indeed, but be aware that the maximum power rating of loudspeakers are totally different from output power ratings for amplifiers.

Speaker power ratings don't relate to distortion values at all. The only requirement is that the speaker doesn't fail during the test or suffers permanent damage. The speaker is just guaranteed to "survive" 200 W (and no, contrary to common believe and what AI might try to tell us, that's usually not continuously and forever, but going through on and off cycles).

The strange thing is that it was not that loud. I pushed to the limit because I was playing some Gould Bach recordings and the recording level was not very high. Otherwise I would stay at 50-60. But the distortion on the piano notes was there. I don't worry at all but for peace of mind and with no budget constraints I recommend the OP to go with the Ultra + Power Amp route. In my case I'm happy with the WAU and my if I were to change anything it would be adding a sub, probably the WiiM Sub Pro.

 

[Mr Ee]

The strange thing is that it was not that loud.

Yeah, we've discussed this before, the amp ultra's gain seemingly isn't particularly high. (21db ish?? I'd have to check back through some posts.)
On some recordings 100% isn't particularly loud, and using things like pre gain, for me, degraded the sound noticably.
Other than that, the amp ultra sounds really good.

 

[Aquaman]

The strange thing is that it was not that loud. I pushed to the limit because I was playing some Gould Bach recordings and the recording level was not very high. Otherwise I would stay at 50-60. But the distortion on the piano notes was there. I don't worry at all but for peace of mind and with no budget constraints I recommend the OP to go with the Ultra + Power Amp route. In my case I'm happy with the WAU and my if I were to change anything it would be adding a sub, probably the WiiM Sub Pro.

I was having the exact same experience with the Amp Ultra. For 95% it was sufficient. But on some recordings I really had to push it and it felt like the amp was not up it. It wasn't actually distoring up there it simply didn't become any louder.

I second the choice of a dedicated Purifi based power amp with an Ultra instead of the Amp Ultra. My personal choice was a 1ET9040BA Dual Mono by Apollon. I consider this to be the best consumer amplifier available, not only related to the cost but in absolute terms.
But I also love my Lyndorf SDA-2400. I believe it uses an earlier Purifi technologiy or maybe even a forerunner of it.