Playing Music from USB on WiiM AMP ULTRA

[MusicNirvana]

I use WiiM Amp Ultra primarily for playing music from a USB.

While the App is very good and user-friendly, I feel that certain things are quite counter-intuitive.

For example, I have my music on USB carefully archived into folders/artists/tracks etc. The App scans this fine (albeit through couple of iterations).When I am playing music from a particular folder, and I am in that folder, I can scroll through the tracks in that folder on the home screen itself. But I can browse and access tracks ONLY within that folder.

1. The home screen does not give me access to all the music on the USB, when it has already been scanned by WiiM.
I like using touch screen while I am working with my desktop set up. I do not want to use the App or even remote (which is very limited in its functionality for playing music).

2. When I turn off the unit at night and restart it in the morning, it does not remember the last played track and I have to re-select the folder etc and go through the same routine all over via the App.

Any thoughts regarding this will be greatly appreciated.

It is my understanding that this can be easily fixed by WiiM software development team. I love WiiM amp ultra for its compactness, 2xTPA 3255 chips, 6 op amps, and minimalist design. It is a new product and with a few tweaks, as suggested, this could be an all out WINNER!!

There is vast majority of users who have large collection of music in FLAC/MP3 form (like yours truly) who would like to use WiiM Amp Ultra as a dedicated music playback device. I know this for a fact due to my reading on various other similar forums for other streamers such as Eversolo, SMSL and so forth.

Once the USB has been properly scanned, it should be available on the home screen as one of the Source "inputs" to select from the home screen itself. It is unclear that WHY on the touch home screen, the USB does NOT appear (after been scanned) as one of the "USB-IN" options.

That way, one can access all the music on the USB from the home screen without having to open App at all.

Please advise.

Pax.

 

[Burnside]

I use WiiM Amp Ultra primarily for playing music from a USB.

While the App is very good and user-friendly, I feel that certain things are quite counter-intuitive.

For example, I have my music on USB carefully archived into folders/artists/tracks etc. The App scans this fine (albeit through couple of iterations).When I am playing music from a particular folder, and I am in that folder, I can scroll through the tracks in that folder on the home screen itself. But I can browse and access tracks ONLY within that folder.

1. The home screen does not give me access to all the music on the USB, when it has already been scanned by WiiM.
I like using touch screen while I am working with my desktop set up. I do not want to use the App or even remote (which is very limited in its functionality for playing music).

2. When I turn off the unit at night and restart it in the morning, it does not remember the last played track and I have to re-select the folder etc and go through the same routine all over via the App.

Any thoughts regarding this will be greatly appreciated.

It is my understanding that this can be easily fixed by WiiM software development team.

Welcome to the forum. With respect, you can’t say whether this is an easy fix or not unless you’re a member of the development team, and the lack of such a feature and the delay in delivering it (from back when the Ultra streamer was released) might suggest otherwise

I love WiiM amp ultra for its compactness, 2xTPA 3255 chips, 6 op amps, and minimalist design. It is a new product and with a few tweaks, as suggested, this could be an all out WINNER!!

There is vast majority of users who have large collection of music in FLAC/MP3 form (like yours truly) who would like to use WiiM Amp Ultra as a dedicated music playback device. I know this for a fact due to my reading on various other similar forums for other streamers such as Eversolo, SMSL and so forth.

Once the USB has been properly scanned, it should be available on the home screen as one of the Source "inputs" to select from the home screen itself. It is unclear that WHY on the touch home screen, the USB does NOT appear (after been scanned) as one of the "USB-IN" options.

That way, one can access all the music on the USB from the home screen without having to open App at all.

Please advise.

Pax.

The WiiM amp roadmap does however suggest that the touchscreen feature is actively being worked on, but as yet no timescale has been given for its delivery.

WiiM Amp Ultra Roadmap

Updated on Dec 31, 2025 Building the Future Together At WiiM, we believe your device should get better over time. We are sharing this roadmap to give you full visibility into our engineering pipeline—from active development to future concepts...

faq.wiimhome.com

As to your second point, you could perhaps raise it as a feature request via the more/ feedback section in the app in the hope that WiiM will include it in their development plans.

 

[rccarguy]

Well if you browse by folder you're only going to see files in that folder

I've quickly checked in LMS and there is a way to add files to playlist, but you have to go into a artist branch first, you can't add everything off the root (all artists, every single song) but I'd be wary as it may halt the system adding thousands to a playlist

It works via database and browse by folder

I guess you could create a entire playlist within foobar in a PC then copy that to the USB stick ? I've never done that but I guess that works?

 

[rccarguy]

I agree regarding touchscreen, if it's "close by" unit the streamer does not function where you can select the music. My old Squeezebox touch did that, although it was a bit slow and clunky especially when using USB. The display UI is much better where you could see artist/album etc during music selection.

 

[MusicNirvana]

I appreciate the prompt and informative response from the members. I understand that it may not be as simple as it seems, as Burnside pointed out. I also understand that its ecosystem works via database/browse by folder etc.

In my novice way, I think that if WiiM provides the option of USB IN among its Source "inputs" to select from the home screen itself, one should be able to access all the files on a scanned USB right from the touch screen.

I use this function on my Eversolo DMP A6 Gen 2 and it makes the UI work like a charm, right from the homescreen.

Keeping the WiiM App on all the time also drains the battery of my iPhone faster.

Hopefully, WiiM will be able to incorporate this option in their future iterations of firmware updates.

 

[MusicNirvana]

I found one work around my problem. If I leave the unit in "network standby mode," it wakes up to the same track I was playing the last time. This way, I have access to the same folder that I can play tracks from using the home screen. I checked that it is okay to leave the unit in network standby mode, 24/7, if needed. The power consumption is minimal and it saves the trouble of rebooting the unit and selecting music via App. Just wanted to share.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I found one work around my problem. If I leave the unit in "network standby mode," it wakes up to the same track I was playing the last time. This way, I have access to the same folder that I can play tracks from using the home screen. I checked that it is okay to leave the unit in network standby mode, 24/7, if needed. The power consumption is minimal and it saves the trouble of rebooting the unit and selecting music via App. Just wanted to share.

This may only work for a few days, as the Amp Ultra will do a full reboot automatically every three days or so.

 

[MusicNirvana]

This may only work for a few days, as the Amp Ultra will do a full reboot automatically every three days or so.

Okay. Got it. Thanks for this information.