Pleased and Disappointed at the same time.

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pdeseymour

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I have just become the proud owner of an Ultra. However, I am just getting to grips with the nitty gritty and would love to be pointed in the right direction by those with greater knowledge than me. I have to admit I am very much a consumer and not an audio techy. In the main, I use my Android Galaxy as my main audio source. I have connected it to the WiiM through a USB-C toslink adapter and also via Bluetooth. Firstly, I expected the optical connection to be far superior to Bluetooth but it's not! The BT connection sounds much more detailed and clearer. That's my disappointment. However, I am impressed with the BT performance. When I looked into why this might be, I got confused over Codecs but I read that the WiiM doesn't have aptX HD or LDAC. Are these important for the processing of lossless audio? Secondly, I have set up an Amazon Music stream, assuming this would be the true test of the WiiM but I am not overly impressed. Again, it doesn't seem as clear and "rounded" as music from the phone over BT. All the audiophiles, seem to suggest that BT 5.3 is to be avoided if the best sound is sought but so far (just 2 days of playing), it seems to trump all other sources. Am I expecting too much? (HiFi is Roksan amp and Pro-Ac D18 speakers). Thanks for the wisdom!
 
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Counter intuitive findings I'd say as Bluetooth on the Ultra only supports the entry level lossy SBC/AAC codec with a bandwidth generally ranging from 192 to 320kbps which is firmly in MP3 territory. I would have expected the USB-C cable to have supported up to 24/48 lossless resolution and to have sounded clearer. Same for Amazon Music Unlimited which goes all the way up to 24/192 lossless.

Have you tried CD input into the Ultra, or indeed into your amp? What are your usual inputs to your amp? How does they sound compared to BT?

How do you have the Ultra connected to your amp?

Could just be you prefer the sound of lossy music which is entirely your prerogative :)
 
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Burnside said:
Counter intuitive findings I'd say as Bluetooth on the Ultra only supports the entry level lossy SBC/AAC codec with a bandwidth generally ranging from 192 to 320kbps which is firmly in MP3 territory. I would have expected the USB-C cable to have supported up to 24/48 lossless resolution and to have sounded clearer. Same for Amazon Music Unlimited which goes all the way up to 24/192 lossless.

Have you tried CD input into the Ultra, or indeed into your amp? What are your usual inputs to your amp? How does they sound compared to BT?

How do you have the Ultra connected to your amp?

Could just be you prefer the sound of lossy music which is entirely your prerogative :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, I havent tried the CD input. I guess I should get a USB C to line adapter. I am about to hook the phone directly into the amp and will report back. The Ultra is connected to the amp by phono. The amp doesn't have an optical input.

Cheers
 
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pdeseymour said:
I have just become the proud owner of an Ultra. However, I am just getting to grips with the nitty gritty and would love to be pointed in the right direction by those with greater knowledge than me. I have to admit I am very much a consumer and not an audio techy. In the main, I use my Android Galaxy as my main audio source. I have connected it to the WiiM through a USB-C toslink adapter and also via Bluetooth. Firstly, I expected the optical connection to be far superior to Bluetooth but it's not! The BT connection sounds much more detailed and clearer. That's my disappointment. However, I am impressed with the BT performance. When I looked into why this might be, I got confused over Codecs but I read that the WiiM doesn't have aptX HD or LDAC. Are these important for the processing of lossless audio? Secondly, I have set up an Amazon Music stream, assuming this would be the true test of the WiiM but I am not overly impressed. Again, it doesn't seem as clear and "rounded" as music from the phone over BT. All the audiophiles, seem to suggest that BT 5.3 is to be avoided if the best sound is sought but so far (just 2 days of playing), it seems to trump all other sources. Am I expecting too much? (HiFi is Roksan amp and Pro-Ac D18 speakers). Thanks for the wisdom!
Click to expand...
What are you listening to over this link? Is it a personal library stored on the smartphone, or are you using a streaming service? If you're using a major streaming service (Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon Music), you can use the WiiM Home App to log directly into the service to stream your music without having to hook your phone up at all. If it is a personal library, you may find it easier to transfer your personal library onto a USB flash drive and then just plug that USB flash drive into the USB-A port on the back of the WiiM and browse the library through the WiiM Home App. In both scenarios, you avoid using an external physical connection that may or may not run a risk of affecting audio quality.

-Ed
 
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EddNog said:
What are you listening to over this link? Is it a personal library stored on the smartphone, or are you using a streaming service? If you're using a major streaming service (Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon Music), you can use the WiiM Home App to log directly into the service to stream your music without having to hook your phone up at all. If it is a personal library, you may find it easier to transfer your personal library onto a USB flash drive and then just plug that USB flash drive into the USB-A port on the back of the WiiM and browse the library through the WiiM Home App. In both scenarios, you avoid using an external physical connection that may or may not run a risk of affecting audio quality.

-Ed
Click to expand...
Thanks Ed. My preferred streaming service is Apple Music, hence the use of the phone. I am tryaling Amazon music through the Native WiiM app. Maybe I should be more patient with my testing. (I am presuming the trial period with Amazon is full-fat data!). I dont have a personal library as such but I do have a collection of music on my server. I'll give that a try over the Ethernet connection.

Cheers
 
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pdeseymour said:
Thanks Ed. My preferred streaming service is Apple Music, hence the use of the phone. I am tryaling Amazon music through the Native WiiM app. Maybe I should be more patient with my testing. (I am presuming the trial period with Amazon is full-fat data!). I dont have a personal library as such but I do have a collection of music on my server. I'll give that a try over the Ethernet connection.

Cheers
Click to expand...
I see the problem. My dad and I used Soundiiz to export our Apple Music playlists to Qobuz, which covered about 95% of our songs (no streaming service has every single song out there, so there are always some songs missing when using Soundiiz to convert playlists across services). Sounds wonderful and we are able to support Qobuz natively on the WiiM. And now, Qobuz came out with Qobuz Connect to compete with the connect functionality of Tidal and Spotify, which is even better, as now we can enjoy the really nice UI of the Qobuz app to control music playback on our WiiMs directly.

It is unfortunate that WiiM cannot support Apple Music directly, but Qobuz makes that a lot less painful (assuming you're willing to convert to Qobuz or a competing service).

-Ed
 
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