Question on WiiM Ultra vs Marantz AVR DAC and sound

[Francin]

I am currently using a Marantz SR5008 solely as a preamp. All signals including my tidal app all come from the TV via an HDMI cable an are fed to a pair of mono-block amps and a subwoofer.

I am looking at replacing the Marantz with a WiiM Ultra. I am not interested in any additional streaming or wireless features. Solely from a processing and audio perspective, will the WiiM Ultra sound comparable to the Marantz?

Additionally, can the Low Pass and High Pass filters on the WiiM Ultra be set independently or must they be set at the same frequency?

 

[Wiimer]

Solely from a processing and audio perspective, will the WiiM Ultra sound comparable to the Marantz?

Yes, if you only compare the sound quality specs, the Ultra can be said to have better than the Marantz.

Here are the Ultra's measurements.

WiiM Ultra Streamer Preamp Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Ultra network streamer, DAC, phono stage and preamplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $329. Physical attribute are modern and attractive enough. Alas, I can't say the same thing about the graphical interface. Icons seem...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This is not the SR5008, but compare it to the SR8015 measurements.

Marantz SR8015 Review (Home Theater AVR)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz SR8015 11.2 channel 8K AV Receiver (AVR). It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $3,299 and is the flagship unit from Marantz. All Marantz AVRs look the same and the 8015 is no exception: I am not a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Comparing only the SINAD Preamp, the Ultra is clearly superior to the SR8015.

Ultra :115dB
SR8015 :99dB

However, I don't know how you will feel when you actually hear and compare the two.

Additionally, can the Low Pass and High Pass filters on the WiiM Ultra be set independently or must they be set at the same frequency?

With the Ultra Subwoofer Settings, the crossover value is always at the same frequency. It is not possible to set the high-pass and low-pass to different frequencies.

As a side note, the next firmware will add high and low pass to PEQ. How this will work is not yet known, but presumably two WiiMs will allow different crossovers to be set for the sub and main speakers. (You will need to connect a sub and a main to each of the two WiiMs for multi-room playback.)

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

The TV might well be resampling all audio to 48khz before sending down hdmi.
It seems that some TVs don't do a particularly good job of this.
Do you intend to keep playing Tidal via the tv? You may get an improvement by using the ultra directly.

 

[harkpabst]

Additionally, can the Low Pass and High Pass filters on the WiiM Ultra be set independently or must they be set at the same frequency?

While you cannot set different crossover frequencies or filter slopes for the high pass and the low pass filter, you can completely disable either one.