Real Power Switch

[adias]

@WiiM Team @WiiM Support @RyanWithWiiM
A useful feature on ALL WiiM products would be a simple power switch, perhaps located near a corner in the back of the unit. My devices are on 24/7 so I would not use it for that, but after each FW upgrade I often need to do a power cycle and that requires removing/reinserting the attached power cable which is less convenient.

 

[WiiMer SJ]

What does a detachable power cable have to do with a backup battery or a fan? That sounds a bit like contradiction for the sake of contradiction.

The reasoning behind this request was to make power cycling easier. I think that power cycling is easy enough as is (personal opinion) and that adding a physical switch would be as usual and as helpful as power switch on a laptop computer.

Perhaps I should have structured my post more carefully. In my haste it seems I failed to make my point understood.

You wrote:

WiiM devices are audio computers performing all sorts of background and/or network operations. Removing the power at the wrong point in time can lead to inconsistent behaviour and even brick them.

By including a detachable power cable, Wiim is indicating they do not share those concerns. Easily detachable parts (mechanical or electrical) are a potential reliability issue. It should be assumed they will detach or will be detached at an inopportune time.
The absence of a power switch, fan and battery such as in yours and my laptops to control the cooling and shutdown sequence further suggests the loss of mains power is not considered detrimental.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I have never had to power cycle any of my ten WiiM devices after an update.

 

[adias]

And that pretty much explains the difficulty here (I hope).Who would be using this
View attachment 24113
with light-hearted confidence on their WiiM Ultra?

WiiM devices are audio computers performing all sorts of background and/or network operations. Removing the power at the wrong point in time can lead to inconsistent behaviour and even brick them.

The Vibelink Amp might not be a streaming device but its support for firmware updates through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) makes it potentially vulnerable, too.

Yes, operating a real hardware power cutting all-pole switch in the end is not different from pulling the plug. But if this switch is there people will rightfully expect it to work safely. And safely includes not breaking the device.

Can you imagine how "the press" (or nowadays the well known YouTube charlatans) would treat an audio company putting a self destruction switch on their devices? One case (real or imagined) would be sufficient.

I do miss the "real" switches, too, but I don't think they make sense for all kinds of devices.

Some of us know how/when to power off a digital device that is not updating FW...

 

[harkpabst]

Some of us know how/when to power off a digital device that is not updating FW...

That's exactly how I like to think of myself.