Running very hot

[CrystalGipsy]

It’s an amplifier it’s going to generate heat it’s pulling a lot more power than anything else in the cabinet all amps need decent ventilation even class D. A closed cabinet with little space isn’t a good place to put any amp.

 

[egOscar]

It’s an amplifier it’s going to generate heat it’s pulling a lot more power than anything else in the cabinet all amps need decent ventilation even class D. A closed cabinet with little space isn’t a good place to put any amp.

I disagree slightly: It depends on your usage. After the firmware update I have no problems with my WiiM amp in a closed cabinet. The cabinet is roomy though: plenty of air around the unit, only an Apple TV, 20cm away from it. The amp does not get that warm anymore.

I used my old small amp TEAC 101 the same way for many years, no issues.

One of the key reasons for me buying the Wiim Amp was the small form factor in combination with HDMI Arc to be able to place it not visable in the room

 

[DavidGriffiths]

FWIW I have line in and optical auto sense enabled because it's the only way I could get HDMI to auto sense when I stop WiFi streaming (IMO there should be an explicit HDMI auto sense option in addition to an explicit CEC power option for people who want it). I don't have anything actually plugged into the line in right now, though. With YouTube playing on my TV, I paused the video for a minute and then resumed and audio picked right up. Only when I hit the amp 2min standby time did I need to wait ~10s for the amp to wake back up and audio to start.

Thanks for that tip. I also turned on both line in and optical auto sense and it now appears to come out of standby when I turn the TV on and go back into standby when I turn the TV off.

 

[xsdmx]

Thanks for that tip. I also turned on both line in and optical auto sense and it now appears to come out of standby when I turn the TV on and go back into standby when I turn the TV off.

Glad it worked for you, too! It's very odd. I'm not sure why both need to be enabled for HDMI auto sense and standby to work, it would be great if there were explicit HDMI settings.

 

[DRC]

Thanks for that tip. I also turned on both line in and optical auto sense and it now appears to come out of standby when I turn the TV on and go back into standby when I turn the TV off.

So it is working exactly the same as CEC!

 

[siwi666]

does the Amp have standby mode with Airplay 2 activated? Anyone with experience just using Airplay?

 

[cooky560]

I seem to have an issue that's similar to this, my amp isn't warm, and I have a turntable connected to the RCA, nothing is connected to the hdmi or optical.

If stream using the app from my phone, it swaps automatically to this and works fine, however after I stop listening, and press the red "Power" button on remote to turn it off, after a few minutes the light goes green, and it appears to still be on.

I have no idea what's happening with it.

 

[Brantome]

I seem to have an issue that's similar to this, my amp isn't warm, and I have a turntable connected to the RCA, nothing is connected to the hdmi or optical.

If stream using the app from my phone, it swaps automatically to this and works fine, however after I stop listening, and press the red "Power" button on remote to turn it off, after a few minutes the light goes green, and it appears to still be on.

I have no idea what's happening with it.

Submit a ticket so WiiM can see from your device log what’s triggering that.

 

[cooky560]

I think I solved it, so I'll post here in case it happens to someone else.
Disabling the auto sensing on line-in worked, it seems the phono stage I'm using is always "hot" so the Wiim Amp thinks it's a source

 

[es6rd6z]

I think I solved it, so I'll post here in case it happens to someone else.
Disabling the auto sensing on line-in worked, it seems the phono stage I'm using is always "hot" so the Wiim Amp thinks it's a source

Could still be worth submitting a ticket for. Maybe they can figure out a way to ignore 'hot' line-in connections, or add an option to set a higher threshold for the auto-sense to activate.

 

[OBELIKS]

Is this normal behavior? I am using it at the moment and it was at around 20-30% volume. 24,3°C is a bit higher than ambient (surface was probably heated from Amp).

 

[cooky560]

While I can't comment on if it's good or bad for the WiiM specifically, most chips are comfortable to high temperatures, computers run at 80 to 90c for years without issues.

 

[OBELIKS]

I get that it should not be an issue. At least at the moment, as the ambient temperature is not so high. In summer it will be higher.
But I will check it tomorrow anyway, idling and turned on without playing.

 

[harkpabst]

@OBELIKS, what's your current firmware? A temperature difference of 20 deg Celsius doesn't look alarming to me, at least if the Amp is playing.

How did you take that thermal image?

 

[jayh]

Actually, that is what I would want. The Amp should shut down when I power down the TV. If I need the Amp afterwards I could just switch it on again.

The amp never completely shuts down unless you pull the power plug. It goes into a standby mode where it consumes very little power.

Also, it appears that setting the optical input for auto-sense also enables auto-sense on HDMI based on my experience as well as reading others' experiences here.

 

[jayh]

@OBELIKS, what's your current firmware? A temperature difference of 20 deg Celsius doesn't look alarming to me, at least if the Amp is playing.

Agreed, especially if you are driving "difficult" speakers. Mine gets pretty warm, but nowhere near too hot to touch driving Infinity 8 Kappas rather loudly. It does have plenty of oomph to drive them quite well, which was a pleasant surprise.

 

[Smartplug]

Agreed, especially if you are driving "difficult" speakers. Mine gets pretty warm, but nowhere near too hot to touch driving Infinity 8 Kappas rather loudly. It does have plenty of oomph to drive them quite well, which was a pleasant surprise.

It can drive even low impedance 4 ohms. Double the power on 4 ohms. I’m surprised that it has good control on woofer even power hungry Polk legend nothing sound lean or bright.

 

[jayh]

While I can't comment on if it's good or bad for the WiiM specifically, most chips are comfortable to high temperatures, computers run at 80 to 90c for years without issues.

The WiiM amp also looks very well designed from a heat dissipation perspective. The entire case is a huge chunk of aluminum nicely coupled to the power semiconductors. That thermal image shows no hot spots. The entire case is a massive heat sink.

 

[Smartplug]

Which has higher dac quality the one on amp or pro plus?

 

[OBELIKS]

@OBELIKS, what's your current firmware? A temperature difference of 20 deg Celsius doesn't look alarming to me, at least if the Amp is playing.

How did you take that thermal image?

Latest FW, I always run latest FW on my devices, even when it bites me in the rear. I was just wondering, since we are still in winter and the ambient temperatures are at 25°C max. It will be a bit warmer in summer.

Thermal camera, IfiRay P2 Pro.