The volume on the HDMI ARC port is too low

[Martin13]

I mainly use the Wiim Amp with my TV.
Unfortunately, the television sound is transmitted too quietly via the HDMI ARC port.
The sound source is a SAT receiver. If I set the output to “Bitstream”, the sound is great, but then I have no sound at all on some channels (RTL, Vox).
If I set the output of the SAT receiver to “PCM”, everything works, but there is a massive loss of volume. In conjunction with Bluetooth headphones on the Wiim Amp, almost nothing works.

It would therefore be very helpful if greater preamplification were possible. So far I have made full use of the possible 10 DB. With a digital signal this should be possible without causing quality problems.


Martin

 

[Burnside]

You can set pre gain on that input under audio input in your device settings to see if that helps

 

[Martin13]

I have already used the possible 10db pre-amplification. I need a little more preamplification.

 

[DRC]

My Sony TV has a “digital audio out volume” for PCM. You might want to check if your TV has such a setting.

 

[harkpabst]

I think the problem is most likely with the transmitter, not the receiver. I second the idea of checking the TV's audio output settings.

Digital amplification is not entirely "free", it can increase the noise floor. In many cases it makes sense and I was very happy when WiiM introduced pre-gain. Fortunately, they decided not to limit it to negative gain. If you know for sure that your source is always far from 0 dBFS, digital gain is very useful. Of course, if this assumption is ever violated, you can end up with hard digital clipping. 10 dB is actually quite a lot of gain, already.

 

[Martin13]

Thank you for the many suggestions.
I tested all of them. The satellite receiver has no further adjustment options for the volume.
There is no separate setting option for PCM. The satellite receiver also has a TOSLINK optical out.
If I use this and connect the WIIM AMP directly, I can exclude influences from the television.
Unfortunately the volume doesn't change.

I'm sure the satellite receiver is the problem.
It would be great if the preamplification could be adjusted beyond 10db. Gladly with prior warning

 

[Martin13]

I have now compared the PCM and the bitstream output of my satellite receiver again.
The differences are huge. I get a normal volume level via Bitstream.
Unfortunately, the sound on some TV channels does not work.
This is because of the following reason: With Bitstream, the WIIM has to decode the signal.
Most TV stations offer stereo here - it works. Few TV stations only offer Dolby Digital.
The WIIM AMP can't do anything with that. Maybe that will change again...
Today I ordered audio extractors for HDMI that can also handle Dolby Digital and then provide the audio via RCA or Toslink.
Let's see if this works as desired.

 

[Martin13]

Last feedback on the topic, I sold the Wiim amp and bought a Wiim amp pro. This can do Dolby Digital.
I have sound via Toslink, but unfortunately not via HDMI ARC.
However, there are still problems, but the firmware for Dolby is still in beta.

 

[harkpabst]

However, there are still problems, but the firmware for Dolby is still in beta.

Not really. The current non-beta firmware does support the downmix of Dolby Digital 5.1 content to stereo (with or without subwoofer, that doesn't matter). The WiiM Amp Pro did support this mode right from the start.

What's still in beta is the ability to send the rear channels to another WiiM device and have the Amp Pro (or Ultra) output the three front channels only (mixed down to stereo with a phantom center, so far).

If you're not getting any sound now through HDMI ARC the situation seems worse than it was before. The WiiM Pro Plus really should support PCM and Dolby Digital right now, with no further update.

Double check your settings and make sure.to send feedback to WiiM if you cannot get it going.

 

[khuntim]

output the 3 front channels to stereo with phantom center sounds great. I thought that was already happening?

I have my Sony TV set to output DD to Ultra, not PCM, works well, but dialog not always the best.

confused on OP setup.. what TV and audio output?

 

[harkpabst]

output the 3 front channels to stereo with phantom center sounds great. I thought that was already happening?

I was assuming that the current behaviour (prior to the beta) would include all 5 channels into the stereo downmix, but admittedly I don't know for sure.