Turntable - WiiM Ultra - Sonos Playbase

[Solaris]

I hooked my Audio-Technica (Phono) turntable to Phono In in WiiM Ultra (Grounds too).
WiiM Digital Out is connected to Sonos Playbase.
In the WiiM app, Audio Input is Phono In and Audio Output is Optical Out (see image below).
In the Sonos app, the Playbase source is SPDIF (Optical).

The sound doesn't come out, can't hear a thing!

What's interesting is the following:

1. If my Audio Input in WiiM is WiFi or ARC, I have sound in Playbase from either my Spotify app or TV (hooked to ARC input). That tells me the Sonos is set up properly and signal goes out to WiiMs Digital Output.
2. If my Audio Input is put back again to Phono In (the turntable) and I hook up a pair of headphones to WiiM jack on the front, switch Audio Output to Headphones, then I can hear the music in my headphones. That leads me to believe the Phone In is also working fine.

What am I doing wrong or what else should I try before sending the WiiM back and maybe trying a new unit?

It seems to me it might be an issue connecting Phono In to Digital Output (or Line In for that matter, I tried both, my AT can switch between Phono and Line)...

 

[Solaris]

Hm...

Did a factory reset.

Went through the setup wizard again and changed the Optical Output Resolution to Max values but the sound didn't come out through the Optical Output during the Play Sound Test. So I dialed it down to Max values that actually are supported by Sonos Playbase which are 48/24.

That seemed to do the trick, for now!

In the end not sure if it was the reset that did or the sound resolution adjustment or both. It's surprising that even if it was previously at Max values, the TV ARC input and the Wi-Fi input both worked on the Digital Out before the reset...

I wonder whether after Firmware update a reset to factory is necessary, then freshly hookup all systems after WiiM has been updated to lastest Firmware...

Just leaving this here in case someone else runs into a similar issue with this setup.

 

[d6jg]

The ARC is never more than 16/48 but the Phono ADC is supposedly 24/192 capable. What were you playing over WiFi? It must have been 16/44.1 or 16/48

 

[Burnside]

When you choose phono in on the audio input page, near the bottom there’s a new entry for the line-in resolution which appears to default to 24/96 so maybe that’s what the WiiM was trying to pass out to the Sonos which couldn’t handle it. Taking the output max resolution down probably resampled that down.

Edit: that would probably explain why the headphones worked as its internal amp could handle 24/96 before converting it to analog.

 

[Burnside]

I think the moral is always use the test tone when using digital out to confirm the external device can support the chosen resolution.

 

[Solaris]

The ARC is never more than 16/48 but the Phono ADC is supposedly 24/192 capable. What were you playing over WiFi? It must have been 16/44.1 or 16/48

The Sonos Playbase digital input has a max resolution of 24/48 that's what I think ultimately the problem was, except maybe the firmware requiring a reset to factory after installation.

But as Burnside says listening to the output during the wizard setup is a sure way of not missing it out. I skipped that then plugged the digital out later and probably (I don't remember) setting up to max before actually trying to see if it works. So, unless the input cut it off to what Sonos could handle (ARC WiFi) it wouldn't have worked on Max from TT via Phono In. Lesson learned!

To answer your question: it switches to Wi-Fi when playing Spotify.