USB Support

[jeromeof]

I have done that ; I'll see what they say.

I actually have an IOS TestFlight beta with a re-implemented USB scan - still not 100% fixed for me but it works a little different in this new version of the App. I imagine the WiiM team are away on their Chinese New Year break at the moment but when they are back I imagine they will release an update as soon as they get some of the issues fixed.

 

[Inertiaman]

@Inertiaman, I'm starting to wonder if this might be entirely related to smartphone power management settings (by now).

After having slight issues initially, I excluded the WiiM Home App from Xioami power management and all I can say is: USB is working for me each and every time. No matter if the amp has been used just before, if it was in standby, or if it just woke up after being disconnected from the mains.

Different brands of Android phones might work very differently, but some are known for implementing very aggressive battery saver strategies.

Been away travelling for the past week so just now replying. I appreciate the brainstorming for solutions, but I'm skeptical that power management explains it.

Phone is a Pixel 3. Adaptive battery (= mystery power management) is off. My problems occur even when the phone is plugged in. The app has never had a single issue connecting to the Amp or a Mini on my network, ever. So connecting to the network -- or any power management inhibiting that -- doesn't seem to be an issue.

FWIW, my first attempt to use USB after returning home resulted in the app showing the "Search your media server" waveform animation for hours. Still no USB visibility. Disconnected power to the Amp, reconnected power, inserted new USB stick (with a trivial 2 folders and 45 files) and the app still just searches forever for a media server, finding nothing. Everything is on the same 5Ghz network.

Meanwhile, I opened my VLC application on my PC and it found the Wiim Amp USB after about an hour. Ironically, using the VLC app, I can play content from the Wiim USB *through* the Wiim Amp as a renderer, despite the Wiim app itself not showing the USB content or able to access it directly!

Haven't heard anything from Wiim since January re: my ticket.

 

[harkpabst]

Bummer. Power management was just a wild guess. Maybe it's really a compatibility issue.

My 512 GB SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (FAT32, ~6600 files, ~520 albums) shows up in the app within 10 seconds or so after I disconnect and reconnect the power. WiiM Home App 2.8.4.240203.798f0a on Xiaomi 12.

 

[Inertiaman]

I've tried 3 different USB sticks and 2 file format systems, and the problems persisted. I'm on the same app rev as you.
I'm going to try a different phone. And perhaps a different router if I can borrow one.
Amp has been great for me other than this one issue, which oddly makes it MORE annoying (so close to perfect!).

 

[jeromeof]

As I mentioned above, before Chinese New Year they were testing a new version of the App interface for scanning the USB. So I would suggest wait a week or 2 and see what is release. The TestFlight version I have is better but still a bit buggy.

 

[spacegrass]

As I mentioned above, before Chinese New Year they were testing a new version of the App interface for scanning the USB. So I would suggest wait a week or 2 and see what is release. The TestFlight version I have is better but still a bit buggy.

@Inertiaman as others have reported, i continue to have a USB that works normally, since the FW upgrade of a few weeks ago - before that, i had the same issue as you. I do note that one time, a few days ago, the USB input once again was missing when i powered up the Amp - but a removal and reinsertion of the stick fixed it. So that suggests there is still *something* that can go wrong in the handshake between the USB stick and the amp/software, and that maybe some aspect unique to your setup is exacerbating that something. Have you tried exFAT format - the Windows default? I also wonder what would happen if you reformatted your stick(s) on a different computer? (a long shot admittedly)

 

[jeromeof]

@Inertiaman as others have reported, i continue to have a USB that works normally, since the FW upgrade of a few weeks ago - before that, i had the same issue as you. I do note that one time, a few days ago, the USB input once again was missing when i powered up the Amp - but a removal and reinsertion of the stick fixed it. So that suggests there is still *something* that can go wrong in the handshake between the USB stick and the amp/software, and that maybe some aspect unique to your setup is exacerbating that something. Have you tried exFAT format - the Windows default? I also wonder what would happen if you reformatted your stick(s) on a different computer? (a long shot admittedly)

I had the usb working with a small collection on a smaller USB drive, but I decided to properly 'test' the WiiM Amp capabilities, so I got a fast 1TB SSD drive and put 80,000 files on it. This is where it was struggling,
I had these on a ext4 formatted drive first (the WiiM Amp is linux based so EXT3 / EXT4 is its native file system) but this number of files was crashing the application. I switch the format to exFAT at that stage but this had the same result.
The for a while I pre-cached the wiim_cache folder on the USB disk which worked well (this folder is created by the scanning process) but it's the same file / folder format as the open source "minidlna" application so relatively easy to pre-cache the files before inserting into the WiiM Amp. But then there was a change in the firmware and this pre-cached files were not working anymore, this is where the WiiM Team (who are excellent IMO) started to look at supporting a large number of files and while their new Application does not crash anymore and works every time, it doesn't see all the files (hence why I am saying its still a bit buggy) but it was close to be being ready at least before the Chinese New Year break.

 

[harkpabst]

I've tried 3 different USB sticks and 2 file format systems, and the problems persisted. I'm on the same app rev as you.
I'm going to try a different phone. And perhaps a different router if I can borrow one.
Amp has been great for me other than this one issue, which oddly makes it MORE annoying (so close to perfect!).

I almost (but really just almost) feel a little bad about my good luck with USB.

Initially I had no plans of even trying it out since all my ripped music lives on a Synology NAS. Your issues just made me want to try it myself. Now that USB works so well for my, I have my NAS shut down for 12 hours a day and can still play my collected music if I want to ... sorry.

 

[SeeRM114]

I wish I had a suggestion, @Inertiaman ; since I switched from FAT32 and ALAC to NTFS and FLAC, I have had no issues at all. I have removed the USB stick a few times to add music to it and then reinsert it and the re-indexing went very fast for my 5000 tracks. (usb stick is a generic one from the retailer "Micro Center")

My App Version is 2.8.4.240203.789f0a and my Firmware is 5.0.606744 (PCB version is 5) ; my phone is an old "moto g7 power" with Android 10

 

[sejarzo]

I am considering a WiiM Amp to replace a mini PC>DAC>integrated amp and LCD TV that only serves as a monitor for running Foobar2000 on a music-only speaker system. I have bad vision and thought it would be much simpler to ditch all that, along with the wireless keyboard and remote for the integrated amp, remove the 512GB SSD that holds 16,000 FLACs in 1600 or so folders, and use a 10 inch Android tablet running the app for all control of a Wiim Amp.

However, I cannot find much information in the app or amp user manuals about how one creates playlists for content on the USB. For all genres other than classical, my music is stored in artist folders, with albums as subfolders. However, for my classical content, it just makes more sense for it to be stored in composer folders, with albums as subfolders, as that's how I prefer to set up classical playlists. I have about 500 playlists now, and recreating them by dragging each cut into a new playlist via the WiiM app isn't something I would want to do if there is any other option--but the documentation I have found doesn't explain any alternative. Is that correct?

 

[Smartplug]

I am considering a WiiM Amp to replace a mini PC>DAC>integrated amp and LCD TV that only serves as a monitor for running Foobar2000 on a music-only speaker system. I have bad vision and thought it would be much simpler to ditch all that, along with the wireless keyboard and remote for the integrated amp, remove the 512GB SSD that holds 16,000 FLACs in 1600 or so folders, and use a 10 inch Android tablet running the app for all control of a Wiim Amp.

However, I cannot find much information in the app or amp user manuals about how one creates playlists for content on the USB. For all genres other than classical, my music is stored in artist folders, with albums as subfolders. However, for my classical content, it just makes more sense for it to be stored in composer folders, with albums as subfolders, as that's how I prefer to set up classical playlists. I have about 500 playlists now, and recreating them by dragging each cut into a new playlist via the WiiM app isn't something I would want to do if there is any other option--but the documentation I have found doesn't explain any alternative. Is that correct?

All music file you have in computer just copy and paste them to usb flash drive and then insert that to usb at the back of the amp. The app has usb. First time inserting it there’s a 3 dot on upper right for the amp to cache them.

 

[sejarzo]

All music file you have in computer just copy and paste them to usb flash drive and then insert that to usb at the back of the amp. The app has usb. First time inserting it there’s a 3 dot on upper right for the amp to cache them.

They are already on an SSD in a USB enclosure that I would detach from the mini PC then attach to the WiiM Amp's USB port. The SSD should only draw 2.1 watts, less than the spec from WiiM for the port.

My big question has to do with how the app catalogs content and the creation of custom playlists. There's just no info shown about that in the documentation, and if the app can't do it the way I want, that's a deal breaker.

 

[Smartplug]

They are already on an SSD that I would detach from the mini PC attach to the WiiM Amp's USB port. The SSD should only draw 2.1 watts, less than the spec from WiiM for the port.

My big question has to do with how the app catalogs content and the creation of custom playlists. There's just no info shown about that in the documentation, and if the app can't do it the way I want, that's a deal

It has playlist menu but I haven’t use it or any information how to use it. Mine is just blank and the rest of the menu has content on it.

 

[sejarzo]

It has playlist menu but I haven’t use it or any information how to use it. Mine is just blank and the rest of the menu has content on it.

Thanks. The lack of info in the official documentation concerns me enough that I can't consider buying one until it's clear how user-defined playlists can be easily generated from folders on the drive.

 

[Inertiaman]

I wish I had a suggestion, @Inertiaman ; since I switched from FAT32 and ALAC to NTFS and FLAC, I have had no issues at all. I have removed the USB stick a few times to add music to it and then reinsert it and the re-indexing went very fast for my 5000 tracks. (usb stick is a generic one from the retailer "Micro Center")

My App Version is 2.8.4.240203.789f0a and my Firmware is 5.0.606744 (PCB version is 5) ; my phone is an old "moto g7 power" with Android 10

My app and firmware and PCB versions are identical to yours. I'm using Sandisk USB sticks, about as mainstream as you can get. Format NTFS. Currently using MP3 (I have FLAC database but thought the smaller files would be easier to push back/forth on memory sticks as I try to debug things). I can't imagine that the file type has any bearing on this USB instability.

I haven't seen USB on the app for two days now. The USB stick I most recently put in the Amp was just raw music folders/files (ie, not yet scanned/indexed by Wiim). Amazingly, the amp did scan/index and write a wiim_cache folder onto the drive, yet there is no indication on the app of any USB content. I also used a Pixel 6A for half a day (had been using my Pixel 3 previously), and it also never showed USB. During all this time, the USB is easily visible from my VLC application if I open it on my laptop. Crazy that Wiim can find the physical USB stick, scan it and write the index cache onto the stick, but not manage to "connect" the stick and the app. And the app is *always* finding my other UPnP server whenever I enable it.

My best guess is some sort of problem with how IP addresses are being cached. Maybe the app is perpetually looking for the USB drive at a dated/aged address that has since changed, maybe due to dynamic assignments from my router? Maybe there is some tiny configuration detail in my router playing into this, and the Wiim app is vulnerable to that detail, which perhaps isn't rearing its head on other peoples setups. But I've got a mainstream, recent (3 year old) router with standard configuration, nothing unusual.

At any rate, Wiim has offered exactly zero acknowledgement of any details I've provided, zero suggestions on other things to investigate, no help at all really. They did respond once to my ticket and tell me to use the newest app, but that was rather annoying since I had already told them the app version I was on, which *was* the newest, and they apparently didn't even bother to read that. Their response seems like a canned non-human reply with stock answers, not anything that is actually a reaction to my detailed input.

 

[Smartplug]

Thanks. The lack of info in the official documentation concerns me enough that I can't consider buying one until it's clear how user-defined playlists can be easily generated from folders on the drive.

Playlist with folders

Sorry for my bad English. Is it possible to put entire directories in a playlist and then play them in random mode? On my nas about 40000 songs are sorted in folders. I would like to put any folder in the playlist. Thanks.

forum.wiimhome.com

 

[sejarzo]

Playlist with folders

Sorry for my bad English. Is it possible to put entire directories in a playlist and then play them in random mode? On my nas about 40000 songs are sorted in folders. I would like to put any folder in the playlist. Thanks.

forum.wiimhome.com

Thanks, but that is not at all what I need.

I want to define playlists in very specific order. I never play random lists. For classical, each playlist is for a single a composer, with each individual album with that composer's works shown sorted by date, ascending, with each cut in the album in numerical order. For all other genres, each playlist is for a single performer, albums sorted by date, ascending, with each cut in numerical order. I've no desire at all to put my content on a NAS plus use another app to feed the WiiM Amp when any of the PC-based player apps such as Foobar or JRiver let me do that simply.

 

[Mr Ee]

Thanks, but that is not at all what I need.

I want to define playlists in very specific order. I never play random lists. For classical, each playlist is for a single a composer, with each individual album with that composer's works shown sorted by date, ascending, with each cut in the album in numerical order. For all other genres, each playlist is for a single performer, albums sorted by date, ascending, with each cut in numerical order. I've no desire at all to put my content on a NAS plus use another app to feed the WiiM Amp when any of the PC-based player apps such as Foobar or JRiver let me do that simply.

Are your current playlists m3u files?
I think the suggestion was that you could use an app like bubbleupnp on android to play your playlists of the files on a usb drive plugged into the wiim amp.
Bubble has good playlist support, however I don't believe you can use bubble to update external m3u files, just 'local', bubble playlists.
By that, I mean that I think bubble playlists are stored on the local android device.
They can, however, be exported to m3u files.

 

[sejarzo]

No, I use Foobar2000 which has its own proprietary playlist format.

It is easy to create a new playlist, drag the main artist or composer folder into it, and it sorts the content as I have specified to be the default. I would even gladly recreate those using the WiiM app if it were so simple, but there is zero guidance on how to do that.

Foobar can supposedly export playlists in m3u, but my Foobar playlists point to all cuts in H:\Music\artist or composer\album\file.flac, so they only work on a Windows machine.

 

[SeeRM114]

If Foobar can export your playlists to M3U, you may only have to change the path from whatever it is now to "/media/sda1/" (which is what the WIim uses) and then the rest of your current path, (and maybe change all the backslashes to forward slashes). e.g.

#EXTINF:0,Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue
/media/sda1/Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks/01 Tangled Up In Blue.flac

(that is from an actual M3U I made that is currently working on my USB stick attached to the amp). And if the Foobar-exported M3U files do not work at all -

I posted something on page 3 of this thread (post 56) that contains a query I was running to generate playlists - based on using the "files.db" database that the amp generates and puts into the Wiim_Cache folder on the USB stick/drive when it indexes the tracks. I'm sure there are many different ways to generate playlists ; I'm comfortable using SQL so this worked for me. I downloaded a little app called "DB Browser for SQLite" that gives you a graphical interface for looking at the database. So one query can make a short or long series of "#EXTINF:0" lines and then I just put a "#EXTM3U" line before all of those. I saved that to a text file and put it in the root of the USB stick and Wiim read it just fine. Now those get listed as Playlists in the Wiim Home App.