Using Wiim Ultra as part of PC controlled speaker system for business productivity

[bmoneyAK]

Hi, My work from home setup includes a 3.5mm aux cable coming out of my PC into an AVR into old Costco Pioneer speakers. It's great for Teams and listening to Youtube or Spotify. I'd like to upgrade the system and use something similar to what I do in my living room. I could use Wiim Ultra with a dedicated Amp + good passive speakers. I'm not sure how to connect the Wiim Ultra to the PC. My existing solution is 3.5mm. I don't think this is do-able with Wiim Ultra and I'm not sure it's a good quality solution, either. I'm guessing I would want to use Optical or HDMI. I have unused HDMI port on my Windows PC. What interface should I use to connect the Wiim as an external speaker for my PC? Will there be a delay? I can't have a perceptible delay as the most common use case is real time video chat. How will the quality be?

Thanks!

 

[d6jg]

To avoid any risk of latency go straight from the PC to your amp. There is no point in the Ultra being inline for your use case.

I have in my office
WiiM -> Optical -> Amp
PC -> USB Behringer UCA202 -> RCA -> Amp

Most of the time the WiiM is being used for music but I switch inputs for a Teams meeting etc. I use the mic in my web cam. I can also play other audio from the PC if I need to.

 

[Mr Ee]

Hdmi won't work, it's an arc connection on the wiim, not a 'real' hdmi input.
I'd be surprised if optical in to the wiim caused any noticable delay. I have no lip sync issues with tv optical out via either a pro or ultra and then digital out into another dac then an analog amp.

3.5 mm out from pc will work if you get a 3.5mm to dual rca lead, like the one that comes with the mini.
But yes, the quality will be limited by the pc analog out. Should be fine for chats though.

 

[bmoneyAK]

To avoid any risk of latency go straight from the PC to your amp. There is no point in the Ultra being inline for your use case.

I have in my office
WiiM -> Optical -> Amp
PC -> USB Behringer UCA202 -> RCA -> Amp

Most of the time the WiiM is being used for music but I switch inputs for a Teams meeting etc. I use the mic in my web cam. I can also play other audio from the PC if I need to.

I'm confused by your setup. I want to only use the PC to stream spotify as well as teams meetings through to hifi speakers such as KEF. If I go from optical into a DAC into the amp, will that have equalizer settings in it that are good/usable? My thought to get a straight optical out card for my PC was because I could theoretically send audio as a high quality source to the Wiim ultra, then use it as an equalizer and through to the amp. Maybe this is inefficient or will hamper quality. If I do it this way, I could also stream from my phone if I wanted to for some reason.

 

[spoidyjan]

I’m planning a similar setup for my workspace. For Teams calls, would using a USB DAC like the Behringer UCA202 directly to the amp be better than connecting through the Wiim Ultra? Also, has anyone tried using an optical out from a PC with the Wiim Ultra for streaming? I’m wondering if the sound quality and EQ settings make it worth using.

 

[DoubleTap]

I use a usb to toslink adapter to connect my PC to the Ultra - they're $20 on Amazon.

RCA out to my power amp, Sub out to my sub

USB out to my headphone amp

CD player is using RCA inputs and also optical out to my PC (so I can play CDs and PC audio at the same time)

My HDMI Arc port is noisy so I use bluetooth to connect my smart monitor to the Ultra (no perceptible delay)

 

[d6jg]

I use a usb to toslink adapter to connect my PC to the Ultra - they're $20 on Amazon.

RCA out to my power amp, Sub out to my sub

USB out to my headphone amp

CD player is using RCA inputs and also optical out to my PC (so I can play CDs and PC audio at the same time)

My HDMI Arc port is noisy so I use bluetooth to connect my smart monitor to the Ultra (no perceptible delay)

NB.
Just a heads up.
USB to Toslink is quite commonly available and that is what is needed but Toslink to USB does exist albeit fairly rare. They often look identical. Make sure you buy one the right way round.

 

[DoubleTap]

NB.
Just a heads up.
USB to Toslink is quite commonly available and that is what is needed but Toslink to USB does exist albeit fairly rare. They often look identical. Make sure you buy one the right way round.

They look identical but they have a label that indicates whether they are input or output.

In my previous config, I had my Wiim Pro optical out going into the PC so I could just leave my PC audio active and hear Wiim streaming and PC audio at the same time. This kind of digital mixing is super convenient for a computer desk focused audio setup.

I had it configured that way for a short time with the Wiim Ultra but I didn't like having two Wiim devices visible in the app and decided to simplify. I might change things up at some point but in my opinion, one of the biggest issues for PC audio is that if you want to use a non PC sound source, you have to switch inputs and now you no longer hear things like DMs or emails or other system info you might want to remain aware of.

Even while running the optical through the PC, I ran the coax directly to the Integrated Amp so if I wanted to bypass the PC and have a "pure" input, I could do it that way...

 

[90sNintendoKid]

I use a Douk Audio Q2 Pro to connect my pc via usb. Then optical out of the Douk into a WiiM Ultra then line out to a JDS Labs Atom Amp+. I use the Q2 Pro with my headphones and boom mic. When I want to use speakers I use the Atom as a pre amp and the speakers get muted when I plug in headphones. I turn on the Atom via the volume knob.

 

[zh_chx]

PC audio to WIIM Ultra, via Bluetooth; PC library to WIIM Ultra, via DLNA(set the PC as Media server).