What products you'd like to see WiiM produce?

[Steve Woodhouse]

This has been mentioned before - probably by me - but I'm going to say it again.

CD transport, no DAC required, designed to go into the digital input on your WiiM streamer/streaming amplifier (or anythng else).

But WiiM cheap. It really doesn't need to be any more than £30. Okay, maybe £50 tops.

Plenty of FiiOs and SMSLs charging £150+ for a player including a DAC which most of us don't need.

Reading round the various audio forums, I think it'd sell like hot cakes.

 

[EddNog]

This has been mentioned before - probably by me - but I'm going to say it again.

CD transport, no DAC required, designed to go into the digital input on your WiiM streamer/streaming amplifier (or anythng else).

But WiiM cheap. It really doesn't need to be any more than £30. Okay, maybe £50 tops.

Plenty of FiiOs and SMSLs charging £150+ for a player including a DAC which most of us don't need.

Reading round the various audio forums, I think it'd sell like hot cakes.

Judging by the VibeLink, Play speakers and WiiM Sub, LinkPlay will sell you a glass of water and it will have DSP and a DAC. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Ed

 

[hgo58]

This has been mentioned before - probably by me - but I'm going to say it again.

CD transport, no DAC required, designed to go into the digital input on your WiiM streamer/streaming amplifier (or anythng else).

But WiiM cheap. It really doesn't need to be any more than £30. Okay, maybe £50 tops.

Plenty of FiiOs and SMSLs charging £150+ for a player including a DAC which most of us don't need.

Reading round the various audio forums, I think it'd sell like hot cakes.

As I have also commented before. A WiiM CD transport should have the LinkPlay module and be seen as any other WiiM device. When linking with the WiiM CD it shall provide the playing metadata (title, cover art, etc), just as other leader devices do.

 

[Burnside]

This has been mentioned before - probably by me - but I'm going to say it again.

CD transport, no DAC required, designed to go into the digital input on your WiiM streamer/streaming amplifier (or anythng else).

But WiiM cheap. It really doesn't need to be any more than £30. Okay, maybe £50 tops.

Plenty of FiiOs and SMSLs charging £150+ for a player including a DAC which most of us don't need.

Reading round the various audio forums, I think it'd sell like hot cakes.

Wouldn’t you want some “smarts” in it too, like metadata/artwork lookup? And how would you want it controlled, via a cheapo IR remote or the app or…? I think whether it has a DAC or not, the related cost might be next to irrelevant even if you were just wanting a mechanically competent drive and a quality laser. I don’t see that being done for £50 even if you could pick up a usb cd drive for less.

 

[Aquaman]

This has been mentioned before - probably by me - but I'm going to say it again.

CD transport, no DAC required, designed to go into the digital input on your WiiM streamer/streaming amplifier (or anythng else).

But WiiM cheap. It really doesn't need to be any more than £30. Okay, maybe £50 tops.

Plenty of FiiOs and SMSLs charging £150+ for a player including a DAC which most of us don't need.

Reading round the various audio forums, I think it'd sell like hot cakes.

If I wanted to play a CD (which hasn‘t been the case in the past 15 years) I would plug in my 25 EUR Verbatim drive into my laptop, open foobar, choose the WiiM as the output device via UPnP and hit play.

 

[EddNog]

If I wanted to play a CD (which hasn‘t been the case in the past 15 years) I would plug in my 25 EUR Verbatim drive into my laptop, open foobar, choose the WiiM as the output device via UPnP and hit play.

Or what I do, pull the CD, rip it, and drop the rip onto the USB-attached flash drive on the WiiM, and just play it that way.

-Ed

 

[ceausuc]

Ok, really getting the itch for an Ultra II that will terrify the Eversolo T8 and match up well with the Volumio Rivo+.

Think WiiM is ready for it. Do it, WiiM, do it!

A streamer only version would be great. With bit perfect playback. Plus another USB port (one for the dac, one for the disk).
But beating Eversolo it is not going to be that easy (nor cheap).

 

[Aquaman]

A streamer only version would be great. With bit perfect playback. Plus another USB port (one for the dac, one for the disk).
But beating Eversolo it is not going to be that easy (nor cheap).

The one thing that keeps me away from Eversolo is their Android kernel.
Their user interface is cluttered and all but intuitive.

 

[EddNog]

A streamer only version would be great. With bit perfect playback. Plus another USB port (one for the dac, one for the disk).
But beating Eversolo it is not going to be that easy (nor cheap).

I mean...it wouldn't be that seemingly difficult to make a WiiM Ultra that added a CD drive (or software support for attaching an external one), an NVMe slot, a second USB port, stereo subwoofer outputs, and balanced line-level outputs for those of us who have power amps without single-ended inputs. Such a thing wouldn't even cost that much more.

-Ed

 

[Aquaman]

… who have power amps without single-ended inputs….

-Ed

Who buys such equipment for home use? Nothing against balanced connections, but first think and then buy.

 

[hgo58]

Plus another USB port (one for the dac, one for the disk).

a second USB port,

Why? Just add a USB hub.

 

[EddNog]

Who buys such equipment for home use? Nothing against balanced connections, but first think and then buy.

Topping B200 monoblocs are not professional equipment (and these are what I currently use).

Neither are Schiit Vidars, which, if you want to run them bridged mono, must receive balanced, differential input. Same for SMSL PA200s.

Why? Just add a USB hub.

Fair; I actually do that now since I use the one USB port for both, USB attached storage and my external DAC.

-Ed

 

[Aquaman]

Topping B200 monoblocs are not professional equipment (and these are what I currently use).

Neither are Schiit Vidars, which, if you want to run them bridged mono, must receive balanced, differential input. Same for SMSL PA200s.


Fair; I actually do that now since I use the one USB port for both, USB attached storage and my external DAC.

-Ed

Topping, Schiit, SMSL … not saying I wouldn‘t buy one of their DACs, but an amp - definitely not.
So why don‘t they abide by the industry standard for home audio? Show-off, wannabe?

 

[EddNog]

Topping, Schiit, SMSL … not saying I wouldn‘t buy one of their DACs, but an amp - definitely not.
So why don‘t they abide by the industry standard for home audio? Show-off, wannabe?

They're just building bridged mono amps. It's not abnormal to utilize a balanced, differential input signal in order to run an amp in bridged mode (quadrupling power at the expense of low impedance handling). The Vidar and the PA200 can take single-ended input, but then the amp is stereo with 1/4 of the power (but better low impedance acceptance). There's nothing exotic about this at all. Topping simply took the stereo/single-ended option off the table with B200 (which is internally bridged in order to produce as much power as it does).

I'd love for you to show me where someone actually defined RCA/single-ended as an official industry standard that must be adhered to, though.

-Ed

 

[Aquaman]

I'd love for you to show me where someone actually defined RCA/single-ended as an official industry standard that must be adhered to, though.

-Ed

you can‘t be serious. And I didn‘t say ‚must‘. Everyone to his own.
I‘d also use balanced connections where possible, but I wouldn‘t rob myself of general compatability of my gear just to save a couple of hundred by buying a clutter of boxes when I can have much better equipment in a one-box solution, better performance and … RCA inputs.

 

[mrehorst]

The one thing that keeps me away from Eversolo is their Android kernel.
Their user interface is cluttered and all but intuitive.

I was watching this, just yesterday.

 

[jdavis417]

...
So why don‘t they abide by the industry standard for home audio? Show-off, wannabe?

That reminds me of a song!

 

[TonyE]

They're just building bridged mono amps. It's not abnormal to utilize a balanced, differential input signal in order to run an amp in bridged mode (quadrupling power at the expense of low impedance handling). The Vidar and the PA200 can take single-ended input, but then the amp is stereo with 1/4 of the power (but better low impedance acceptance). There's nothing exotic about this at all. Topping simply took the stereo/single-ended option off the table with B200 (which is internally bridged in order to produce as much power as it does).

I'd love for you to show me where someone actually defined RCA/single-ended as an official industry standard that must be adhered to, though.

-Ed

(1) That's not always true. I'm running a pair of First Watt F4 amps in bridged mode... they put out 100wpc++ into my 4 ohm speakers. The bridged rating is 100 watts into 8 ohms, but given the amp doubles its power in stereo mode down to 100 wpc into 2 ohms (25/8; 50/4; 100/2), I have no reason to believe it is not putting out 200 wpc into 4 ohms. The main thing that suffers driving an amp in bridged mode is the damping factor.. which may or may not be of your liking. In my Maggies, I love how the high power and lower damping drive the bass.

(2) Indeed there are no standards for interconnects in consumer audio equipment. Output and input impedances are all over the map, which is way cables in single ended connections tend to make a difference. In balanced mode they make less.

(3) The way the Vidar, etc, drive the amps is not unusual. Bridged amps with balanced inputs will only give you the full power they're capable of when driven in balanced mode where the differential between positive and negative is twice the single ended input voltage. BTW, that's how I drive my F4s with a post preamp preamp that takes the SE 14VDC of my preamp and boosts it to +/- 20V for a differential of 40V.

 

[aspe65]

Who buys such equipment for home use? Nothing against balanced connections, but first think and then buy.

I have professional active monitoring speakers with (surprise) XLR only inputs.

 

[canard]

I have professional active monitoring speakers with (surprise) XLR only inputs.

This is the most explicit scenario to justify the symmetric outputs...because it is correlated to the fact that the machine, like an ultra, is considered by some for "preamp" use.
(But that's something that can potentially be worked around... even if it would be a shame... What can't be worked around is the lack of L and R outputs for the subwoofer...
Personally, I can't help but distinguish between current approaches that could be improved and functions that are currently unavailable... stereo subwoofer outputs are among the few not available on machines like the Ultra)
;-)