Which amps to buy

[Ovinewar]

I have run speaker wires to multiple zones in a new home. Tying to decide how to stream.

Option one is a monoprice multichannel amp with a WiiM streamer. This requires running wires to multiple rooms for the wall key boards. I can do this but probably prefer a more wireless option.

Option 2
Hook each zone up to a streamer amp, like WiiM amp or one of the other models. My question here is the higher level amp does not do airplay. Not sure this matters but maybe it does. I currently use Tidal with a wiim streamer DAC in my office and just choose the wiim device from the choices of what to send the stream to. I don’t think I am using AirPlay in that instance. Can someone help me understand what I CANNOT do with the upper end amp that has the better Bluetooth and DAC? Thank you in advance.

 

[d6jg]

Option 2
WiiM Amp Pro cannot do AirPlay but that’s about all.
If you are thinking about having multiple amps all located in one place then I’d suggest they must all be connected via Ethernet. There is likely to be WiFi issues otherwise.

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

Airplay is an Apple Music thing, so unless you think you'll want use that one day then it not being on some wiims is not an issue.
(Too many nots??)

I have run speaker wires to multiple zones in a new home

From your comment about wall keyboards it seems you want to be able to play different music in each zone simultaneously (as well as maybe the same music in all). e.g. tidal in one, spotify in another etc.
Do you mean that all the speaker wires start from one location. As @d6jg wrote you'd need one amp per zone, perhaps all located together.

 

[Ovinewar]

I have home runs from all speakers to a central spot. I realize each zone will need its own amp. I am just attempting to pick the best amp/ streamer. I can connect each to the network directly.

 

[Mr Ee]

If money was no barrier I'd definitely go amp ultra all the way.
But it may also depend on what's in each zone, and the 'basic' amp or amp pro may well suffice for many of them.
e.g. if one zone is a main room with "good" speakers which'll be used for listening to music more than just having music on then, imo, the amp ultra is really good.