WiiM Amp

[harkpabst]

Sorry, but nobody can tell you "how gear sounds" to your ears in your own home. The whole concept simply doesn't work. Floyd E. Toole is absolutely right about the "circle of confusion".

Also, independent measurements are not "specs". They are necessary to prove if a product lives up to its claimed specs.

Still, no single measurement (or single value metric made up from a couple of measurements) can ever be sufficient to predict a component's perceived sound. To that I can agree.

 

[musig]

Sorry, but nobody can tell you "how gear sounds" to your ears in your own home. The whole concept simply doesn't work. Floyd E. Toole is absolutely right about the "circle of confusion".

Also, independent measurements are not "specs". They are necessary to prove if a product lives up to its claimed specs.

Still, no single measurement (or single value metric made up from a couple of measurements) can ever be sufficient to predict a component's perceived sound. To that I can agree.

Very good measurements don't imply good music but very bad ones often imply bad music, just to make it very very short

 

[canard]

Very good measurements don't imply good music but very bad ones often imply bad music, just to make it very very short

enthusiasts using tube or vinyl do not reach your conclusion..
see entire generations of music lovers.. ( or professionnal musiciens who often care little about all this for their own use,and smiles kindly at all these considerations etc) ;-)

 

[musig]

enthusiasts using tube or vinyl do not reach your conclusion..
see entire generations of music lovers.. ( or professionnal musiciens who often care little about all this for their own use,and smiles kindly at all these considerations etc) ;-)

"Tube or vinyl" don't imply very bad measurements

 

[canard]

"Tube or vinyl" don't imply very bad measurements

serious? ;-))
we are far from the considerations of orders of magnitude that we come across in the discussions here...

 

[harkpabst]

If so, then that discussion was pointless.

 

[musig]

serious? ;-))
we are far from the considerations of orders of magnitude that we come across in the discussions here...

Serious, but not too much.
I mean, as long as the discussion stays in the domain of numbers and measurements every difference is meaningful, simply because it exists.
Shifting in the domain of real sound perception most of the differences we talk about are just meaningless. To imply a real and systematically reproducible impact on sound, the measurement should be enormously different from than the ones we come across here. Whether the consequent result is bad or not is just a matter of taste.

 

[Smartplug]

So I purchase a dac based on measurements on asr with one of the highest sinad ranking they have on the list plus other measurements came out top not notch. Where is this dac now? It’s in the garage collecting dust. This just me, I like getting a feedback from subjective review because they use their ear instead solely on measurements. I watch darko, cheap audio man and Andrew Robinson reviews. I will surely get criticized on this but that’s just me.

 

[canard]

you are wrong..
these Chinese dacs with racing mesureaments can become remarkable audio generators at really cheap prices...a godsend... (true)
;-)
hihi
Post in thread 'WiiM Amp' https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/wiim-amp.1322/post-39822
factual...
and for mesureaments..that s factual too...


my remarks give you no idea of my feelings on these subjects...I just pointed out the facts...

 

[musig]

you are wrong..
these Chinese dacs with racing mesureaments can become remarkable audio generators at really cheap prices...a godsend... (true)
;-)
hihi
Post in thread 'WiiM Amp' https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/wiim-amp.1322/post-39822
factual...
and for mesureaments..that s factual too...


my remarks give you no idea of my feelings on these subjects...I just pointed out the facts...

You are right but @Smartplug is right as well, IMHO. It's just a different scenario. If I wanted to buy my first DAC I would check the functional requirements and then I would go to ASR and see which is the best alternative based on measurement. But if I wanted to replace my already decent DAC I would not base my decision on few dB of SINAD of improvement as I would never even hear them.

 

[Woody]

When I listen to streaming music, the volume level is <40% and is plenty loud.
Attached HDMI arc to LG tv and the volume level on the amp has to be >80% to reach the same sound level.
The amps output volume changes with the tv volume level, so I don't seem to be able to raise the TV output independently to increase the gain.
I tried optical as well with same low level output requiring high volume setting on the amp.
Haven't found a tv setting that will output HDMI arc and let me raise the volume of the tv independently.
Is this the way it is, or have I missed a step?

 

[Brantome]

When I listen to streaming music, the volume level is <40% and is plenty loud.
Attached HDMI arc to LG tv and the volume level on the amp has to be >80% to reach the same sound level.
The amps output volume changes with the tv volume level, so I don't seem to be able to raise the TV output independently to increase the gain.
I tried optical as well with same low level output requiring high volume setting on the amp.
Haven't found a tv setting that will output HDMI arc and let me raise the volume of the tv independently.
Is this the way it is, or have I missed a step?

Turn off CEC on the TV perhaps?

 

[Woody]

Turn off CEC on the TV perhaps?

I think that's the setting I tried and then no audio, but I will check again.
I have a soundbar that has HDMI and HDMI arc. Any chance I could TV arc> HDMI in on the soundbar >HDMI arc out of soundbar> WiiM Amp?
Guessing arc doesn't pass through that way.

 

[harkpabst]

The amps output volume changes with the tv volume level, so I don't seem to be able to raise the TV output independently to increase the gain.

That's exactly the idea of (e)ARC/CEC: It enables you to control the amplifier's volume using the TV's remote. So yes, that's the way it is. If you want to be able to set the TVs volume independently you would have to use an analog output like RCA or a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Usually, current TVs don't have either of these.

According to what others are reporting with their LG TVs the correct settings might be:
Sound out: HDMI ARC
Digital sound: PCM
eARC: off
SIMPLINK: on

I don't see how routing the HDMI signal through the soundbar could do any good.

 

[pipomolo42]

Attached HDMI arc to LG tv and the volume level on the amp has to be >80% to reach the same sound level.

Is the TV the source of the signal, or is the source another device connected to the TV?
If the TV is the source (as in digital or analog TV tuner), maybe you can disconnect the Amp from HDMI ARC port, increase the volume on the TV, and then reconnect the Amp, and see if there's an increase in volume on the Amp afterwards?

 

[Woody]

That's exactly the idea of (e)ARC/CEC: It enables you to control the amplifier's volume using the TV's remote. So yes, that's the way it is. If you want to be able to set the TVs volume independently you would have to use an analog output like RCA or a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Usually, current TVs don't have either of these.

According to what others are reporting with their LG TVs the correct settings might be:
Sound out: HDMI ARC
Digital sound: PCM
eARC: off
SIMPLINK: on

I don't see how routing the HDMI signal through the soundbar could do any good.

Yes, it's working the way it's supposed too I believe, just the line level out from the tv seems to be low so the amp has to be cranked up higher than I think it should be.
I see the WiiM Amp setting of per source volume control, but I can't tell that it's implemented, plus not sure if that's an input control or likely output to speaker control.

Optical from TV to Amp is low as well for what that's worth.

Seems like it's the TV line level that's low compared to streaming audio on the amp.

 

[Brantome]

I see the WiiM Amp setting of per source volume control, but I can't tell that it's implemented, plus not sure if that's an input control or likely output to speaker control.

If you have per-source volume toggled on under audio input, it will simply remember the volume setting you last used for each input - there’s nothing more to see. Try playing something via hdmi and set your pref volume there, then switch to wifi and similarly play something at the volume you prefer. You should now be able to switch back and forth and the last used volumes will be set for you.

 

[jeromeof]

So I got a 2nd unit and thankfully it's PCB_version: 5

I haven't ran any tests yet but it subjectively it is silent compared to the fairly noisy PCB_version: 2 model. That said it was only very noisy once (and I quickly rebooted) and mostly it was only an audible 'transformer' hum if I was within a foot of the device.

Its odd that they swapped the RCA inputs:

 

[Mr Ee]

Its odd that they swapped the RCA inputs:

It's good that they swapped the RCA inputs.
Left is now in the right place, and vice versa

 

[Smartplug]

So I got a 2nd unit and thankfully it's PCB_version: 5

I haven't ran any tests yet but it subjectively it is silent compared to the fairly noisy PCB_version: 2 model. That said it was only very noisy once (and I quickly rebooted) and mostly it was only an audible 'transformer' hum if I was within a foot of the device.

Its odd that they swapped the RCA inputs:

View attachment 5102

The swap rca is ver 5.