Wiim pro is downsampling Tidal to 48

[canard]

with no compression...44/48khz 16/24bits is already good...

;-)


(There are few cases where we can discuss an increase in resolution only for demanding acoustic music... possibly... ;-) your case? ;-) )

 

[Burnside]

with no compression...44/48khz 16/24bits is already good...
;-)

Indeed - other than looking at numbers on a screen, most would be hard pushed when playing devices in grouped/party mode to say whether they were listening to 24/48 or higher as they wandered from room to room.

 

[hgo58]

By the way the reason is that wiim downsamples to 48 when your wiim is part of a group of wiims for some reason

That was what we tried to check for when asking for you to do some testing.

I wonder if you could really telling the difference in the sound or it was just the numbers on the DAC?

 

[Burnside]

While I’m not the biggest fan of AI generated responses, this isn’t a bad summary in my opinion of why multi room systems often limit playback resolution.

Multi-room music systems often restrict playback to 24-bit/48kHz (or even 16-bit/44.1kHz) due to a combination of factors, including limitations in wireless technology, processing power, and the perceived benefit of higher resolutions in a multi-room setting. While some systems can handle higher resolutions, many prioritize wider compatibility, lower latency, and reduced bandwidth consumption over pristine audio quality in a multi-room environment.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

• Wireless Bandwidth Limitations:
  Higher resolution audio (e.g., 24-bit/96kHz or higher) requires significantly more bandwidth to transmit wirelessly. In a multi-room setup, multiple devices are often streaming simultaneously, and the network infrastructure might not be able to handle the increased data load without introducing latency or dropouts.
• Processing Power Constraints:
  Decoding and processing high-resolution audio streams requires significant computational power. Cheaper multi-room systems might not have the processing capabilities to handle high-resolution audio for multiple rooms simultaneously, leading to compromises in audio quality or performance.
• Perceived Audio Quality in Multi-Room Scenarios:
  Some argue that the benefits of high-resolution audio are less noticeable in a multi-room setting, where listeners are often moving between rooms or engaged in other activities, making the focus on audio fidelity less critical. In "party mode," where music is intended to fill a larger space, the differences between standard and high-resolution audio might be even less apparent.
• Compatibility and Cost:
  Restricting playback to 24-bit/48kHz allows manufacturers to create more affordable and widely compatible multi-room systems. Higher resolution support can increase the cost and complexity of the system, potentially limiting its market appeal.
• Latency and Synchronization:
  In multi-room systems, maintaining synchronization between different speakers is crucial. Higher resolution audio streams can introduce greater latency, making it more challenging to ensure seamless audio playback across all rooms.
  
  

 

[Burnside]

As a corollary to that, Yamaha Musiccast reportedly also downsamples secondary devices to 48khz in a multi room setup, although the main device does retain the full resolution. Maybe WiiM could consider implementing that as a first step towards full resolution multi room audio.

Edit: I’ve raised a feature request ticket for WiiM to consider that as I think it would be a welcome compromise for many