WiiM Ultra Firmware v5.2.705437 - Jan 23, 2025

[Stu27]

Welcome.

I think we're going to need some more details. What are you playing? How are you playing it?

Lady Gaga Chromatica into 911. Pauses.

 

[slartibartfast]

Lady Gaga Chromatica into 911. Pauses.

How are you playing it?

 

[Stu27]

How are you playing it?

Tidal connect. Thanks.

 

[Mr Ee]

Tidal connect. Thanks.

This tangient should probably be in its own thread, but...
And what happens if you play these directly on your phone / tablet? Do you get the same 'pause'?
i.e. I'm trying to ascertain if these are natural gaps between songs or if you are perhaps misunderstanding what gapless means.
No offence meant if you do understand, but it has been misunderstood by others before.

 

[Stu27]

This tangient should probably be in its own thread, but...
And what happens if you play these directly on your phone / tablet? Do you get the same 'pause'?
i.e. I'm trying to ascertain if these are natural gaps between songs or if you are perhaps misunderstanding what gapless means.
No offence meant if you do understand, but it has been misunderstood by others before.

Hi, plays fine on my iPad. The track should play from one track into another without stopping or pausing. Seamless. Playback from the Ultra doesn’t do this. It stops and the pause symbol is shown on the Ultra’s display.

 

[IM35461]

No problems for me with gapless playback from my local NAS running Twonky.

However, in the app if I try and skip a bit of a track dragging the track time bar it keeps moving as if playing the track but no audio output until the next track (using line output).

My biggest complaint is the limit of 500 or 502 music tracks in the music queue. I like to just leave it playing my playlists of between 558 and 3000 tracks but when selected all the unit plays is 502 tracks The limit should be 5000 tracks at least.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

My biggest complaint is the limit of 500 or 502 music tracks in the music queue. I like to just leave it playing my playlists of between 558 and 3000 tracks but when selected all the unit plays is 502 tracks The limit should be 5000 tracks at least.

I fail to see why anyone would want a playlist containing more than 100 tracks, let alone 5000.

100 tracks would typically last around 5 hours, and and 5000 tracks would typically last around 250 hours, based on 3 minutes per track.

 

[EddNog]

I fail to see why anyone would want a playlist containing more than 100 tracks, let alone 5000.

100 tracks would typically last around 5 hours, and and 5000 tracks would typically last around 250 hours, based on 3 minutes per track.

They never want to hear the same song more than once, ever, in a single 24 hour period, yet they never want to listen to a single song they don't like, in that same time frame.

Or something.

-Ed

 

[Burnside]

I fail to see why anyone would want a playlist containing more than 100 tracks, let alone 5000.

100 tracks would typically last around 5 hours, and and 5000 tracks would typically last around 250 hours, based on 3 minutes per track.

I have a few playlists over that - for example, my “good stuff” playlist is one I regularly add to if I like a track, and it’s currently around 2500 long. I wouldn’t expect to play them all in one go, but do like playing a random selection - if services properly shuffled them of course.

 

[IM35461]

I see the 500 limit is mentioned under "Known Issues" in this document https://faq.wiimhome.com/en/support...a-library-on-wiim-amp-wiim-amp-pro-wiim-ultra

Known Issues​

We have received feedback from our customers and identified the following known issues, which we are actively working to address:

1. Playing Queue Limit: The maximum number of tracks in the playing queue is currently limited to 500. We plan to increase this limit in a future update.
2. Slow Scanning: Scanning can take longer than expected with certain USB drives, such as SanDisk USB 3.2 Gen 1.
3. USB Scanning Exceptions: An unexpected error may occur when scanning USB drives.

All my other music players can handle / play playlists with over a thousand tracks in them playing the next batch of tracks when I next use the player. Twonky tells me I have
Version: Twonky Server 8.5.3-6
Songs: 21437

 

[Mr Ee]

Rubbish photo, but it shows the numbers...

I choose 'Preset 1' on the ultra, which is Tidal's My Collection Tracks, and it loads over 3500 songs into the queue, as per top right of the screen.
iirc, the original ultra firmware capped this at 50 (yes, fifty) songs.
With the preset having shuffle enabled it always plays the song I most recently added in tidal, then starts randomising.
Can't skip the first song for a while (45 odd secs?), presumably while the entire list loads.

Strangely though, go to the Queue screen in the wiim app and it shows, after 20 secs or so, 3487 tracks in the queue.

 

[ajax]

The WiiM or the DAC ?

The DAC.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

Hi Steve, Team

Thank you for your valuable insights—they’re incredibly helpful! Our goal is to eventually use the smart preset feature as user scenes or shortcuts, so having a friendly name is essential. We’ll be adding the Preset Name option in the next app version, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, please feel free to share any additional feedback about this feature. With your input, we’re confident we can improve it further and make it truly useful and powerful. Thank you again!

After a little usage, I'm finding the presets working as intended.

It's useful that they can be selected from either the app, the screen, or the remote.

For me, the most useful part is the inclusion of the sub out on/off and Custom PEQs. This allows me to select headphones or speakers with one click.

Without the presets I had to select PEQ, output and sub on/off, all of which are vital to my listening.

I think the least useful feature is the ability to custom select input, as I swap between inputs all the time when I'm up and running. Indeed, if I were to want to select the input I most use, it'd be USB. But that's not an option. Please add USB to your various input lists.

Custom volume? Not all that important, as the different volumes I use aren't that different, and it's both immediately obvious, and easy to adjust if the music comes blasting out louder than expected, or too quiet. So it's useful, but more a cherry on top of the cake than a necessity.

I'm looking forward to enabling custom naming and user adjustable pics/icons to custom presets. I'm currently keeping mu WiM Mini on standby; I used to use it for headphones. I need to know naming/pics works before I can finally say I don't need it anymore, and I can give it to my son.

Any idea when the next update is due?

 

[slartibartfast]

After a little usage, I'm finding the presets working as intended.

It's useful that they can be selected from either the app, the screen, or the remote.

For me, the most useful part is the inclusion of the sub out on/off and Custom PEQs. This allows me to select headphones or speakers with one click.

Without the presets I had to select PEQ, output and sub on/off, all of which are vital to my listening.

I think the least useful feature is the ability to custom select input, as I swap between inputs all the time when I'm up and running. Indeed, if I were to want to select the input I most use, it'd be USB. But that's not an option. Please add USB to your various input lists.

Custom volume? Not all that important, as the different volumes I use aren't that different, and it's both immediately obvious, and easy to adjust if the music comes blasting out louder than expected, or too quiet. So it's useful, but more a cherry on top of the cake than a necessity.

I'm looking forward to enabling custom naming and user adjustable pics/icons to custom presets. I'm currently keeping mu WiM Mini on standby; I used to use it for headphones. I need to know naming/pics works before I can finally say I don't need it anymore, and I can give it to my son.

Any idea when the next update is due?

Isn't USB input just Ethernet/WiFi?

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

Isn't USB input just Ethernet/WiFi?

Yes and no. When you use it, it shows as Wi-Fi.

But input has always meant source. In Ye Olde Dyes ™ that would mean selecting Phono, Tape, Tuner, CD Player or whatever, on your amp.

On the Ultra, Phono is an input, Line In is an input, HDMI/TV is an input, optical is an input, Bluetooth is an input. Wi-Fi is an input too, but logically, given that the Ultra is a streamer, that should (and largely does) select streaming service.

I know it's possibly verging on pedantry, as Wi-Fi really just means "Whatever you're telling your phone/tablet to tell the Ultra to play". And, at the moment at least, you can't use the screen on the Ultra to go through all the folders and files on your USB drive.

Whether USB, streaming services, Home Music Share, and/or USB drive are seperate inputs is perhaps a conversation to be had. But if you click on Browse on the app and scroll down, you'll see Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV, Line In, Optical In, Phono In, and yes indeedy USB, all listed as separate inputs.

The question is, why here but not on the screen, and not as an option on custom presets.

 

[slartibartfast]

But if you click on Browse on the app and scroll down, you'll see Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV, Line In, Optical In, Phono In, and yes indeedy USB, all listed as separate inputs.

The question is, why here but not on the screen, and not as an option on custom presets.

That is definitely strange. Wasn't USB only added to that source list recently?

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

That is definitely strange. Wasn't USB only added to that source list recently?

Not on the Ultra's screen, nor on the app on Presets.

And it's always been at the bottom of the list on 'Browse' on the app.

 

[slartibartfast]

Not on the Ultra's screen, nor on the app on Presets.

And it's always been at the bottom of the list on 'Browse' on the app.

OK, I was thinking of the time someone complained that they couldn't add EQ to USB sourced files because USB couldn't be selected from the list of sources. The answer then was to choose Ethernet/WiFi.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

OK, I was thinking of the time someone complained that they couldn't add EQ to USB sourced files because USB couldn't be selected from the list of sources. The answer then was to choose Ethernet/WiFi.

Yes, that's right. A bit of a mess, but I can see how attached USB both is and isn't Wi-Fi.

Tough one, no right answer.

 

[Saponetto]

Not on the Ultra's screen, nor on the app on Presets.

And it's always been at the bottom of the list on 'Browse' on the app.

About the on-display direct access to USB drive, I asked @WiiM Team a few weeks ago, their answer was they are planning to add it on a future firmware release.
Perhaps the "recent played" option I see as an optional testing FW could also work as a feasible, temporary workaround.