Wiim Ultra into seperate preamp

[TonyK]

I would like to connect the Wiim Ultra to my Parasound P6 Preamp.

I want to keep all the Wiim eq intact as much as possible.

I'll be using a turntable. CD and tape (Reel to Reel in and out) in addition to streaming of course.

So should I connect the two via digital or RCA?

If I connect turntable and/or tape directly to P6 I'll loose the eq of the Wiim.

I can connect everything in a variety of ways, but I'd like some more experienced suggestions.

Thanks
TonyK

 

[Doublej]

I am pretty sure you can connect the Ultra to your Parasound with both the RCA and digital connections. Then using the WiiM app, you can switch back and forth between the two connections until you decide which one you like better.

 

[BMeek]

I would like to connect the Wiim Ultra to my Parasound P6 Preamp.

I want to keep all the Wiim eq intact as much as possible.

I'll be using a turntable. CD and tape (Reel to Reel in and out) in addition to streaming of course.

So should I connect the two via digital or RCA?

If I connect turntable and/or tape directly to P6 I'll loose the eq of the Wiim.

I can connect everything in a variety of ways, but I'd like some more experienced suggestions.

Thanks
TonyK

So, you like your passing music through the Ultra for EQ purposes, but I'm assuming you've got your power amps and subs connected to the P6 outputs. In this case, I would connect the Ultra to the P6 via USB. If the CD player has a digital output, just use it as transport into the Ultra via digital Coax or optical. I've never used the analog inputs on my Ultra, but the ASR review shows it does well enough sampling the incoming RCA signal @ 192kHz/24-bit - this could be your tape deck path through the ultra to the P6, etc.

OTOH, your Ultra could displace your P6 as the 'system preamp' with power-amp output and subwoofer management, etc... All P6 output would then be generically channeled through the Ultra's RCA input (as I don't think the P6 has an ADC->Digital output path).

 

[Tinman]

So, you like your passing music through the Ultra for EQ purposes, but I'm assuming you've got your power amps and subs connected to the P6 outputs. In this case, I would connect the Ultra to the P6 via USB. If the CD player has a digital output, just use it as transport into the Ultra via digital Coax or optical. I've never used the analog inputs on my Ultra, but the ASR review shows it does well enough sampling the incoming RCA signal @ 192kHz/24-bit - this could be your tape deck path through the ultra to the P6, etc.

OTOH, your Ultra could displace your P6 as the 'system preamp' with power-amp output and subwoofer management, etc... All P6 output would then be generically channeled through the Ultra's RCA input (as I don't think the P6 has an ADC->Digital output path).

The Wiim Ultra does not have a coax digital input, only optical. So he will need a CD player with an optical output.

 

[TonyK]

So, you like your passing music through the Ultra for EQ purposes, but I'm assuming you've got your power amps and subs connected to the P6 outputs. In this case, I would connect the Ultra to the P6 via USB. If the CD player has a digital output, just use it as transport into the Ultra via digital Coax or optical. I've never used the analog inputs on my Ultra, but the ASR review shows it does well enough sampling the incoming RCA signal @ 192kHz/24-bit - this could be your tape deck path through the ultra to the P6, etc.

OTOH, your Ultra could displace your P6 as the 'system preamp' with power-amp output and subwoofer management, etc... All P6 output would then be generically channeled through the Ultra's RCA input (as I don't think the P6 has an ADC->Digital output path).

This may be obvious to some but I'm still learning the finer points at 70 years old......

Since EQ adjustments are only applied to the Ultra's inputs does the signal with EQ go out the digital (usb) to the P6 usb in?

Thanks

 

[Burnside]

This may be obvious to some but I'm still learning the finer points at 70 years old......

Since EQ adjustments are only applied to the Ultra's inputs does the signal with EQ go out the digital (usb) to the P6 usb in?

Thanks

Yes, eq is applied to all outputs except Bluetooth

 

[Tinman]

This may be obvious to some but I'm still learning the finer points at 70 years old......

Since EQ adjustments are only applied to the Ultra's inputs does the signal with EQ go out the digital (usb) to the P6 usb in?

Thanks

Yes. I do exactly this by sending my CD output via optical to the Wiim Ultra and then USB out to my external DAC to take advantage of Wiim's room correction.

 

[BMeek]

This may be obvious to some but I'm still learning the finer points at 70 years old......

Since EQ adjustments are only applied to the Ultra's inputs does the signal with EQ go out the digital (usb) to the P6 usb in?

Thanks

No worries... I'm just a few laps [around-the-sun] behind you.

Are you driving an active subwoofer with the P6? If so, moving the sub's LFE input to the Ultra's sub out and setting/managing the crossover in the WiiM app is worthwhile. The Ultra's USB output will be the room-corrected HPFed signal heading for your main speakers via the P6. I mainly purchased my WiiM Ultra for DSP room correction and subwoofer integration, and I'm impressed with how well it does these things. This approach assumes assumes you're able to feed all of your music sources directly into the Ultra.

Your other option with the Ultra managing the subwoofer is to put the P6 into a role of 'analog source switch' with your tape deck and phono inputs to the P6, and connect its main RCA output to the Ultra's RCA line in. If the power amp(s) for your mains are currently connected via RCA, this can easily be moved to the Ultra's RCA output. If you're driving your main speakers from the P6's balanced output, I would revisit option #1, though you could put another DAC with balanced output between the Ultra and your amp.

 

[Ruediger]

The Wiim Ultra does not have a coax digital input, only optical. So he will need a CD player with an optical output.

Toslink coax switchable converter, cheap on amazon.