Wiim Ultra - Phono to Chromecast?

[85mk7]

Good evening,

i am interested in the Wiim Ultra streamer - mainly because of it's touch display to avoid the use of my smartphone from time to time - especially when other family members wanna listen to online-radio or their favourite streaming music without the need of flimsing around the smartphone. It seems like the display/touch screen should be fine for some rudimental playback usage and the change of inputs/streaming company.

But then comes the more interesting point/question for me...

We got some Google Nest Audio around in several rooms - grouped in different "Chromecast" groups. Generally, i use my phone and e.g. Spotify to "connect" to those Nest Audio speakers through chromecast technology depending on the desired "speaker group" - up to all speakers for example.

As far as i understand - it should be possible to access the Wiim Ultra as well... but the manual claims that the Wiim Ultra is only a chromecast receiver, especially when plugging external devices like a CD player or phono-player like in my "imaginary use case".

What do i want? Attaching my vinyl player to the Wiim Audio through the phono inputs... and then "tunneling" the sound to all my Nest Audio via Chromecast... but when understanding the manual - that use case is not possible? I could only use the generic cinch outputs or even bluetooth, but no chromecast when an external Line In source is attached ?
I mean - i could stream via Bluetooth to one of my stereo Nest Audios - but the main wish would be a streamer that can "tunnel" the incoming audio from external devices to my Chromecast build audio groups using the Nest Audio speakers.

Second thought... lets forgett the Chromecast style streaming from external... same situation for Audio Pro Multiroom functionallity when plugging external Phono into the Wiim Ultra? Any chance get that sound streamed wireless to multiple speakers? Or in that case again only to wired outputs/bluetooth capable speaker?
I like the Audio Pro units and thought about investing into that system instead of Chromecast Multiroom - but if i cant stream the Line In Signals to multiroom setups it wouldnt be an upgrade for me...

And advice, tipps, workarounds? Or do i have a complete missunderstanding of the situation?

thanks for your time and help!

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

You are correct in your thinking - you cannot use the ultra (or any wiim) as fhe source for a chromecast group.
Nor can you have multiple wiims in a wiim group and have the music play to all wiims when you chromecast to the group parent.

However, if you have multiple wiims and/or multiple audio pros (preferably wiim edition ones I would think, effectively being "wims") in a wiim group then pretty much whatever is playing on the group parent can be played on them all. (Chromecast being the main exception I can think of, hence pretty much.)

Maybe someone else can think of alternatives?

 

[85mk7]

Thanks for clarifying...

Does anybody know if my "need" is reflected by any other device/brand at all?

While researching that regard, connecting external devices to a streamer - iam not sure If any brand at all allows to stream external device into a chromecast group.

 

[harkpabst]

None that I'm aware of.

 

[85mk7]

Not the anwser i wanted to hear... But kinda expected it, sadly.

I was wondering if the audio pro speaker with wiim build in are capable of routing an eexternal (via aux) signal into a chromecast group - but i guess its also only inside a wiim or Audio pro group possible and not forwarding to a chromecast group.

Sadly that this use case seems to be not adressed by any brand so far - maybe it's a limitation made by google not allowing other devices into the chromecast Audio Stuff - only Android based Devices. Just a guess...

 

[Mr Ee]

I think I recall Wiim confirming that the inability to have a wiim group all play the music when the parent of the group is chromecasted to being a chromecast limitation.
Of course, I could just be misremembering (aka making it up) because it's something "known" from trying it and numerous posts about it here.
Either way, it doesn't work how you want it to, and likely never will.

 

[Burnside]

I think I recall Wiim confirming that the inability to have a wiim group all play the music when the parent of the group is chromecasted to being a chromecast limitation.
Of course, I could just be misremembering (aka making it up) because it's something "known" from trying it and numerous posts about it here.
Either way, it doesn't work how you want it to, and likely never will.

That’s my recollection too.

 

[85mk7]

Seems like i have to go the Bluetooth way - which means i will only able to adress one speaker or stereo-pair to get the Vinyl played. Not exactly what i wanted - but it's workin as far as the desired speaker (pair) is in bluetooth range of my Bluetooth transmitter which is connected to the turntable's Preamp-out.

I also tried the android app "Vinyl cast" - but did not get it working so far...

Thanks for your anwsers and thoughts!

 

[DevonRob]

Just got this working on Windows (and Linux supports it too):

How to stream your record player throughout your home (for cheap)

Note: this solution is geared towards folks with a bit of programming experience. It was inspired by/built on top of of a few great…

dupontgu.medium.com

The concept is simple - cast a digitized stream over HTTP (essentially using the same format that Internet radio stations use). Since Chromcast speakers support that, there is no "player" needed - just a control app to tell the speaker to go stream from the specified HTTP location - which is a local server in your house.

Kind of imagine the WiiM has a Linux core inside somewhere - so you'd think adding the icecast component ought to be possible. The Android app in the link above is basic but workable. I'd imagine it's functions could be added into the WiiM app though too. None of this would need a Chromecast sending implementation in the WiiM.

 

[d6jg]

Just got this working on Windows (and Linux supports it too):

How to stream your record player throughout your home (for cheap)

Note: this solution is geared towards folks with a bit of programming experience. It was inspired by/built on top of of a few great…

dupontgu.medium.com

The concept is simple - cast a digitized stream over HTTP (essentially using the same format that Internet radio stations use). Since Chromcast speakers support that, there is no "player" needed - just a control app to tell the speaker to go stream from the specified HTTP location - which is a local server in your house.

Kind of imagine the WiiM has a Linux core inside somewhere - so you'd think adding the icecast component ought to be possible. The Android app in the link above is basic but workable. I'd imagine it's functions could be added into the WiiM app though too. None of this would need a Chromecast sending implementation in the WiiM.

I do exactly this using a Behringer UCA202, a Raspberry Pi, Liquidsoap and Icecast2 which combines to create an Ogg/Flac radio like stream. Works perfectly but with one minor caveat. Latency. Drop the Turntable needle and its two or three seconds before you hear any sound.

 

[d6jg]

PS. The difference between the Darkice/Icecast and Liquidsoap/Icecast2 approach is that the former produces an mp3 stream and can’t handle FLAC. The latter can and does. The Liquidsoap script needs to be carefully crafted but is actually quite simple.
I built this Pi at least 3 years ago and it just works every time I want it.

 

[d6jg]

PPS you can also do this using the same hardware but simply piCorePlayer on the Pi. At the time I built my Icecast2 Pi it was only just being implemented.

 

[DevonRob]

Yep - agreed. Honestly, the latency does not bother me - it's just a short delay, and then the stream plays great. Just seems a shame that WiiM would drop AirPlay and give up on such an easy and obvious route to offer Chromecast support to streaming speakers. As a unit, teh Pro is now useless to me. OK, I got a full refund due to them ditching AirPlay, so it's no financial loss. But still, they've crippled an otherwise great device for the sake of a little (and easy) code.

 

[d6jg]

Yep - agreed. Honestly, the latency does not bother me - it's just a short delay, and then the stream plays great. Just seems a shame that WiiM would drop AirPlay and give up on such an easy and obvious route to offer Chromecast support to streaming speakers. As a unit, teh Pro is now useless to me. OK, I got a full refund due to them ditching AirPlay, so it's no financial loss. But still, they've crippled an otherwise great device for the sake of a little (and easy) code.

The code may be easy but you will be hard put to find any device that acts as an AirPlay source with an “Apple” authorised logo on it unless they made it! I can’t think of one.

 

[DevonRob]

The code may be easy but you will be hard put to find any device that acts as an AirPlay source with an “Apple” authorised logo on it unless they made it! I can’t think of one.

Agreed. My point was that with AirPlay no longer an option, at least WiiM adding Chromecast support could provide an altenative for wireless casting to speakers. Many remote speakers support both AirPlay and Chromecast (all of mine do, bar one which just supports Chromecast). I know it wouldn't keep AirpLay only users happy - but it still gives WiiM a useful option in this space. And as per the title of this thread - the original topic here was casting to Chromecast.

 

[d6jg]

I did see something the other day that may be of interest to someone. Pro Ject T2 W turntable which has built in streaming output. Could be made to work.

 

[DevonRob]

I did see something the other day that may be of interest to someone. Pro Ject T2 W turntable which has built in streaming output. Could be made to work.

Looked at that one with interest - the streaming descriptions though all talk about UPnP. Possibly I'm missing something, but that suggests still needing an extra box to do the Chromecast part. So it's not really bringing much to my mind over what a PC/Raspberry Pi can do with a turntable with USB or line out (or the WiiM devices could also support with some dev effort).

 

[d6jg]

Looked at that one with interest - the streaming descriptions though all talk about UPnP. Possibly I'm missing something, but that suggests still needing an extra box to do the Chromecast part. So it's not really bringing much to my mind over what a PC/Raspberry Pi can do with a turntable with USB or line out (or the WiiM devices could also support with some dev effort).

The WiiMs are specifically mentioned as one of the devices that can handle the UPnP FLAC stream. There is a secondary mp3 only stream that is http url

 

[DevonRob]

The WiiMs are specifically mentioned as one of the devices that can handle the UPnP FLAC stream. There is a secondary mp3 only stream that is http url

UPnP into the WiiM is pretty much the opposite of this discussion though - that allows the turntable to stream to the WiiM. But we have that already via regular LineIn which can take any Phono/Line in (such as a turntable). The discussion here was how to Chromecast that out to remote speakers. And yes, I saw the secondary stream part on the T2W. It wasn't clear where the secondary streaming was being generated though: direct from the turntable, which would then get there without an extra device; or via the phone, in which case an extra device is being used. It's just a phone rather than a separate streaming server, which is less than ideal IMO.

To me though - the T2W is a single specific device, and a fairly pricey one at that. With a bit of dev effort, there's still an opportunity here for WiiM to be a general purpose unit that can cast an arbitrary linein or other input to remote speakers. There are no other general purpose units doing that - especially with a quality DAC built in, which the WiiM pro has.

 

[d6jg]

Just for fun I had a little fiddle this afternoon with a spare Raspberry Pi 4B and a Behringer UCA202.

By FAR the easiest way of generating a playable FLAC stream from your turntable for use with a Chromecast (or other similar device) is to use piCorePlayer. It took me all of 10 minutes. It has taken longer to type this out!

Notes.
The Behringer UCA202 is a line level USB audio interface so you need to have a Phono pre amp. There is a similar UFO202 model that incorporates a phono stage. Both Behringers are about £20 and have been around for years because they work! I have 3 around the place.
piCorePlayer is a custom Raspberry Pi OS that at its basic level creates a Squeezelite player for use with LMS but here we are going to only use its Line In streamer facility.

How to.
1. Download piCorePlayer - https://docs.picoreplayer.org/downloads/ - use 64bit for Pi 4 upward
2. Use Raspberry Pi Imager to burn it to the SD card. https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-imager-imaging-utility/
Choose the "Use Custom" option under Choose OS
3. Insert the SD card and Boot the Pi with Ethernet and the Behringer attached. Tip. Connect the Behringer to a USB2 (grey) not USB3 (blue) port.
4. Go to http://pcp.local - you will be prompted to set a passsword
5. Go to Tweaks page and scroll down until you see Audio Tweaks
6. Under "Streamer for Audio Input" click on more where it says Select Input Device. Something like hw:CARD=Control,DEV=0 should be there. Click on "hw:CARD=Control,DEV=0" or whatever it says and it will populate the Input Device box. Set the ON/OFF switch to YES. Reboot.
7. Go back to http://pcp.local and then to Tweaks. Scroll down again to Audio Tweaks and you will be shown a streamable URL - http://pcp.local:9100/S16_LE/44100/2/F
8. Use this URL to Play whatever is being delivered to the Pi by the Behringer in whatever control app you use.

Important
pcp.local may NOT resolve if your system does not support mDNS. Mine does but my iPhone which I used for playback testing does not. I had to find the Pi's actual IP address which I did from my Router and having done so I gave it a reserved IP.
Ethernet connection is recommended but the Pi Streamer will work on WiFi if your network is good enough. There is a tab inside piCorePlayer for WiFi set up.

@DevonRob - you should definitely try this

This method is better than the Darkice/Icecast MP3 or indeed my Liquidsoap/Icecast2 OGG/FLAC for a few reasons
1. the latency is significantly reduced
2. its a FLAC stream
3. it is extremely simple to setup
4. piCorePlayer runs in RAM and sudden power outages will not corrupt the SD card