Mr Ee
Major Contributor
You can still use the ultra for volume with the new dac just set to full volume.
Wiim Ultra with external DAC: what output?
- Thread starter Vignus
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- wiim ultra
Not many DACs measure significantly better than the Ultra.
This might very well be true. But a DAC that sounds pleasing to me is more important than how it measures. Not saying measurements are not important. But how a DAC or any component sounds is just as important IMO.
hgo58
Major Contributor
I just use EQ and DAC roll-off filters
Last edited:
andreilchimico
Member
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- Jan 29, 2025
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I have a Gustard x26pro and I use the USB input. I did the various comparisons and the USB still seems superior to me... Which model do you have?
I started in August 2024 by outputting digital audio from ULTRA to my RME ADI-2 DAC via a FIIO "audiophile" 50 cm (20 Eur) coaxial cable. Sound was good, but, after about 3 months, the audio signal started to have short pauses (0.5 to 3 seconds). After trying in vain to find the cause, I decided to switch to an ordinary optical cable, which I had somewhere in an old drawer. The hiccups have immediately disappeared. I didn't notice any degradation in the sound and, even more, I lived happily with it, knowing that the optical cable offers galvanic isolation between the streamer and the DAC.
But, as we know, better is sometimes the enemy of good. Today I remembered that WIIM has enabled USB out on WiiM ULTRA and I decided to test it, hoping for even better sound. I used a 3 m USB UGreen cable with gold-plated contacts, which was previously used to output audio from my laptop, in the same setup. Unfortunately, I did not take into account that the cable was 3 m long (and I think this was my biggest mistake). It seems this has generated some clock conflicts between ULTRA and the DAC, with the DAC popping from time to time (about every 2 minutes) while changing the sampling rate from 44.1 to 48 Khz for a few seconds, then back to 44.1.
This issue was totally annoying and, of course, made me think that I must give up the connecting ULTRA to my DAC via USB. Still, because the issue seemed incredible to me, I let the music stream and insisted for some time to check the DAC's menu and settings. After less than 20 minutes, the music stopped and the sound has suddenly reached a very high level, sending my Emotiva amplifier into protection mode, in less than a second. The amplifier has come back to life after a restart, but for my titanium tweeters it was too late. Now I'll have to start a long search, in order to replace either the tweeters or the speakers. Most probably, I will never test USB output again with a 3m cable.
But, as we know, better is sometimes the enemy of good. Today I remembered that WIIM has enabled USB out on WiiM ULTRA and I decided to test it, hoping for even better sound. I used a 3 m USB UGreen cable with gold-plated contacts, which was previously used to output audio from my laptop, in the same setup. Unfortunately, I did not take into account that the cable was 3 m long (and I think this was my biggest mistake). It seems this has generated some clock conflicts between ULTRA and the DAC, with the DAC popping from time to time (about every 2 minutes) while changing the sampling rate from 44.1 to 48 Khz for a few seconds, then back to 44.1.
This issue was totally annoying and, of course, made me think that I must give up the connecting ULTRA to my DAC via USB. Still, because the issue seemed incredible to me, I let the music stream and insisted for some time to check the DAC's menu and settings. After less than 20 minutes, the music stopped and the sound has suddenly reached a very high level, sending my Emotiva amplifier into protection mode, in less than a second. The amplifier has come back to life after a restart, but for my titanium tweeters it was too late. Now I'll have to start a long search, in order to replace either the tweeters or the speakers. Most probably, I will never test USB output again with a 3m cable.