Budget Streaming - Wiim Mini any good?

[singularity6]

I had a Songbird, which I liked at first. The lack of gapless play was annoying, so I bought a WiiM Mini. It's much better.

 

[njprrogers]

Over on ASR, they measured the Wiim Mini and deemed the toslink out completely transparent so if you hook it up to your favourite DAC, you are only limited by the rest of your system in terms of sound quality.

Seems like a good cheap option for a streaming transport if you have a separate DAC or an integrated with it's own DAC.

 

[Gray]

Over on ASR, they measured the Wiim Mini and deemed the toslink out completely transparent so if you hook it up to your favourite DAC, you are only limited by the rest of your system in terms of sound quality.

Seems like a good cheap option for a streaming transport if you have a separate DAC or an integrated with it's own DAC.

...anyone who's spent £1000+ on a streamer will be certain that this couldn't possibly be as good.

 

[Witterings]

...anyone who's spent £1000+ on a streamer will be certain that this couldn't possibly be as good.

My experience ... anyone trying to sell a £1000+ streamer isn't convinced either

 

[njprrogers]

I haven't used it so I can't comment on the UX and whether it's responsive or maintains connection well. And the DAC is going to be a budget job, for sure.
But the actual digital streaming part is not exactly complicated from a technical point of view, the same bits in should be the same bits out so I am not surprised that this step can be achieved transparently on the cheap with this or a raspberry pi for example.

If you wanted to save some £$, could be an option if you have that DAC!

 

[newworld]

Over on ASR, they measured the Wiim Mini and deemed the toslink out completely transparent so if you hook it up to your favourite DAC, you are only limited by the rest of your system in terms of sound quality.

Seems like a good cheap option for a streaming transport if you have a separate DAC or an integrated with it's own DAC.

Good to hear, and that's exactly how I use it, with a DAC integrated. It's also interesting to take analogue interconnects out of equation.

The toslink out from my Bluesound does sound different from that of Wiim Mini, with the latter sounding better to my ears. I really don't understand how this is possible, but there is that grainy quality to the Bluesound toslink out.

 

[manicm]

There's only one thing betraying the Wiim Mini's budget roots, and that's the manual bit depth and sample rate setting. This should be automatic like any other hifi streamer.

I will suggest this change to Wiim.

 

[newworld]

There's only one thing betraying the Wiim Mini's budget roots, and that's the manual bit depth and sample rate setting. This should be automatic like any other hifi streamer.

I will suggest this change to Wiim.

I have it set to 24/196. Does it upsample if I just play 16/44.1 files?

 

[manicm]

I have it set to 24/196. Does it upsample if I just play 16/44.1 files?

I've submitted an option to automatically set the max resolution according to source, Wiim have got back to me and said that despite the manual settings option it streams through bit perfect as long as the settings are high enough for the source, so in theory my 16/44 Tidal streams should go unaltered even though I've got the settings to max i.e. 24/192.

But through repeated listening my ears don't bear this out. I'll add a few caveats, my hifi is a Klipsch Cinema 600 soundbar, and I have no details of its internal DAC. I've connected the Wiim via optical.

When I set the Wiim settings to max the sound is a bit more vivid, a bit more decay ,but ultimately tiring compared to when I just set the Wiim to 16/44, which is the max I'm streaming at, well Tidal HiFi mode should be anyway.

After a few emails I ended the conversation, Wiim were quick to respond, but won't resolve this dilemma for me. Which is fair enough.

Maybe different external dedicated or integrated DACs in amps/streamers will reveal different or better results to mine, but that's how it is with me.

Don't get me wrong, at 16/44 it sounds great. But my feeling is this is where maybe some corners are cut. There's no dedicated DAC or even streamer that I know of that lets you manually adjust the resolution. They're all automatic AFAIK, or at least by default.

What I'm guessing is happening may be one of two things: 1. The Wiim is upsampling despite what they say. 2. The bitstream is preserved but tagged at the resolution you specify, and the receiving DAC is upsampling as required.

That's the only explanation I can think of.

 

[manicm]

Here's the thing, on my soundbar Tidal sounds better streamed from my TV than the Wiim Mini. Sad but true.

 

[newworld]

Here's the thing, on my soundbar Tidal sounds better streamed from my TV than the Wiim Mini. Sad but true.

Sometimes TV's (or cable boxes) have a volume limiter on pcm out. You might want to check that.