Down to Earth WiiM Amp review
- Thread starter manicm
- Start date
DougK1
Well-known member
Seems an honest and fair review. Not the giant-killer most were thinking it would be. Another £50 gets you a proper entry-level amp from the usual suspects, but without the streaming abilities of the Wiim.
Tinman1952
Well-known member
I think his speaker choices were a bit odd....not really the market for this product! Small bookshelves and probably nearfield listening...not his cavernous room. Plus messing about with PEQ can easily cause clipping when turned up to 11.....🙄 One comment asked if he may have got a faulty unit....and got a right snotty reply from his missus! That wonky HDMI port suggests it may have been a pre-production unit to me.....
podknocker
Well-known member
Looks terrible with the wonky HDMI port and the coaxials are not labelled. The production versions do have L and R but are the wrong way round. L is always white and R is always red, but not on this amp. Very strange.
I always look for neat and tidy ports/sockets etc. It is a reliable measure of production methods. If things are not lined up properly, it shows a lack of QC and it always puts me off a brand if they don't correct things like this.
I always look for neat and tidy ports/sockets etc. It is a reliable measure of production methods. If things are not lined up properly, it shows a lack of QC and it always puts me off a brand if they don't correct things like this.
abacus
Well-known member
twinkletoes
Well-known member
I think the point being, he was using the most efficient speakers he had at his disposal and the amp was still struggling with dynamics. Bearing in mind that the 102DB speaker had a supposed 60w on tap, they can be driven with a 5 watt headphone amp, to truly antisocial levels with headroom to spare. Doesn't bode well for tiny inefficient "budget" standmounts which seem to be the likely pairing. I think you can understand his view point,
He seems well versed with EQing, it seems to be his background. But yeah can cause many problems if not done correctly.
The missus is the moderator on the comments section and with such a hyped product has probably had a skin full from the brand loyalists.
At the end of the day it's a tiny box with a tiny power supply built by the cheapest bidder. It probably costs more in shipping and packaging than it does to make the dam thing. Im not really surprised
But thoroughly understand your point.
Last edited:
Revolutions
Well-known member
I’ve sold my brother on this with some little speakers like Q 3010i to upgrade from Bluetooth turntable & Sonos speaker.
Super excited to get him listening to music how it’s meant to be heard, and for less than £500.
Super excited to get him listening to music how it’s meant to be heard, and for less than £500.
Al ears
Well-known member
Unfortunately the 3010i are not the most efficient speakers around.
Last edited:
Revolutions
Well-known member
Ah, thanks. Good to know. Will have a look on here if there are any threads about small speakers, and if not, perfect excuse for a new discussion 🙂
Gray
Well-known member
daytona600
Well-known member
This amp + pair of small speakers , All the system 99% of the planet needs for 300quid
Try buying one , factory cant make enough of them
Used one for a few months
For the 1% If they added a high spec power stage 100/200wpc Class D or AB for $500/1500
would scare the pants of Traditional Hifi companies from a company no one had heard of 6months ago
Try buying one , factory cant make enough of them
Used one for a few months
For the 1% If they added a high spec power stage 100/200wpc Class D or AB for $500/1500
would scare the pants of Traditional Hifi companies from a company no one had heard of 6months ago
Last edited:
Juzzie Wuzzie
Well-known member
Agreed that for £300 you can't go (too far) wrong.
Rumour has it that a higher WPC WiiM Amp will be released this year ... although may be an installer only product. Per the WiiM forum.
Rumour has it that a higher WPC WiiM Amp will be released this year ... although may be an installer only product. Per the WiiM forum.
Yes, but he also states caveats that imply by spending more you get more:
'It’s important to put a little bit of context into the overall level of performance here because I don’t wish to oversell it but I do need to try and contextualise it. If you connect a Pro+ to a Rega Io and use that combination into the same speakers, the performance is better. Despite being down on power, the Rega has better bass and it does a better job of creating a soundstage around the recording. It also keeps its composure better at higher volume, staying civilised at the point where the Wiim Amp is hardening up slightly.'
twinkletoes
Well-known member
for 300 quid id take NAD 316bee (preowned can be found for a 100 quid) and add Wim mini for an extra 100 and have a far far more capable system that can grow with you and will drive pretty much any speaker at pretty much any level you wish.
The Wim just doesnt offer value in my eyes if the reviewer is to believed.
Witterings
Well-known member
Sounds as though a WiiM Pro Plus and a Fosi V3 may be a better alternative for not much more with the 48v power supply.
Last edited:
Gray
Well-known member
He does - just like most reviewers do (about most of what they review).
And we still want it to go loud without strain - even in a smaller room 👍
Any realistic person would probably expect this Wiim amp to fall short somewhere.
Juzzie Wuzzie
Well-known member
The Fosi V3 looks quite interesting - and you've got the ability to chose from three different power sources and swap out the op-amp chips. You can even go for a gold knob on the front.
podknocker
Well-known member
On paper, the Wiim amp spec is very appealing, considering the £299 price, but I still feel uneasy about the quality control and the lack of attention to detail. Even the production models seem to be labelled incorrectly and I think they rushed this product and many have found it lacking. Some reviews mention misaligned sockets, there is some inconsistency with the coaxial socket designations and I've also read this thing makes enough noise to be annoying and distracting. I think we need a 2nd revision of this model, just to tidy it up a bit. If this happens and it proves to be reliable, then I think it will take a huge slice of the streaming amp pie. It makes you wonder why big names can't do this for a similar cost.
Last edited:
twinkletoes
Well-known member
Gray
Well-known member
One reason would be that, up to now, they haven't had any reason to.
Revolutions
Well-known member
It's a classic example of Disruptive Innovation.
Hold tight and please read on for a brilliant example of being mansplained...
Thanks to classic Economics, pretty much every business is focused on increasing two things: spend per customer, and profit margin. Selling more products to existing customers isn't always feasible (how many pairs of hifi speakers does one household need?), and more importantly it's not improving the margin. So the natural step is to introduce more expensive products with better margins and get your customer to upgrade. (There is of course another option of reducing operating costs, but that's usually an outcome of the disruption, rather than a strategy - except in the last two decades where it was trendy to hire an accountant as your CEO.)
All eyes in the company are on those juicy margins - happy boardroom/shareholders, and probably better bonuses all round. You'd be crazy to look at your entry level offerings, there lies no bonus.
While no one is watching, a new company enters the market with a similar entry level product that's cheaper to produce (small company, low overheads, or tech advances leading to lower production costs). They eat up all of those entry level customers that the incumbent has been ignoring because they aren't going to buy your daughter the pony she wants.
Small company gets bigger. And the cycle continues.
Gray
Well-known member
Tinman1952
Well-known member
DCarmi
Well-known member
Indeed. Google almost had both Disruptive Innovation and First Mover Advantage with their CCA. Sold well but big Google could not work out how to turn the product into a money-spinner, despite having its own music platform.
Amazon did manage it with the Kindle because they built a platform in their eBook market. The device itself is fairly inconsequential. Az are happy for people to use the free app for phone or PC etc, just as long as you buy books. The Kindle device just drives book sales.
Wiim are slightly different, in that they started with a cheap and marketable device where there was a gap and then released upgraded devices for the discerning customer. Their problem is what next? The amp takes them into territory where there already is considerable competition.
For a little bit more I could get a Denon N11, with radio, cd and streaming or just get a good amp and plug in a Wiim mini.
njprrogers
Well-known member
What next? I think with more watts, and a gradually improved amplifier.
I think they could eventually own the budget / mid level amp market. They can do software unlike a lot of prestige brands and they are continually creating updates and improvements.
I think they could eventually own the budget / mid level amp market. They can do software unlike a lot of prestige brands and they are continually creating updates and improvements.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram