The Wiim Pro streamer finally became available on Amazon and I thought I'd get one to see if the SQ could beat that of Amazon streamed over LDAC bluetooth with my ifi Zen One signature DAC. And the answer is as I suspected: no, it can't.
I can hear no difference between the Wiim Pro over wifi and the Zen One signature over bluetooth. The bit rate with Amazon HD using wifi is about 3x that of the bit rate using LDAC bluetooth with the Zen One. I should point out that is when using the DAC in the Zen One sig in both cases, so only the streaming method and hardware is different, the rest of the system from the DAC to speakers is the same. They both sound great but I certainly couldn't confidently hear the difference between them. The Amazon HD interface using the Wiim app is not as nice or fast as the native Amazon HD interface and I can't seem import my playlists into the Wiim Pro app. It's also an ugly little plastic box.
So this is quite a big discovery for me: I can't distinguish a full-fat hi res file from a compressed FLAC file using bluetooth. I'm not sure what the actual numbers are but there's a big difference. BUT... I can tell the difference when I swap out speaker cables, interconnects and power supplies. I reckon I'm probably the opposite of quite a few people on here. Let's hear what you guys think. Are you bothered about genuine hi-res audio and able to distinguish it?
I can hear no difference between the Wiim Pro over wifi and the Zen One signature over bluetooth. The bit rate with Amazon HD using wifi is about 3x that of the bit rate using LDAC bluetooth with the Zen One. I should point out that is when using the DAC in the Zen One sig in both cases, so only the streaming method and hardware is different, the rest of the system from the DAC to speakers is the same. They both sound great but I certainly couldn't confidently hear the difference between them. The Amazon HD interface using the Wiim app is not as nice or fast as the native Amazon HD interface and I can't seem import my playlists into the Wiim Pro app. It's also an ugly little plastic box.
So this is quite a big discovery for me: I can't distinguish a full-fat hi res file from a compressed FLAC file using bluetooth. I'm not sure what the actual numbers are but there's a big difference. BUT... I can tell the difference when I swap out speaker cables, interconnects and power supplies. I reckon I'm probably the opposite of quite a few people on here. Let's hear what you guys think. Are you bothered about genuine hi-res audio and able to distinguish it?
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