วีดีโอ

Thanks. The PRO DACs are physically (and electrically) very different with a larger package and 8 channels paralleled for a stereo output.

Thank you. Unfortunately, I don't use a turntable and don't know much about that world. Maybe try the WiiM forums, they seem to be fairly active. What I have read, the phono input is not amazing but definitely should be usable.

If you make your mind already when seeing the price tag, you can just click "skip" and move on.

Thanks. That is my understanding as well but I have not tried it myself.

Thank you. Unfortunately, I have never used Qobuz so I don't know how it works compared to Tidal. The WiiM app does have a Qobuz integration option so it may work inside the app, or maybe the Qobuz app has output selection like Spotify and Tidal? You should check WiiM's official info on this, or the WiiM forums.

Unfortunately they are not drop-in compatible. The size of the IC is already very different; the top of the line DACs are 8-channel units with channels connected in parallel for stereo use.

​@@kaamostechthx that was my question as well!

Unfortunately, I am not sure exactly how it works. Better trying to find info on the WiiM forums. I reckon at least some months ago the room correction was not independent for left/right.

This is something I have not tried. I know you can play local files from a hard drive but I suspect the artwork may not work - not sure though. You may find these answers in the WiiM forums.

Yeah not sure about that. I did see one 24.576M oscillator which could be used for the audio. I have first hand experience only with TI and AKM DACs which are quite different. ESS DACs don't need synchronous MCLK and I believe they should work well with the internal PLL as that is by design. But not measured myself.

​@@kaamostechthat one is for the HDMI or usb interface. ES9038Q2M does have an integrated PLL, but it is a digital PLL, you can think it is a counter plus some algorithm like sigma-delta. jitter is very bad. this solution is designed for the cell phone, because the internal space in the phone is very limited, there is no speace to add a crystal on PCB. that is a compromise for the resimpling from 48k to 44.1k. but here, no crystal means you got a audio of phone level in the desktop equepment. this is a shame.

@@kaamostech a simple way to prove it. you could do an AB comparison. A, directly connect the line-out of WIIM to an amplifier. B, connect to usb out of WIIM to an usb sound card or a cheap usb DAC. remember it need to be "USB" dac, because only USB dac will resimpling with local crystal (or very high end DAC over 1000 dollar). then the line-out of usb dac to ampli. if the sound change, become more clear for the mid and high freq, it means the AD part of this WIIM have a design issue.

No easy way. The I2S signals are of course going to the DACs so that's where you could solder something on, just would need to be careful with signal integrity, use buffers etc.

​@@kaamostech Thank you for the answer I thought there are some pins to attach the connector and trace I2S outside.( Like other LinkPlay based streamers. Arylic Up2Stream for instance)

It is pure digital. Resistor volume controls are large and expensive.

I really doubt but as you say, we can never know for sure.

I assume for measuring wifi latency for synchronizing music playback on other wiim streamers on the same network. Also for room correction.

Not really, the screen functions are quite limited. You can use it for simple tasks like changing input, change the EQ preset, play/stop/skip songs but really managing all this is done via the app. And to be fair more complex tasks are easier on the phone.

@kaamostech Thaks for answering, I guess cant ask miracles for the price but is still a nice piece. Final question: can I use the eq for a CD player and turntable as well or is it just for streaming? That's my deal-breaker.

@@crBudgetWatches Yes you can. Each input has its own EQ 'memory' so you could also have different EQ settings for CD and turntable - or just select the same preset.

@@kaamostech that’s good to know, now it gets my interest again!

You are most welcome

Why? It ain’t broke etc….is it for real improvement or do you like tinkering? I am not judging btw, just interested.

@@gaycha6589, Just wondering, you have to go way up the food chain to get much better as I have tried a lot. Noticing every more expensive model have a LPS and better clocks, a few better parts. He is about the only one I have seen break it down to all the parts.

I would say not really. Changing better parts may just degrade performance when they don't fit there and you have ugly wiring etc. I guess changing the main SMPS could be fairly easy but still needs some consideration how you connect a new PSU, and if it's external taking care of the wiring etc. Basically, if you want better components, buy a more premium product. Or buy/build your own DAC etc. For example, if you use a USB DAC the clocks here don't matter.

@@kaamostech Good deal, I've never seen your channel, it was a TH-cam pick.Nice to see gear being taken apart. I have tried several other streams into the Chord Qutest and have yet to hear a OMG improvement. Its a dedicated room well treated.

Ok, maybe I could one day. It uses JLSounds I2SoverUSB board, my W-DAC and One Four All PSU, and my custom PCB where everything is stacked on. You can use the same idea with any USB DAC though. For example, buy a Topping, SMSL, etc DAC with great performance for little money. Then use ASIO drivers in Virtins. The biggest difference in my DIY version is that I have I2S and SPDIF outputs taken out as well in addition to the analog outputs.

Thank you

Absolutely, I will be slowly making videos of each board. I will make the DAC video soon. I have a new version which is XLR-only. Basically combining the W-DAC and the XLR-addon - for simplicity. Is there anything specific you would need help with?

​@kaamostech, thank you for your reply. What voltage is needed for this new DAC version? What are all input voltages? How would you compare your DAC to other on the market.

Graham Audio is interesting but have almost no experience. There was one in the Bristol Show last time I found promising, I think it was LS6f.

Unfortunately not. The Pro ICs are larger as they are 8-channel where you parallel the channels for stereo use.

Moro. Asun Skotlannissa niin tilasin Peter Tysonilta. Kyllä varmasti sopii mainiosti Genelecien kanssa, saa aika minimalistisen setin. Mullakin on toisessa huoneessa vanhat 8020 Genet ja jos joskus korvaan tuon Wiimin jollain muulla, mennee varmaan niiden kaveriksi.

It does have an audio oscillator, at least 24.576MHz (48k family of sample rates). I don't know the exact model or how it is used exactly (e.g. do they use it for audio output, and what about 44.1k sample rates). The DAC is very good. If you have really good ears, does external DAC sound better - probably, if it's good enough. Unfortunately, only you can judge that.

@kaamostech Whow, thank you so much for the fast answer 👍 I saw a TH-cam Video of the cheap audio man where he complains about the clock and he recommended to use this adapter. 🤔SMSL PO100 PRO USB Digital Interface Decoding and an external DAC it would made a unbelievable difference. I use the Wiim Ultra already and I am really happy with it but sometimes I miss the details.😔 I really appreciate that you wrote me and thanks for your videos.

Obviously, it is guessing but there is the PCM9211 which has an SPDIF transmitter so they may use that. I saw one 24.576MHz oscillator so that may, or may not, be used to generate the audio clocks. May also come from the SoC clock generator. Maybe I will try to measure something one day but it's not easy with the kit I have.

Yes, I suspect they use the PCM9211 for the coaxial output, possibly among other things. Unfortunately, there are not many dedicated SPDIF output chips in production anymore. This one has quite a lot of other functions as well. However, transmitting SPDIF should be an easy task as it's fully synchronous, so not sure why it wouldn't be good. Receiving is a bit different story as it requires a PLL.

@@kaamostech I once read a study, and I wish I could find it again, that discussed optical SPDIF implementations in CD/DVD players. The TLDR is that the same signal is used to send COAX and that signal has to be processed to cause the LED to flicker on and off for the optical SPDIF. There are delays introduced and thresholds that need to be evaluated before the LED fires. Then on the receiver side, the same kinds of signal processing foo has to be done in reverse before an electrical signal is produced by the receiver. Although the optical SPDIF was not horribly inaccurate, it certainly was not as clean since there were signal conversion errors. Although the optical signal is not subject to EMF in transmission, I stopped using it and prefer COAX unless I need to use it.

@@johnbeckmeyer1696 Indeed, Toslink, RCA Coax, and XLR AES are all the same signal but Toslink is the weakest transmission line, at least due to fairly poor quality optical components and plastic 'fibre' - as opposed to proper optical fibres and laser transceivers, for example. I'm not sure what is the bottleneck (may well be the turning the LED on/off as you say) in the Toslink system but it has limited bandwidth and more jitter than the cable medias. Usually it's limited to 96kHz and max 5m due to these; albeit 192k often works as well, at least with short cables. Coax is better. There are often measurable (not necessarily audible though) differences between Coax and Toslink.

It's quite interesting how most audiophiles don't admit the subjective or emotional side, and value of brands and the 'feel' of owning something nice. Almost nobody disagrees if you buy designer clothes or furniture, jewellery, or upmarket car, that there is more than just the product you get. But audiophiles need to fight till the end that they can hear the difference and they are no subject to any marketing foolery. I'd like to own fancy Hifi gear even if I don't hear the difference :)

Sounds good, should be a fairly easy mod to do.

That unit is so well engineered, you're likely to introduce more in band audio noise with ANY external supply. The only mod I would even consider doing is to use a piece of solder wick for the ground strap to lower the HF/VHF impedance (and that would need to be verified).

I don't really have experience with other streamers, I used RPi+Roon before. But I don't completely disagree with you. I think the app is pretty good (I've heard lots of streamers have worse app but don't have first hand experience) for browsing device settings and using Tidal. I tried local files (don't have a lot) and it was indeed a bit ancient experience. And I sometimes feel the same with going back that it goes somewhere I didn't expect. I haven't had other technical issues but the network, and that's also been absent for a few weeks now. No audio or volume issues. Don't really use 192/24 though. I also don't understand one output at a time. I think it's a very good product for what I use it for. For a very competitive price. But I also think some things are forgiven because of the price. It's not a premium product. If you dislike the Pro, you may not like this one either.

Thank you. Certainly great value and aggressive pricing. It gets a lot more expensive if you want something significantly better.

Thank you. It is certainly something to keep in mind, the feedback has been positive. Obviously, this is a new channel and I don't make any money so can't just go and buy loads of Hifi to tear down :) But certainly will do a video when I have a chance.

Good questions. I never tried it as I moved to analog output when I got the sub. Check WiiM forums if you find the answer. A note though that if you use external DAC with the sub out, you cannot use volume control in the DAC because otherwise the sub volume won't adjust. So you need to use the WiiM volume control. It doesn't necessarily make much difference but some prefer full-scale signal to their DAC and adjust volume there or after.

@@kaamostech Thank you for your reply. That is not a problem I use streamer as a digital preamp as well.

Thank you, I appreciate. More practice and experience will hopefully make such videos a bit more interesting but yeah, it will never be highly entertaining and target audience is limited to the ones actually finding it interesting.

Thank you

What do you mean by Room Audio settings? But yeah, it's not perfect. Hopefully they can fix most of the glitches in FW. This lost network issue hasn't happened for a few weeks now while it was daily in the beginning.

Thanks a lot.