WiiM Mini - AirPlay 2 Wireless Audio Player, Multiroom Stereo, Preamp, Compatible with Alexa and Siri, Stream Hi-Res from Amazon Music, Tidal and More

I got this little gem only today. I have an SMSL AD18 class D amp that has served me very well since 2019. It is connected to a pair of Q acoustics 3020i and a Presonus Eris subwoofer. The amp is connected to my PC and Mac through USB. The sound quality I have always considered excellent, at least to my non-audiophile ears. However, music through the amp's 4.2 Bluetooth connection has been acceptable but non-satisfying. I decided to upgrade the AD18 within a budget of less than £200. I settled on the Aiyima A80, based on extensive reviews and the fact that it came with Bluetooth 5.1. It turned out, very surprisingly, the Bluetooth sound quality was far worse than that through the AD18. I promptly sent the Aiyima back to Amazon. Though over my initial budget, I contemplated getting a WiiM amp but found out it cannot connect to a computer through USB like the AD18 and the only way to input sound from my PC/Mac was to use a USB A to optical adapter. I did not want to that. I lost the zeal to try other amps and decided to stick with my dependable AD18 and find another way of wirelessly streaming from my iPhone. I did more research and decided to try the AirPlay 2. I was genuinely surprised at how small it turned out to be. It came with 4 cables: a USB C to USB C, optical, 3.5mm male to RCA and 3.5 male to male. Setup was extremely easy. I downloaded the WiiM Home app through a QR code provided in the instruction booklet. The app connected the AirPlay 2 to my wi-fi with no problem. I then connected the AirPlay 2 to my AD18 amp through the optical cable. I already had Spotify on my phone and the WiiM Home app recognised this without a hitch. I apologise this is cliched - but I was very much blown away. The sound now coming out of my Q Acoustics/Presonus has been of a far better quality than that produced by my Mac through a USB A cable. It is rich and the clarity and bass revealing. I had thought that £89 for such a small product (without a remote control) that only streams audio would not be at all worth it. However, the AirPlay 2 has given a completely new life to my sound set up. It is the little thing that could, and then some! I have not tried its Alexa compatibility and at this time, I do not believe I need to purchase the separate WiiM remote control. Of course - it is early days yet and I will have to wait and see if it turns out as reliable as my trusty SMSL AD18. At this time, I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. I will update if any problems crop up!

Having owned and loved the Chromecast Audio, I watched John Darko Audio’s review and discovered that this device is gapless, meaning there are no artificial gaps inserted between continuous tracks on say a live album or where an artist chooses to continue to play from one track to the next, a frustration for owners of the Chromecast. The reported quality is also at a higher sample rate and bit depth (up to 24 bit it’s at 192 kHz subject to source). Whilst it works brilliantly with Spotify, I chose to take out a trial for Tidal and Qobuz and while I’m at it, Roon as a layer over the top. After a small bit of confusion on my part, they all play well together through the WiiM no matter what you play from (phone, tablet, PC). If you’re like me (hopefully you are not) then this cost me more money in the end as I now have Spotify for the family and Qobuz + Roon and an extra Roon NUC server; the result? Despite being a skeptic, I can honestly say my HiFi has never sounded better. I’m using the DAC in my Audiolab 6000A, so can’t say how this sounds with its internal DAC to analogue out but it sounds great through my amp and B&W 603 S2 speakers. I’m now faced with a dilemma as Roon are putting their prices up I 2023, but that’s another story - you don’t NEED any of these services, honest! I don’t tend to use the WiiM app to control music because I get more information from the services I mentioned, but whenever I’ve used it, it is simple, clean and intuitive to using. This is a great little product and packs a lot of punch for the cost - especially when it is on a discount (I got mine for little over £70). ** Update ** This product goes from strength to strength, despite the modest price this product is continuously being updated with improvements including Roon ready due in Jan 2023, so I look forward to that. I did however make a mistake in my review above, I still use my Chromecast Audio in my office and to my surprise found that it is indeed gapless with Roon out of the box, unlike Spotify Connect, there you go you learn something new everyday.

Antes de adquirir el dispositivo, evalué varias opciones. Principalmente, consideré los siguientes modelos: Wiim Mini, Wiim Pro y Wiim Pro Plus. El Mini y el Pro son prácticamente idénticos en cuanto a calidad de sonido pero difieren en la forma y en las salidas y entradas de señal. El Pro dispone de una salida analógica y dos digitales, óptica y coaxial. El Mini, salida analógica y digital óptica. No tiene salida digital coaxial. Aunque el Pro Plus ofrece una calidad de sonido superior gracias a su DAC mejorado, opté por descartarlo debido a su precio más elevado, ya que ya dispongo de un DAC Marantz con una calidad similar y como no necesitaba la salida digital coaxial, me decanté por el modelo Mini. Sonido: Como ya he dicho, tengo un DAC de Marantz de alta calidad y he podido hacer comparaciones. Si conecto el Mini (con salida digital) al Marantz suena muy detallado, limpio, equilibrado, con buena precisión tímbrica y una buena escena musical. Si utilizo su salida analógica (lo cual implica que trabaja su DAC interno), el sonido cambia. Se vuelve más cálido y pierde definición y transparencia, pero conserva la escena musical. En resumen, ¿cuál de los dos te quedarías? Si tienes un oído acostumbrado a distinguir detalles sutiles entre un buen sonido y uno excelente, un buen equipo sin DAC, y no te importa pagar más, coge el Pro Plus. Si ya tienes un DAC de alta calidad te vale el Mini. Si no eres un experto en sonido y lo único que quieres es que suene bien, es más que suficiente el Mini. Lo puedes conectar a cualquier amplificador y no te va a defraudar. Repito por si no lo he explicado bien. Si vas a utilizar la salida digital, cualquiera de los tres te sirve porque el resultado dependerá del DAC que le conectes. Si utilizas la salida analógica, el Mini y el Pro suenan bien (llevan el DAC TI PCM 5121). El Pro Plus mejor (lleva el DAC AKM 4493SEQ).

Very easy to install and versatile usable

Davvero ottimo questo WiiM mini. Partiamo dalla confezione: 1. Nella scatola, compatta, c'è tutto quello che serve. Alimentatore, cavo usb C, cavetti di collegamento analogici e persino il cavo ottico per un DAC esterno. 2. Il dispositivo è piccolissimo, può trovare posto ovunque. Ha i controlli fisici del volume e un tasto play/pausa. Molto comodo. 3. App WiiM Home, scaricata dal Play Store. Di immediato utilizzo, con una procedura guidata consente la connessione alla rete WiFi e in due minuti il dispositivo è pronto per essere utilizzato. Dall'app si possono gestire molti settaggi, compresa l'equalizzazione; sono direttamente accessibili tutti i servizi di streaming (quando dico tutti intendo tutti, sono supportati veramente una moltitudine). Si può configurare l'uscita in maniera tale che sia bit perfect, si può abilitare il Bluetooth, si hanno le informazioni della qualità dello streaming in tempo reale. Notevole. 4. Compatibilità software. Il WiiM è abilitato Spotify connect, quindi è gestibile direttamente dall'app di Spotify. Alexa lo riconosce facilmente, per cui è molto semplice inserirlo in gruppi di altoparlanti anche insieme ai vari Echo Dot e simili, da cui si può comandarlo con controllo vocale. Interessante il fatto che l'app Amazon Music lo veda come altoparlante e consenta direttamente lo streaming. Con Airplay qualsiasi dispositivo Apple può inviare l'audio al WiiM, funzione che purtroppo non esiste su Android (l'unica alternativa è Google cast che però sul mini non c'è, bisogna andare sul WiiM pro). Non ho Tidal o Quobuz, ma dalle altre recensioni direi che funzionino bene. Ho provato dei brani ad alta risoluzione dal cellulare e sono andati perfettamente. 5. Suono ed esperienza d'uso. Ho connesso il WiiM solo con l'uscita ottica, sia al mio ampli (un buon Marantz), sia a un DAC Topping che utilizzo per l'ascolto in cuffia insieme a un ampli Atom. Tutto perfetto, connessione sempre stabilissima. Comodo il fatto che il volume sia controllabile dalle App, ma per chi vuole essere sicuro di avere un segnale bit perfect, ossia senza alcuna modifica rispetto all'originale, è possibile impostare l'uscita a volume fisso (ovviamente è anche necessario disabilitare l'equalizzatore). Il suono dipende quindi da tutta la catena, non tanto dal WiiM: il consiglio è quello di usare un DAC esterno e godersi la musica digitale. Da recensioni specializzate il DAC interno è discreto ma niente di più, quindi meglio evitare. 6. Conclusioni. Il WiiM è uno streamer ottimo, economico soprattutto se preso in offerta, molto flessibile, ben supportato (App e firmware sono in costante sviluppo), con qualità audio altissima se collegato a un buon DAC, e soprattutto divertente da utilizzare. Gli manca solo il protocollo Google cast, ma se dovesse servire i dispositivi WiiM più costosi ne sono dotati. Consiglio l'acquisto senza riserve. AGGIORNAMENTO Purtroppo, dopo l'entusiasmo iniziale, capita molto di frequente che il dispositivo non venga più rilevato, né dall'app WiiM né da Spotify. A questo punto è necessario resettare tutto, riconfigurare, e normalmente l'operazione va fatta più di una volta. Al momento non riesce più e connettersi alla rete a 5 GHz, chissà perché. La cosa è faticosa e ho voglia di restituire il dispositivo, che ha grandi potenzialità ma è inaffidabile (ho il sospetto che dipenda da qualche aggiornamento firmware, mi era capitato una volta, poi a un certo punto sembrava risolto, e adesso va ancora peggio). Peccato. Non consiglio più l'acquisto. SECONDO AGGIORNAMENTO Problema risolto, i malfunzionamenti erano dovuti all'alimentatore. Dopo averlo sostituito è magicamente tornato tutto a funzionare. Attenzione a cavo e alimentazione, il dispositivo è piuttosto sensibile, potrebbe dare problemi o riavviarsi. E sono di nuovo 5 stelle! TERZO AGGIORNAMENTO Con i continui aggiornamenti di firmware, adesso il WiiM consente anche l'ascolto di Spotify lossless. Sempre super consigliato l'acquisto.

If you use SPDIF instead of internal Dac, this little device would let you forget about the expensive BlueSound Node, the troublesome and unstable raspberry pi runs on any OS. This is simply the easiest and best solution by far. The downside would be that it uses it's own app to log into all the music services. You won't be able to browse through the native APP UI from spotify, tidal, qobuz or even amazon music. I haven't tried gapless so I can't put down "it just works" stamp yet! However, hi-res does work as expected. There are some glitches and bugs from Amazon Music though. When comparing to Qobuz, it simply just works as bit perfect. On the Amazon Music HD/UHD I believed it's probably Amazon's fault here. There will be constrain on bitrate and sampling rate if you output from TV because it's running mostly Android OS (ye! I am looking at you Amazon FireTV 4k Stick). You will only get 48k. However, on the Wiim mini is another story. It's better to show 24bit, but sometimes it's not bit perfect. it doesn't always shows properly up to 192k. Due to the inconsistency of Amazon music. Depends on your Dac, your streamer box (a computer, an iphone, tv, or wiim mini) they all behave differently. I can't grasp which one is the "best" solution or claim to be bit perfect here. But Amazon music seems to output hi-res music for sure. Amazon still need to work on their device compatibility issues though. For qobuz, it works like a breeze. Always accurate, and always works! I've had raspberry pi ran through LMS, volumio, audirvana, and roon before. If you want me to choose what's the best solution for sound quality and simplicity, I would choose wiim mini. Although you don't have a roon or audirvana as centralized server. You can't "stream" music to every devices from a home server. You will lose "screen display" feature on your computer or tv. However, you will not bump into audirvana can't switch playback devices or roon constantly having server down issues you need to restart the server. Best of all, you don't need to deal with LMS or volumio just another update that something "doesn't work" again. For the sound quality, I compare to Qobuz, it is indeed a close match. To be easy to use and bit perfect, Qobuz is obviously the best choice. Amazon music comes in second with this wiim mini. Best of all was the Alexa integration. It's now possible to tell Alexa to play music, and on wiim mini side, it starts to play bit perfect hi-res music. That's simply the missing piece from the echo eco system that Amazon did not have on their own products unless you've gone for Echo Studio. Amazon really need to do some catch up. It will sound better than you use Amazon FireTV 4k Sticks plug into the AVR before TV. Due to "compatibility" issues, versions of FireTV OS, and FireTV hardware. Not all FireTV works right out of box. In addition, not all AVR works with FireTV stick either. So I am grateful that Wiim Mini simply skips that whole route all together. The weak link would be spotify connect (not very sure if spotify connect is ever going to support bit perfect when spotify finally release hi res audio). Tidal works okay but obviously your DAC needs to decode MQA because wiim mini can't do that from internal DAC. Best experiences comes from Qobuz and Amazon Music HD/UHD. Bluetooth was alright. When you can stream through WIFI, why bother with Bluetooth? However, the streaming service is very limited. It won't support even something like Pandora just yet! You really need to use Airplay2 to playback those type of music services.

Se instaló muy fácilmente y se actualizó de manera muy rápida, lo conecté a unos parlantes de un minicomponente Panasonic ya viejito y lo conecte directo al Wiim con la salida Auxiliar y Rca al minicomponente, trabaja muy bien con Amazon Music Unlimited desde la aplicación de Wiim dando 24/192 en musica UHD (En la aplicación nativa de Amazon no se muestra la calidad del audio cuando lo reproduces de ahí directamente usando el Wiim como dispositivo de salida), en Tidal como los masters casi todos solo están en MQA, la aplicación te hace el primer unfold y sólo sale a 24/96, pero al paracer habrá una actualización del Wiim que te podrá hacer el siguiente unfold, con Roon pude transmitir desde la oficina vía Air Play 2 pero el programa hace el downsampling y le llega con calidad CD al Wiim, sin embargo habrá una actualización a fin de año para qué el Wiim sea Roon Ready y así poderdisfrutar hasta 24/192 en el streamer y cómo siempre lo qué mas me sorprendió fue con Neutron Music Player qué transmite sobre DLNA con todo el poder tengo música en 24/192 y los reprodujo sin problemas. En fin bueno, bonito y barato.