WiiM Ultra Teardown - What audio ICs are inside?

[@hedley007]

Thank you for sharing this information! I just bought this unit and I have owned and built many pieces of audio gear for more than 65 years, and I must say it competes, with IMO many and much more expensive gear out there. Thanks again you have gained a new subscriber.

[@kaamostech]

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

[@photo_n_art]

Very impressive for $300, I did not expected much for that price and was positively supposed. Thank you for sharing it with us. You have earned a subscriber 😎👍

[@grandmasterjo1]

Thank you again so much for the detailed response. You are absolutely right Yes It’s not difficult to produce a good DAC for cheap And yes it’s the other components that gives further detail to sound imaging like amp and speakers. Yesterday I put the WIIM to full output 100 and controlled the output with my preamp mixer ❤❤❤❤ It made a big difference. Now I can actually hear the Ultra at its best 👍 Next is I connect my Genelecs via the Digital input through coax Out of the Ultra Looking forward to it Thanks again for a brilliant video on the Ultra like never seen before 👏👏👏👏 A review with an in depth look ( literally 🤪🤪) 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@tinyrandomthings]

I always love the real engineering talk.

[@PauReydefaura]

Thanks so much for this informative content. There are not many of these type of videos around. I would love that you do more videos like this in this structure.

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@NicoRas-e9m]

Nice and interesting breakdown. It seems that a lot of design work went into it, A lot of complex interfaceing.

[@nsvircev]

Well done. The spec sheets support outstanding insight and analysis, which is exactly what is required to conclude about a product's quality. Beautiful!

[@kaamostech]

Appreciate your kind words, thank you.

[@jean-paulschweitzer6211]

Really nice video, thank you for sharing the views into this product and grateful for your skilled comments.

[@kaamostech]

Thank you.

[@4211Rob]

Excellent break down and introduction to current semiconductors and one old one:). One possible upgrade could be in the use of discreet design op amps class a bjt types, but power requirements may be an issue. Also I would love to learn how the room correction circuitry works when using a phone app. This has made a major difference to hi fidelity audio. Thank you.

[@ilianstoimenov6619]

Very informative video, thank you! I really like the way you analize different components on the boards. The small SoC with Linkplay branding should be the streaming module actually. This is why the antennas are connected there. And yes, the microphone on the back is used to compensate audio delay between syncronized devices.

[@kaamostech]

Thank you

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

Thanks for this video I am going to view this device on Friday!

[@juan-HiFi]

Thank you for the job 👍👍👍👍

[@craigenputtock]

Good examination of this unit. Thanks

[@trevorbartram5473]

Great job, you're brave, I hope EVERYTHING worked after reassembly. I'm a retired analog design engineer & the construction & manufacturing are impressive. No crooked SM parts. PCBs with a million plated thru holes. I would check coupling caps for quality. Quality US ICs used by China, that's sad. The PCB ground strap should be at the rear (so static doesn't pass thru the PCB groundplane) & can drain thru connector grounds to AC ground. Next time please wear an ESD strap, if you did no damage today it may show up years from now. Cheers!

[@mandymoo7406]

interesting I'm not a techie but just posted about static

[@kaamostech]

All good, still works :) Playing music right now. You are absolutely right about an ESD strap. I know I overlook it, I touch safety earth when I sit down but rarely use a strap. Besides my hobby I am also a professional electronics engineer and from my experience things don't actually break so easily - but minimising any chance is absolutely the correct way of working.

[@grandmasterjo1]

This is the best video I’ve seen on the WIIM Ultra. It was like a college lab class 👌 Question. How good is the DAC on the Ultra. I presume It’s the same as in the Audiolab 7000A. I ask simply because I just bought the Ultra as I could not get hold of the Audiolab 6000A play which was my first preference. Ok please bear with me 1. Before buying the Ultra I was using a $10 DAC bought from Amazon It has Coax In. Optical In. RCA analog Out. I connected the Amazon DAC to my TV via optical and RCA to my pre amp and Powered speakers. I was listening to Utube Hi Res and loved what I heard 2. Since the Amazon DAC was just $10 I decided to buy a better streamer DAC. The Ultra had it all and served me well. 3. What I heard via the Ultra was good but wait… the results between the Amazon DAC and Ultra was not chalk n cheese which I thought it would be. 4. So I did an AB test using the same HiRes track from Spotify A was the Apple TV optical out into Amazon dac optical In Track B. Was streaming the same track to the WIIM ultra via wifi I heard not really any difference. So can someone tell me why is it that a $10 DAC and the WIIM Ultra sound almost similar * kindly note I’m not sure what is the DAC inside the Amazon one which is the size of a matchbox Please 🙏🙏 tell me how is it that both DACs sound similar. Should I dispose the WIIM ? Thanks in advance

[@kaamostech]

You have extremely good questions my friend. I try to be careful with my wording not to p*** off too many golden ears :) But the reality is that it is very cheap to make technically very very good DAC these days. They are better than any DAC not so long time ago. You probably don't hear a difference because the Amazon DAC is already "good enough". It takes an expensive system (amp, speakers) and good ears and experience to hear the difference - a lot of people say they hear all sort of things but would not want to do a blind test. You know what I mean? Bottom line, I don't think what you say is because WiiM is bad, but because the Amazon DAC is 'good enough' so that it's very difficult to tell the difference. I think every audiophile should _honestly_ ask the same questions, and when you cannot hear the difference, just be happy, don't worry, and enjoy the music - instead of just spending more and more money. I also find it difficult to hear differences between DACs so I focus mostly on speakers and room because they make a huge difference.

[@sterilized1]

Goodmorning! Can you please what is the $10 Amazon DAC so I can buy for my stereo I appreciate your response.

[@photo_n_art]

@@kaamostech Thank you! Finally someone with common sense 👍 Most "audiophiles" are old guys with deteriorated hearing but they claim to hear things that oscilloscope can't detect 😂

[@a.d.533]

In order to hear/feel the difference upon different dacs you need a good enough/very good amplifier+speakers combo. Dac difference is about details, and you can disclose it with a sensitive enough setup.

[@WiiNV]

Pity we don't know what Amplifier and speakers you're listening to! 🤔

[@MrKrampyHands]

Definitely getting one of these for my surround setup using 5 mono blocks to run 4Ohm speakers and a Schiit Syn to do the surround processing then put the WiiM Ultra between the Syn and my sources TV and PC Definitely gonna live the EQ portion amongs the many other things this peacebof kit does

[@marijntopgear]

Excellent video! Really amazing what they can cramp into the box for the pricepoint

[@kaamostech]

Thank you. It is, WiiM has really taken on aggressive pricing. And likely trying to gain loyal customer base (and doing a good job) and slowly release products at higher price points like they have been doing already.

[@brannonmcevers1854]

Great video and insights! Subscribed.

[@javierazagrahernandez2598]

Good job. Thank you.

[@sybarite5videos]

Great video! Could you easily swap the ess9038mqm for the ESS9038PRO? or even a 9039?

[@kaamostech]

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

[@rw80]

One of your last comments says it all: “What problem do you want to solve?” when it comes to customisations. Even the lack of gold plated connnectors has a work around: you can always clean them every now and then. The main reason for using gold plated connections is reduction of oxidation. The potential minimal increase of resistance can be neglected. And it’s always good to remind that most music is recorded on equipement that still uses NE5532 or even TL071 opamps……

[@OldGuyHifi]

Great analysis. Did you find any oscillators or clocks? That appears to be an omission in the design. Thanks.

[@kaamostech]

That is a good point I missed. I had a look at the photos I took, there is one 24.576MHz oscillator near the PCM9211, can't see any model or manufacturer info. There are two more oscillators on bottom side, one 12MHz and another near the ethernet chip so likely these are not used directly for audio, at least.

[@OldGuyHifi]

@@kaamostech Most people aren't aware that all streamers are not created equal. I have a friend who measured the WiiM Pro Plus and found it to be full of noise , jitter and clocking issues. The PCM9211, I believe is the ADC and SPIDF interface. I think the lack of oscillators contributes to its low rez sound. Thank you for replying. Let me know if you dig deeper. Good video and like your channel. Thx,

[@photo_n_art]

@@OldGuyHifi interestingly, it's always friend of a friend who knows a thing 😂

[@OldGuyHifi]

@@photo_n_art 👌

[@bespey]

@@OldGuyHifiI wonder if it would be possible to take usb out to one of Ian canadas reclockers…I think they are i2s tho

[@sobe1ac]

Great Vid learned a lot

[@kaamostech]

Thank you

[@ConorHanley]

Interesting video, thinking of buying one and if I do I won't be taking it apart!

[@kaamostech]

Thanks, yeah I don't recommend doing that :)

[@victorasanza1584]

Muy Buen Analisis me recordo todo lo aprendido en la Universidad en las Catedra de Electronica cuando estaba el Transistor Bipolar en sus Inicios Increible como La Integracion de OP ha llegado a estas Mini Fabricacion. Recuerdo en Audio lo maximo para Filtros era Condensadores de Tantalo por su precision para el Audio en Amplificadores Hifi. Ahora nada de eso se usa en estos Mini Equipos Hifi

[@britishskiing]

Thanks for this! I’m going to remove the internal switch mode PSU from mine and use an external linear power supply instead. Just need to run a fly lead from the 12v DC out of the PSU

[@kaamostech]

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

[@jim9930]

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).

[@trekkis]

Great job, very interesting :)

[@wtcamer]

I've heard the USB input isn't great since there isn't a great internal clock. Using a cheap dac with a phono out that has a decent crystal based timer makes a noticeable improvement. I've seen this on forums, but maybe it's overblown. I haven't bought one since I'm already using a Topping A70 Pro, D70 Pro combo. Would be nice to have the streamer function, but... I just run it off my PC anyway.

[@davidjohns2582]

Great teardown video. Thanks!! Have you tried using the phono input with a turntable? I bought the WIIM ultra and the phono input is REALLY noisy (pretty much unusuable in my opinion). I used the ground connection but connecting it or leaving it floating does not make a difference.

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@carstenamg8843]

Tolles Video danke aus Germany, können Sie mir sagen ob der Ultra eine Balnce Regelung hat? Würde ihn gerne als Vorverstärker nutzen.

[@kaamostech]

Thank you. Good question. I needed to check, and yes there is a balance control for Left-Right balance.

[@carlogeir.8171]

Buen video, Saludos.

[@seanb3303]

Nice video. Did you see any parts for a preamp or resistors for volume control? Or is it probably a pure DSP digital volume control?

[@kaamostech]

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

[@SylviaVanderlay]

First of all thank you so much for the detailed and thorough analysis. Taking the results of this process into account, do you think it is safe to use the Ultra as a preamp connecting it directly to a power amp? Is it possible that some sort of malfunction in the digital domain results in the Ultra delivering full signal with no attenuation and therefore potentially damaging speakers?

[@kaamostech]

I have it directly connected to a power amp. There is a volume limit you can set. But not sure if that helps if things go really badly wrong. My power amp doesn't have an awful amount of gain so even full output wouldn't destroy anything. On this topic, I was in a small Hifi show a week ago. One exhibitors had an awful moment when their Auralic streamer did just that - FW crashed and it started outputting awful loud noise into the ProAc speakers, causing wild driver cone movement. Nothing worked so they could only run to switch off the power amps. I would think they had better lower level protection mechanisms in the device FW for something like this, but I guess not.

[@SylviaVanderlay]

@ Thank you for your answer, I've experienced it myself and also heard from several cases (particularly with Fosi Audio and Topping devices) and it is quite unpleasant (that is why I started using attenuators)

[@specipful]

@@kaamostech Thanks for sharing that info. It's disappointing to hear no software/hardware checks are in place for such an accident, considering Auralic products cost as much as they do. Unfortunately, a really expensive speaker or driver might be destroyed.

[@dan70cutlasssx]

Thanks for the teardown video! Did it work when you put it back together?

[@kaamostech]

Thanks. Yes, all good :)

[@dan70cutlasssx]

@ impressive!

[@Thaivacationer]

Which clock is implemented here? Is it good quality or a very cheap one? I did not catcht that in your video. I apologize if you mentioned it.

[@kaamostech]

Unfortunately I missed the clocks but checked the photos later when someone asked. I found one crystal that could be for audio but don't know the model or quality.

[@Thaivacationer]

@@kaamostech Thank you. I think it could be worse than crystal :) So that is good news. I'll try to find what is implemented in wiim pro and + models.

[@f7p1764]

we need more videos like this, for example nobody opened topping or smsl, don't know why.

[@kaamostech]

Thanks. With all the content out there you would indeed imagine at least opening these cheaper devices would be more common.

[@dristal2]

Smsl always have internal pictures

[@f7p1764]

@@dristal2 only those who are not ashamed of their products show internals.

[@jackneber2609]

Great tear-down video, thanks. Any idea what clocks were used in the Wiim Ultra? I’d only interested in using the spdif coax output from the unit in a 100% digital system so wondering if a good reclocking device might be wanted.

[@kaamostech]

That is a good point I missed. I had a look at the photos I took, there is one 24.576MHz oscillator near the PCM9211, can't see any model or manufacturer info. Likely something fairly 'basic'. Can't say about the benefit of re-clocking. If WiiM has done their job well, it shouldn't be necessary as in the streamer transmitter you can control all the clocks. Unfortunately, don't have good means to measure this.

[@jackneber2609]

@@kaamostechThanks Tommy. I’ve since heard some complaining to Cheap Audio Man the digital outputs do not not perform well and he’s recommending a cheap SMSL USB reclocker with it to improve the sound.

[@JustMikael85]

@@jackneber2609 Yep, saw his video and was really in doubt...but some quick listening USB out to FiiO BTA 30 pro with XMOS XUF208 let me stunned - stage width, separation and clarity everything improved. So there could be a Wiim Ultra Pro at the horizon some time? Preferably with XLR Outs and better XMOS (just dreaming)

[@photo_n_art]

@@JustMikael85 Interesting, so basically you haven't noticed how bad the WiiM sounded untill Randy has told you so? 🤔 It's a psychological effects: suggestion operates through various cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and expectation bias. Confirmation bias leads individuals to favor information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs, which can be particularly powerful in shaping perceptions and responses to suggestions. Expectation bias, on the other hand, causes individuals to interpret ambiguous stimuli in a manner consistent with their expectations. This means that when a suggestion is made, individuals may unconsciously adjust their perceptions and interpretations to align with the anticipated outcome. Btw. all his claims are strictly subjective perceptions, not backed by any measurable data. He himself even stated multiple times that a lat of times he doesn't fully understand the topics he is talking about

[@photo_n_art]

@@jackneber2609 Note that he was raving about how amazing it sounds in combination with Geshelli J2! That is untill he stumbled upon a video about how "nasty jitter" the WiiM is producing. Suddenly you need more "cheap gear" to make it sound good. Randy is funny and entertaining to watch, but all his opinions are strictly subjective and not based on any concrete evidence. I wouldn't obsess about anything he says.

[@The_Audioproject]

would be great if you could comment on the spdif output circuit and clocks used . Thank you

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@18000rpm]

What about replacing the DAC with the top-of-the-line ESS Sabre?

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@sybarite5videos]

​@@kaamostechthx that was my question as well!

[@mandymoo7406]

thank you,I always like to see an engine before I buy a car,I was going to buy one of these last week at £349 but realised I don't really need its features for old ears so an external dac I bought for 1970 hi fi ears

[@kaamostech]

You can of course connect an external DAC as well. But indeed buying such a product is a lot about the features and if not needed, then save the money.

[@laszlodobos8937]

Are the standard and pro ESS DACs pin-compatible? Could be an easy upgrade once warranty expires.

[@kaamostech]

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

[@gregrutter8170]

This is a scary review. Do the teardown. First as a practice b4 video is recorded

[@brankozivkovic6555]

Are there I2S out pins or any way to easy obtain I2S out from WiiM Ultra?

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@brankozivkovic6555]

​@@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)

[@ИгорьТопалов-л2б]

"3711" is one of the ICs, called as a de-pop chip. Should be just a switch, like a relay...

[@kaamostech]

Interesting, could be indeed, pops can be a serious issue. Do you have any information on the manufacturer or full model number?

[@specipful]

Thanks for the video. I wonder if the mic inside the Wiim Ultra is used for gathering data (of course, noone admits this, but we all know companies do it).

[@kaamostech]

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

[@tylerpanteleeff8581]

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

[@stephannordmann5346]

I have a question, does the Wiim Ultra have a audio clock? Is it useful to use a external DAC and an external clock???

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@stephannordmann5346]

@kaamostech Whow, thank you so much for the fast answer 👍 I saw a KZbin 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.

[@jasonc331]

Wondering if it looks like someone can go in and replace the power supply or clocks.

[@gaycha6589]

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

[@jasonc331]

@@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.

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@jasonc331]

@@kaamostech Good deal, I've never seen your channel, it was a KZbin 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.

[@mandymoo7406]

i was reading on aliexpress to always earth yourself before going anywhere near the bluetooth chip ❤

[@kaamostech]

If you mean ESD, I am definitely guilty of not following proper ESD protection! Earthing bracelet in the drawer doesn't help much :)

[@Thaivacationer]

What is the coaxial output chip? PCM9211? Wiim pro does not have a very good coaxial output. Not sure if this one is any different.

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@johnbeckmeyer1696]

@@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.

[@kaamostech]

@@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.

[@robertschumacher9640]

Subscribed

[@user-senstive]

If we don't know much about hifi and just wanna listen to music. Buy WiiM

[@kellypoissant762]

Do you think replacing the output op-amps with Sparkos, Burston, etc. Would make any improvement?

[@kaamostech]

As I say at the end of the video, I'm not really into doing mods for the sake of doing mods. I don't think I would notice any difference but surely some people would. Still good to remember the WiiM has one of the best opamps already.

[@delphisshu]

I don't understand what wiim wass thinking. there is no crystal oscillator for the whole DAC part? they use the clock from CPU? this is an audio system, for 48K or 96K, it is still possible to creat a clock, not good, but acceptable. but for 44.1K, how to realize? use internal PLL in DAC? the sound will be horriable.

[@kaamostech]

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.

[@delphisshu]

​@@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.

[@delphisshu]

@@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.

[@justasimplefox]

The added weights are really sad 🙈

[@jkim4712]

Too bad they used the noisy internal switching power supply. I liked cheaper Wiim pro with external SMPS which you could upgrade with liner power supply easily. I was interested in Wiim ultra. But it looks SMPS in the Wiim ultra can not be bypassed with liner power supply easily. I will have to pass on this Ultra model and wait for pure streamer, because when I use my Wiim pro with custom made liner power supply as pure streamer with my tube DAC it already sounds better than Wiim ultra or at least as good.

[@kaamostech]

I wouldn't be too worried, even if you use external linear supply, there are still switchers onboard. It is true these ready-made modules are probably not the highest quality but if the design is otherwise solid and you have good LDOs after it, it shouldn't matter. It's all about the whole system design, not just one part in it.

[@marcop680]

Great video, surely its a good product even tho obviously it can't compete with streamers of 1000-2000 usd price range, but in a lower tier its a no-brainer

[@kaamostech]

Unfortunately I don't have experience in such products but surely you get more. Also more premium look and feel which is always nice in Hifi as well, this still feels quite cheap - for obvious reasons.

[@rw80]

I compared it with a Cambridge Audio CXN100 and the Wiim outperformed the Cambridge. So don’t assume more expensive stuff is always better.

[@marcop680]

@@rw80 well, since bluesound nano outperform both of them.. yeah ymmv..

[@spamcan9208]

That was an interesting look into how the devices are designed. Don't get me started on audiophiles. They'll waste thousands on gear and yet listen in a room with minimal to no treatment. I think a lot of the nonsense they come up with is to a) justify a past expensive purchase b) justify a future expensive purchase c) copium for an expensive purchase they've come to regret d) be someone special because they can "hear" what most others don't e) look down on others who lack their "ability" Did I miss anything?

[@kaamostech]

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 :)