Wiim Pro Measurements - the horror, the horror + crazed fanboi

I use a wiim amp in this way, with an LG TV. I had similar issues with it disconnecting for a while. Both the TV and the wiim have gone through software updates. I don't know which was responsible, but it has been stable for a few months now.

 

Hmm, good to know it wasn't just me (samsung tv). Perhaps it was a software glitch. I had mine in October of last year. Is that when yours was disconnecting?

 

I bought the TV in December and had issues through Feb or so. So not a super long working period.

 

Wiim Pro Technical Investigation results posted here

 

Just want to drop in to say that I don't think the Wiim Ultra should be lumped in w/ the previous models. The Ultra from my experience is a tier above the cheaper models as far as USB and coax input/output. The dac is also quite nice - not going to replace an external, but smooth and inoffensive. To my surprise the Wiim site has a forum that is not terrible and in the Ultra sub there's a good thread by someone who did their own measurement tests vs. the cheaper and the Ultra corrects a lot of shortcomings. There's also good subjective commentary as well (and of course the usual flat-earthers).

Using a Ian Canada-designed Audiophonics reclocker to external DAC I preferred the usb/coax sound quality of the Ultra vs. the Eversolo A6 Gen 2 Master Edition which I found a bit too edgy in upper frequencies for my taste.

Just my .02, back to lurking.

 

I feel that way about a lot of good these days, companies want to charge as much for as little as they can it seems, and these are large companies, not starving dudes in their basement. I feel there is no excuse for rubbish! Companies need to do better and when they don't we should roast them!

 

Of course you know this, but these are the Ultra settings for bitperfect to set on the WiiM Home App:

Output: USB -> Max USB Output Res set at external DAC’s max (192/24 perhaps)

EQ: Off

Audio Settings:

Fixed Volume Output: ON
Volume Limit: 100%
Fade-In & Fade Out: OFF

 

Getting back to the Wiim Pro, I wanted to do usual suite of measurements on the DAC line out. But the Wiim Pro seems to know what is best for me and gates the outputs whenever signal levels are below -25 dBFS for sustained periods of time. Here are some examples at -30 dBFS:


-30 dBFS 1KHz sine gated to silence after 120 S.


-30 dBFS 1KHz sine gated to silence after 190 S.

Test setup:
Standby Never
EQ off
Audio Settings:
Output set to Line Out
Fixed Volume Output Enabled
Line Out Level 2 Vrms
Volume limit 100%
Fade-In & Fade-Out Effects Disabled

Firmware 4.8.717049
Build Date: 20250515

This is very annoying when running long distortion or residual noise analyses requiring 5 to 10 minutes with lower signal levels. It is impossible to acquire the data.

@ADias you seem to be well informed. What am I missing here?

 

I thought you were testing the Pro as a streamer via coax/toslink out to an external DAC…

Also… I just checked. The latest Pro firmware version is 4.8.721260 and it may offer 1h standby instead of never.

 

I played left channel -60 dBFS 1 kHz sine signal without any issues.

 

Version 4.8.721260 fixes the problem. It was not available to me yesterday when I checked for updates.
I am testing the Pro both as a streamer optical spdif input to coax spdif output.
Also testing the Pro for optical spdif input to DAC output.

Yes, latest version has fixed the problem. It was not available to me yesterday when I checked for updates.

Wiim Ultra still has the gating problem. Checked just before this post time and have the latest version which is:
Firmware 5.2.721349
Build Date: 20250627

Wiim Ultra -30 dBFS 1KHz sine gated to silence after 143 S
dScope is still sending -30 dBFS 1KHz sine out spdif optical

Display shows : The music has stopped

 

Why silencing the output (gating to silence) matters, at least to those of us attempting to determine measured performance.

Wiim Ultra Distortion vs Amplitude

In the measurement above when the Wiim device silences output, distortion is incorrectly measured as shown above where the distortions rise suddenly to a very high level below -38dBFS.

The measurement begins at 0 dBFS and steps down in discrete amplitude levels over time. Each level displayed is an FFT buffer averaged over n individual FFTs. This can be a lengthy process requiring tens of minutes for high resolution results. It is preferred to run as an automation script.


Same measurement run manually, with the added need to manually adjust level to 0 dBFS to assure signal output from the Wiim device, then back to desired level for each step. Correct results obtained but at expense of wasting 20 minutes of user time for a single measurement.

Wiim Pro latest firmware fixes this issue.
Still an issue with the Wiim Ultra shown above.

 

This thread is like a detailed lesson in how not to use the interwebs to promote your product. This reminds me of Tesla stans on auto forums when someone points out that Teslas have real (and occasionally fatal) flaws. All cars do, Tesla ain't that special and neither is Wiim. Just. Let. It. Go.

It's built to a (very) low price point, corners must be cut somewhere and s/pdif would be a reasonable place since USB has kinda taken over digital connections... yet the Wiim Pro has no USB output (but has USB for power... WTF). That's fine, but Wiim shouldn't be surprised when it gets called out. The fact it does not have a USB output is really pretty surprising, this isn't 2001.

Wiim would have been much better served deleting the "magical" s/pdif that they claim can do 32/384 and just stuck in a cheap USB output instead. Could have just avoided this (takes a look, holy f**k) 9 page thread.

 

Do you have the Ultra’s latest FW
5.2.721349?

 

See answer in post quoted above.

 

Playing -60 dBFS test signal since yesterday on the Ultra. No issues.

BTW, the Ultra has been measured multiple times already, including stepped tests.

 

other than here on SBAF, I'm not aware of any clock jitter testing that has been published. The only test that I've seen have all been on the analog side which even though there is what is called a jitter test it is actually data jitter that is being tested not clock jitter.

 

What version of firmware are you using that has no issues?
Is it your opinion that no other measurements are useful, even when they are more comprehensive than the usual appliance operator scripts typically posted around the internet?
You might want to expand your scope by looking at this:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...n-surface-old-measurement-new-approach.13754/

 

I haven't seen any detailed jitter measurements for Ultra anywhere.