The hardware is in play to including Ethernet cables.
Not to mention the rest of the system, whatever that is.
Roger
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How did you output streaming music out of the Wiim Ultra? USB? Toslink? Coax? And what is your DAC?
I have good luck with the wiim using coaxial into maranta SACD 30N as a DAC
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I tried coax, optical and USB. All the same, bright sound. It was connected to a Devialet Expert 120. Switching back to my Raspberry Pi 5 with a Digi2 Pro HAT immediately removed the treble glare I noticed with the WiiM.
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Well, this is some kind of interesting.
Just FYI, I use 192kHz/24 bit toslink output from the Wiim Ultra into the Linn NextGen DSM/3 Organik, the optical audio cable is KabelDirekt (the one used by Rob Watts). I think the sound quality of the Qobuz Connect via the Wiim Ultra is comparable to Qobuz music streamed via Roon or the Linn App.
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I‘m glad you like the WiiM Ultra. In my system it just didn’t sound right. I might try again with an Eversolo T8.
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Forgot one thing about the WiiM Ultra streamer - if you still have it, make sure that you use the line level output.
Thanks for the advice. I used coax out, optical out and USB out to connect the WiiM to my Devialet. But I sold the streamer a few weeks ago. I might consider an Eversolo T8.
Hasn’t NDX got USB type A on the front facia ?
Yes but that’s for music stored on a USB stick. I wanted to hook up my PC which I couldn’t do easily without some form of convertor.
Portable hard drives also, early NDX the hard drive formatted to fat32
IIRC the 1st Gen streamers performed best when fed by USB solid state memory (so not USB HDD) over all other formats.
Which makes sense. There is no ground plane coupling with an externally powered device or external clock.
Sadly, it’s not really practical for a large music library or a home with multiple systems.
This module was built into the Naim DAC-V1 hence why it sounds so good via (the asynchronous) USB from a computer.
Remarkably designed as a true desktop system either via its rather excellent headphone output or via the matching NAP100 and nearfield speakers.
Streaming has come so far that we now have the Atom HE for this.
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Recent review by Whathifi on the Wim Ultra:
“ There is a fair sense of scale and authority, though the Amp Ultra does sound a touch lean and lacking in body, in absolute terms. Given its price, we are happy to overlook this.
It is harder to ignore the slightly restrained dynamic expression, though.
This streaming amp, like its cheaper siblings, isn’t great at communicating subtle shifts in intensity or conveying dynamic contrasts. The result is that the sound, while perfectly listenable, doesn’t convey the emotional impact of the music as it should.
It doesn’t help that rhythmic precision is also lacking, so that when we play recordings as varied as Get Lucky by Daft Punk or A.R. Rahman’s Chaiyya Chaiyya, there is an element of musical propulsion and engagement missing. The sound remains pleasant, crisp and decently refined, but we can’t help wanting a little more.”
That’s for the WiiM Ultra Amp?
Running the WiiM Ultra into my DAC via USB is excellent. It loses out to a much more expensive streamer (like the Vega 2.1 and Altair 2.1) but the price difference is considerable.
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Yes, Wim Ultra alone. With an external dac it may be a completely different result.
Not saying also that i take Whathifi for being totally true or objective.
Oh fab. Love to learn more and always happy to have my assumptions challenged and my mind changed ! Highly conscious of confirmation bias may be at play with me here…
What do you mean by ‘I can’t imagine anything less true’….tell me more !
Dedicated streamer all the way. It’s about relaxation. No computers/social media while ending the evening listening to music.
I use iOS devices as my no screen streamers interface and have a Fitness Focus set up that I use for music as well.
Only certain people or time sensitive alerts come thru.
If one is ok living with and managing a computer based or similar (even docked) streaming setup, there is no reason to use a dedicated streamer. I started streaming more than 20 years ago, gone through all kinds of sourcing - from computers, devices including docking stations (those were the times), dedicated players, streamer-servers and I’ve been able to achieve a very, very decent sounding setup when connected to a high quality DAC. Especially with some good PSUs and USB cables in the mix (USB is so noisy).
I gave up on all of this not because of SQ but because I wanted streaming music to feel like a simpler hifi (in spite of what the server companies tell you). Luckily, around that time high quality dedicated hifi streaming DACs (or separates) made good progress and became available. It was a relief to switch. It’s just a completely different experience for me and the SQ results are more consistent.
Wifi or not, cables, switches and filters are all a completely separate story, absolutely no need to get clinically anxious about any of that to enjoy streamed music.
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