WiiM Mini AirPlay 2 Wireless Audio Streamer, Multiroom Stereo, Preamplifier, Works with Alexa and Siri Voice Assistants, Stream Hi-Res Audio from Amazon Music, Tidal and More

Forget the built-in DAC on this device. The star of the show is competent, no-fuss streaming with or without the company's app at a good enough resolution for anyone for under $100. Use the included TOSLINK optical cable to feed that steamed digital data to a DAC or an amp/preamp/receiver with a built-in DAC, and voila, your streaming service music or music stored on a local network device has full access to your sound system. And if you really dig the freedom that comes with this kind of setup, ditch your proprietary streaming service apps too and use DLNA/UPnP (via apps like BubbleUPnP) to feed your system its digital audio. Whatever you do, do NOT convince yourself that you need a more expensive streamer. You don't. This is all you'll ever need to get streaming service music to your sound system. Also, do not convince yourself you need a more expensive TOSLINK cable than the one included with this device. Gold plating and electronic shielding aren't going to help with a fiber optic signal! My personal system? WiiM Mini -> desktop DAC -> electrostatic headphone amplifier -> electrostatic headphones. It's wonderful. One nice touch is that because the Mini requires so little power, I can save an outlet and just plug it into the USB accessory port on my DAC (Cambridge Audio DACmagic Plus) and it turns on and off with the DAC. No real problems setting up the device, or maintaining a Wi-Fi connection to my consumer mesh home Wi-Fi system. Wi-Fi connects almost instantaneously. The WiiM Mini supports parametric EQ! I use a PEQ profile for my headphones from AutoEQ (which is a free website). It sounds great. The WiiM Mini Highly recommended!

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.

Here's what I said in my first review.... (look below to see why I bought a second, or just get one already). It does what it says, it does it well, and at a reasonable price. Now for the audio nerds out there... So, I can stream directly to my receiver using its built-in AirPlay2. It sounds fine, And I know that it's better to get lossless data directly into my external DAC, which sounds way better than the DACs built-in to my receiver. But for convenience, nothing beats AirPlay streaming to the WiiM Mini, which connects to my external DAC via Optical. Does it sound as good as a direct connection to the DAC (no AirPlay AAC shenanigans involved)? No, it does not. But it definitely sounds WAY better than streaming AirPlay to my receiver's DACs, and so much more convenient than direct-connecting to the DAC. When I want to do attentive listening, I use an iPad connected via USB-C to the USB input of the Denafrips. When I just want to hear the Denafrips as part of my whole-house sound, the WiiM mini is my first choice. Looks like the internal DACs on my receiver are now relegated to Home Theater. The Mini is super easy to set up, it inhabits my AirPlay whole-house sound system beautifully, and the app even has some nice music discovery features of its own. This morning my "alarm clock" automation went off. It played SomaFM in my bedroom, and in the Home Theater through the Mini and into my external DAC. I made coffee, and spent a little time in from of the home theater/Denafrips system and thought... "yep, that sounds nice". That's all I was after, and that's exactly what I got. Nice job WiiM. I may get a couple more Minis before they introduce a new model that doesn't have AirPlay2 (I know, they're only rumors). == UPDATE == So yes, I just bought my second WiiM Mini, and this time it's to run a second zone in my house as part of an AirPlay setup. My AVR has two zones, and I was using the AVR for that, but it's nowhere near as convenient as having another AirPlay device. However, I want better sound than I can get from a HomePod, and I have in-wall speakers that I want to use. In-wall speakers sound better than a HomePod? Well, if they're decent and driven by a decent zone amp (I'm looking at you Parasound ZAmp), and you use the WiiM Room Correction feature, then YES, it's not even close. The Room Correction feature worked so well in my setup that my in-wall speakers in the dining room actually sound very good now. Like not just good, but very good (not mindblowing either, but I'll take very good for this application). So yeah, the Mini has shown itself to be a great little swiss army knife and that's just using the AirPlay capability. WiiM Mini with Room Correction is killer.

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.

Super produit !

Great

Fonctionne parfaitement bien. Avec Apple Music, on ne peut pas l'utiliser via l'application WiiM, mais en Airplay 2 ca fonctionne bien depuis l'application Apple Music. (sur iPhone) La qualité en max en Airplay2 est du 16bits 44K mais 256kb. En fonction de l'installation HiFi derrière cela peut suffire. L'appli est très bien faite, on peut voir la qualité diffusé, un équaliser très précis, ... bref rapport qualité prix imbattable.