[Senex49]

Wifi to my Wiim Pro, then coax to Bifrost 2 and optical to MM2.

Thx

 

[Balthazar B]

Could you notice any difference in SQ when going from iOS devices compared to Wiim? Naturally I would go from digital out directly to Schiit DACs.

Unless you listen only to Apple Music, SQ on WiiM will be equal to or better than streaming from an iOS device. IMHO, the only significant function WiiM lacks *currently* is digital USB out. I expect they'll address that down the road, but it's not a deal-breaker for me. At the moment I'm feeding my Gumby over coax from a WiiM Pro, and it's basically flawless.

 

[Balthazar B]

Does your Wiim Pro get fed its signal from WiFi or Ethernet hard wire? Thinking of the Wiim Pro.

I've used both. I have exceptionally clean WiFi and have noticed no difference in SQ or stability, really. If you already have Ethernet where it'll go, I'd use that as a matter of course. Whichever connections you use, though, best practice is to make sure to give your WiiM devices static IP addresses.

 

[Paladin79]

Unless you listen only to Apple Music, SQ on WiiM will be equal to or better than streaming from an iOS device. IMHO, the only significant function WiiM lacks *currently* is digital USB out. I expect they'll address that down the road, but it's not a deal-breaker for me. At the moment I'm feeding my Gumby over coax from a WiiM Pro, and it's basically flawless.

Hmmm I could easily do a Pro for my shop and an Ultra for my main audio setup. I just read about the Ultra and I like the idea of a color display along with other features.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

I am waiting for May 9 announcement from Dali of a new edition of speaker, wish it is a small bookshelf.

 

[cricket]

I was going iOS devices straight to DAC before going all-in on Wiim. The biggest advantage (not just that they have a great app that integrates tons of streaming sources) is that you can also play local files off a home media server that supports DLNA. I’ve been purchasing more digital and physical media to support my favorite artists, so it’s nice being able to play these in the highest quality formats (especially if the internet ever goes out!).

And if you happen to have speakers throughout the house, you can use Wiim minis to stream to specific rooms or tie them all together for “party mode” (as I call it!).

I forgot to state that I often play from local network storage. Thanks for mentioning it. Most often, I've got an internet radio station playing.

Volumio claims to integrate Alexa devices, but that capability needs a subscription, last I knew. WiiM works with Amazon's components, although I found the setup rather circuitous. It's nice to say, "Alexa, play music by RPWL on basement," when my hands and mind are too busy to pick up a cell phone and do all the navigation to find what I want to hear.

 

[RCBinTN]

I like open standards. So much of the dominance of the (supposedly) genius captains of industry was actually built on open standards. Remember the old Mac OS? The one with terrible memory management that would crash all the time? Replaced with a mostly posix compliant open source OS with a pretty GUI slapped on top (OSX/macOS). This was back when apple catered more to middle class creative nerds, BTW.

Later on, Apple once “innovated” my phone into near unusability with one of their iOS updates. Switched to android (also based on open source software) and mostly haven’t looked back. Worse UI but more control and I create less e-waste by buying fewer phones.

So often we’re expected to drink the kool aid that standards compliance will hinder innovation, but just about as often, that innovation ruins more than it fixes; at least from the standpoint of those of us who care about quality more than bells & whistles.

Believe me, I was the biggest Apple fanboy. I shilled for them so much on the internet 1.0 back in the day. I’m typing this on an iPad which I think is a great value proposition. I like MacBooks a lot. But I no longer kid myself that Apple dragging their feet on adopting more open standards is all about innovation.

I’m glad records are based on simple standards that anybody can adhere to. I still get more enjoyment out of them than streaming. When I do stream it’s often with Qobuz via Airplay to a raspberry pi. I’m glad there’s an open source implementation of Airplay (not Apple’s doing) that lets me use Airplay 1 instead of the “innovation” of Airplay 2, so I can actually stream in full CD-quality (mostly. There is still interpolation happening).

…IMO

I was on Windows for personal use until Norton antivirus locked up my Dell XPS hard drive and I lost everything. I was still working then (with Windoz of course) but plotting my escape to Mac OSX. Since retirement, I've now switched 100% to Mac and am not looking back. I still have to Google sometimes to explore the finer (read: hidden) aspects of the Apple OS. I also have an iPhone model 5 and am never upgrading, I don't care how much they slow it down. It's mainly used for robocalls anyway. YMMV as always.

 

[RCBinTN]

And I played bass trombone on that Procul Harum recording. The recording engineer was Wally Heider; I remember driving him to the airport after we finished. Very good memories...

It doesn't get much cooler than that.

 

[RCBinTN]

I really thought Yes had almost sold out by 90125…

I only listen to their first three albums anymore. No acid in the house to enable Tales for me. lol

 

[Balthazar B]

I am waiting for May 9 announcement from Dali of a new edition of speaker, wish it is a small bookshelf.

Tell me more! I'm just about to send some money Dali's way.

 

[michael2v]

Could you notice any difference in SQ when going from iOS devices compared to Wiim? Naturally I would go from digital out directly to Schiit DACs.

Not at all, at least for the rooms where I’m still using digital out from the Wiims. For my built-in speakers, I think the speaker resolution and room effects are big enough confounding factors that I couldn’t tell that it’s analog out to some cheap class-D speaker amps, but I’m not as concerned about critical listening for those (vs. just background music while cooking, hosting friends, etc).

 

[Iowan]

I like Heart too, and I'm happy you've discovered them. But they are not exactly prog... if you want prog, listen to Strawbs, Soft Machine, Camel, Budgie, Gentle Giant, King Crimson. Gong... even Genesis, Yes, ELP, some Kansas..... and newer stuff like Porcupine Tree or Marillion or Dream Theater. Some people insist that Rush, Pink Floyd and Tool are prog, but they don't fall into that category for me. To each his own!

growing up in Ia , local radio music choices were all pretty similar . pop chart music. and country .
Then in the late seventies, an area radio station started playing "album rock" , where I first heard many of the bands mentioned here. That station was the first place I heard the entire thick as a brick album, along with blues (sunday morning blues show) Pop stations here would play pink floyd's money , but nothing else...

Pretty big influence in my youth.. Still a big prog guy, but have grown to like bluegrass.... country... and jazz ( Lot for me to learn there, not much exposure. Maybe I'll try some of rippers recommendations if I get a streamer set up).

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

Tell me more! I'm just about to send some money Dali's way.

My guess ... they use the wording new edition of speaker with Mundorf caps, I guess it will be the Rubicon 2 SE ....

 

[Paladin79]

I forgot to state that I often play from local network storage. Thanks for mentioning it. Most often, I've got an internet radio station playing.

Volumio claims to integrate Alexa devices, but that capability needs a subscription, last I knew. WiiM works with Amazon's components, although I found the setup rather circuitous. It's nice to say, "Alexa, play music by RPWL on basement," when my hands and mind are too busy to pick up a cell phone and do all the navigation to find what I want to hear.

I have a Wiim pro plus arriving tomorrow, it will be a quick and easy way for me to hook up a Vali 3. Then I will incorporate it into another audio system as time allows. Maybe Wiim to a Bifrost 2 I am not using.

 

[artur9]

Audiophiles: the shortest signal path is the best, we don't want the signal to be degraded.

Meanwhile: Roon server > Roon endpoint> DAC > headphone amp

This hobby amazes me everyday

Roon server -> (electrically noise isolated from) -> Roon endpoint -> (electrically noise isolated from) -> DAC -> headphone amp.

I'm in the camp that the more electronic noise is removed/prevented from reaching the DAC and amp, the better.

Then there are the other benefits of such a chain: Roon MUSE DSP, track volume level matching, multi-room, etc.

I suppose one could do Roon server->DAC->headphone amp except that "best practices" say don't play music directly from the server (dunno why).

Otherwise one would have to acquire multiple Baetis servers, which I can't afford (nor would I want to).