WiiM Pro Review | Trusted Reviews

Verdict

A small, reasonably priced streamer that’s handy and accessible, the WiiM Professional brings streaming capabilities to an present hi-fi setup with minimal fuss. The app expertise is slick and presents loads of customisation and personalisation, whereas the sound high quality is nice for the asking worth, although for those who’re an skilled hi-fi consumer, you’ll doubtless need to set your funds increased if audio constancy is your primary precedence.

Introduction

The most recent section within the evolution of hi-fi sees it embrace the world of streaming. Whether or not it’s energetic audio system, streaming turntables, or wi-fi audio system, the trade has turned to streaming to usher in comfort and accessibility to a brand new era of music followers.

On the coronary heart of that ‘evolution’ has been the music streamer, and reasonably than simply purely streaming audio, they’re taking older package with none streaming capabilities and folding them into a contemporary community to stream music from all method of gadgets.

And that’s the place the WiiM Professional enters the dialog. This streamer encourages hi-fi followers to stage up and add a streaming element with out having to splurge on a brand new system for an reasonably priced asking worth.

Design

• Discreet seems
• Contact capacitive buttons
• Compact measurement

Small, discreet, and wearing a black end, the WiiM Professional isn’t designed to seize the eye. Relatively than that description being a damaging, it’s a constructive so far as I’m involved.

Its compact measurement means you received’t have to create space to accommodate the WiiM Professional in your hi-fi rack or shelf. Nonetheless, wall-mounting isn’t an possibility, as there aren’t any keyholes to hold it on a wall. At 42mm tall and 140mm huge it might be slotted alongside an amplifier and even on high of one other gadget to avoid wasting area. At 330g it’s light-weight too, the construct and end don’t scream premium really feel nevertheless it’s completely acceptable for the value.

Across the again are the place you’ll discover the connections: analogue RCA and SPDIF optical inputs, alongside analogue RCA, digital optical (SPDIF) and digital coaxial outputs, in addition to a set off out, Ethernet port for a hardwired connection, and USB-C port for the facility.

They’re spaced out nicely sufficient that they’re not competing for area. The ability cable is just not the longest, which can have an effect on the location of the gadget. It’s price positioning the WiiM Professional near the mains or utilising an extension wire to shorten the space.

The WiiM Professional doesn’t ship with a distant management (extra on that later) and there’s no show both, however there are onboard contact capacitive controls that govern quantity, playback, and a sole preset. Above them is an LED indicator that exhibits its standing. Packaged within the field is a RCA cable and digital optical cable too for those who don’t have already got one at your disposal.

Options

• Digital enter helps to 24-bit/192kHz audio
• Big selection of streaming assist
• Personalisation and customisation through WiiM Dwelling app

File assist isn’t as wide-ranging because the Cambridge Audio MXN10 with MP3, AAC, ALAC, APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, and OGG included, leaving the likes of DSD and AIFF off the record. The WiiM Professional sits under the WiiM Professional Plus, which presents DSD playback.

The WiiM Professional can settle for 24-bit/192kHz by way of its digital audio enter and attain so far as 32-bit/384kHz with the digital audio output. Contained in the gadget is a Burr-Brown PCM5121 DAC from Texas Devices with a THD+N (Complete Harmonic Distortion + Noise) determine of 0.009%, which implies that sign noise is extremely low to be close to imperceptible.

The streamer helps AirPlay 2, Chromecast Audio, DLNA, Spotify Join, TIDAL Join, Amazon Music casting, Qplay 2.0, Bluetooth 5.1, and Roon Prepared, which covers all the large hitters. Voice assistant assist isn’t baked in however there may be ‘Works with’ compatibility when linked to a cell gadget that does assist both Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa, permitting for voice management over music choice, playback, quantity, and different features.

Set-up is extremely straightforward and swift. Energy the speaker up, obtain the WiiM Dwelling app, seek for the gadget and join it to the Wi-Fi, and it’s just about performed apart from a number of extra customisations to kind by way of.

As talked about within the ‘Design’ part, there’s no distant management bundled with the WiiM Professional, although there may be the choice of buying the WiiM Professional with a distant for £10 extra.

In any other case, operation is completed through the WiiM Dwelling app. The app is similar to the one utilized by the Triangle AIO3 however with a number of extra options and capabilities. You’ll be able to entry and play music in your gadget, dive again into music you’ve not too long ago performed (which I discover useful), and add presets of which there are 12 in complete.

Music streaming providers reminiscent of Amazon Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal, SoundCloud, BBC Radio, and lots of extra are built-in, and you may choose the supply (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Line-in, and Optical enter). Search can retrieve outcomes from all of the music streaming providers you’ve signed into by way of the app.

Different customisations embody altering the decision of the digital outputs (by default they’re set to 16-bit/48kHz), Mono audio setting, getting into the MQA beta (Tidal Masters supported inside the app and over Tidal Join); in depth EQ choices (graphic and parametric choices) with over a dozen presets to play with. And it’s all housed in an app that’s swift, responsive to make use of, and slick in operation whether or not on iOS or Android.

The one facet I’ve had some bother surmounting is how the presets work. It really works for the likes of Tidal and Amazon Music, however I haven’t seen it as an possibility for Qobuz.

The preset button on the streamer itself is just not for making a preset, as I initially thought it was, however for choosing ones you have already got. Faucet it as soon as, and it’ll queue up your first selection, faucet it twice and it’ll go to the second preset. I feel that’s sensible, although for those who’ve stuffed up all of the playlists it’d be extra handy to make use of the app as an alternative of tapping the button twelve instances to get the final possibility.

Efficiency  

• Weighty efficiency
• Slightly in need of element and sharpness
• Good general stability

Related to a pair of Q Acoustics 3010i stereo audio system and Cambridge Audio CXA60 amplifier, the WiiM Professional summons a impartial, weighty, and dynamic audio efficiency.

With a Tidal Grasp observe of Dominique Fils-Aime’ Birds I discover there’s an agreeable quantity of sharpness and readability to Fils-Aime’s vocals that doesn’t teeter into sibilance or sound unnatural. There’s a weightiness to the bass and percussion devices, which supplies the observe a agency however pure and balanced low-end efficiency.

The tone right here is one in all neutrality however in the direction of the hotter facet of the size, I really feel. The WiiM Professional avoids sounding crisp, although it does have me questioning whether or not there’s some element left behind. The snaps that punctuate the tune really feel as if they may use extra chunk and definition – there’s not fairly the vitality to them that I anticipated to listen to.

The soundstage is painted in huge phrases, and the stereo picture is introduced with good definition. The dynamic vary is solidly expressed in a observe like GoGo Penguin’s Erased by Daylight, the highest finish of the frequency vary is informative sufficient to wring out good ranges of sharpness, element, and brightness whereas the low finish is once more described with heft and energy that provides it a stable basis.

Once more, although, if there’s a side I’d lay a finger on concerning the WiiM Professional’s efficiency, is that it doesn’t extract as a lot element and definition from music, portraying songs and tracks in a broad style than digging into them with excessive ranges of perception.

By way of its dynamic prowess (describing highs and lows), the WiiM Professional is a succesful little streamer. Assembly Kitty from Ludwig Göransson’s Oppenheimer has a lush, sweeping sense of scale and romanticism and the WiiM Professional in a position captures the swells of the observe ably because the orchestra swells within the large moments and recedes within the quieter ones. It’s a fluid and gratifying efficiency.

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