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WiiM Mini, Pro and Pro Plus Streamers

WiiM Mini, Pro and Pro Plus Streamers

The collapse in the cost of capable digital sources over the course of the century has been widely recorded but every now and again, something turns up for consideration that rams the point home with quite astonishing force. The three streamers that you see here have a combined cost of £460 which is considerably less than the bulk of the cabling we test. Each one of them is a fully equipped network audio player that has functionality periodically absent in considerably more expensive devices.

The company that builds them is WiiM Audio, an offshoot of LinkPlay technology and a relatively new arrival in the audio sector. All three streamers; the £90 Mini, £149 Pro and £219 Pro Plus are built on the same software platform and control app available for both iOS and Android and it’s a very comprehensive one. Qobuz, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, Spotify, Napster TuneIn, Calm, VTuner, Soundcloud and Pandora are all natively supported, backed up by the ability to access a local library. There is then AirPlay and Chromecast as well as Alexa integration.

Multiple streaming

WiiM isn’t done there either. Multiple streamers can be tied together in the same app for straightforward multiroom and there is a clever latency measuring system that makes use of built in microphones that allows the WiiMs to adjust their output to counter reflectivity and to sync themselves across a house of multiple devices. It bears repeating that I have tested considerably more expensive devices that cannot do anything like that.

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The three streamers all use this software but differ in their processing and decoding. The Mini is fitted with a DualCore A7 processor with 128mb of flash memory and uses a Texas Instruments PCM5121 DAC to support sample rates up to 24/192kHz. The Pro uses exactly the same DAC and has the same sample rate handling although it adds what WiiM intriguingly describes as ‘partial’ MQA support that seems to be entirely capable of handling the bits of Tidal that have yet to migrate away from the format.

Where the Pro differs is that it makes use of an ARM A53 processor and 512mb of memory. This boost in decoding horsepower means that the Pro is markedly faster accessing large music libraries and the results from its calibration felt more pronounced than the Mini’s did. The extra decoding oomph also allows for the Pro to function as a Roon Endpoint which makes it one of the more affordable such options I can think of.

All my Ex’s Live in Texas

The Pro Plus uses the same processing hardware as the Pro but dispenses with the Texas Instruments DAC and replaces it with an AKM 4493. This imbues the Pro Plus with a maximum sample rate handling of 768kHz PCM and adds DSD support to DSD512. These is as near to the notional state of the art as makes little difference and means there’s not much that can match the spec of the Pro Plus under £500. At the time of testing, the Pro Plus had not yet been Roon certified but it will be in due course.

As you might expect, none of these streamers come in the sort of casework that will withstand small arms fire but they’re more than acceptably finished for their asking price. In some ways, the Mini is actually the neatest design of the three. It’s a compact device that looks more like a hockey puck than anything else. It’s small enough to be hidden away if you wish but perfectly appealing to have out on display too. The two Pro models are arguably less attractive with their square chassis made of grey plastic.

Useful connectivity

Where the Pros are rather more useful is their connectivity. The Mini makes do with a variable level analogue out on a 3.5mm minijack supported by an optical output. Unusually, there is also an analogue and optical line in as well. What there isn’t is any form of wired internet connection. Under test the Mini has been entirely stable but the Pros both have ethernet connections for extra resilience. This is partnered with RCA outputs, a coaxial out in addition to the optical one and the matching analogue input also being upgraded to an RCA connection. While the Pro and Pro Plus are materially identical, the Pro Plus gains a remote control with a selection of useful commands which is a £20 option on the Pro while the Mini is app only.

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I found myself willing to forgive the Mini limitations to its connectivity and control though. For starters, the app is a decent one; stable and logically laid out and equipped with the features we might reasonably expect. More than the humdrum, if important business of how it is to use, the Mini sounds quite ridiculously good for a sum of money I have made disappear on an evening out to no material gain. The rather wonderful The Returner by Allison Russell [Fantasy] is reproduced with its lush and vivid production beautifully captured. When Russell herself begins singing on the opener Springtime, the effect is gratifyingly immediate and impressively convincing.

£90 limitations!

There are limitations, there could hardly be otherwise at £90 but they do need to be mentioned. I found that the internal volume does soften the frequency extremes when used at lower levels and the absolute bass extension isn’t as potent as some pricier but still fairly budget rivals. The fact that the Pro makes use of the same basic decoding hardware doesn’t auger well for there being significant changes but- beyond the aforementioned improvements to speed and responsiveness, the bass response used side by side with the Mini listening to Hidden Orchestra’s To Dream is to Forget [Lone Figures], the Pro ekes out more low end from Hammered than the Mini can while maintaining that charmingly vivid tonal balance in the upper registers.

I would really encourage you to forego another night in the pub though and spring for the Pro Plus. In a way, WiiM has played a bit of a blinder keeping this in the same casework as the Pro because the surprise it springs when you begin listening to it is all the more delightful.

Step up

There is a step up in tonality, scale and sheer realism that has you initially taken away from enjoying the sound and wondering quite how you make a device that does this much and sounds this impressive for £220.

Return to the sound though and the Pro Plus continues to deliver. A spirited blast through This New Noise [Test Card Recordings], the latest effort from Public Service Broadcasting is a genuinely impressive experience. There is a point in Broadcasting House where the piece goes from near silence to the full orchestra coming in and the manner in which the Pro Plus handles this massed rank of instruments is enormously impressive. The string section is a perceivable as a rank of individual instruments that function as a cohesive whole and even at peaks, the whole performance is admirably free of congestion with enough space around the recording to be wholly convincing.

No Pro discount

This is not to discount the Pro entirely though. Used via their coaxial outputs as a source for a Chord Electronics Qutest, the Pro and Pro Plus are completely identical and this makes the Pro a genuinely excellent network transport. The Mini arguably exploits an even more covetable niche. Ever since the Chromecast Audio ceased production, bringing older devices and Bluetooth speakers into a stable wireless ecosystem has been that little bit harder and more expensive. This is the closest spiritual successor to the Chromecast Audio in terms of what it does, how it does it and how much it costs that I can remember testing.

It’s the flagship that enthuses me most though. What the Pro Plus does is lift the WiiM platform from something I’m enthusiastic about because it’s cost effective, capable and engaging and elevates it to something that I’d describe as genuinely hi-fi with a straight face and that is hi-fi without making a single concession to user friendliness, functionality or flexibility. As and when the Roon certification is ready (and given WiiM and Roon share a UK distributor, I am sure that a little gentle pressure is being applied there), this will be an out and out bargain that has to be one of the best I have seen in some time. The price of truly capable digital remains impressively low and companies like WiiM seem extremely determined for it to remain that way.

Technical specifications

WiiM Mini

  • Type Bluetooth, voice-controlled wired and wireless streamer
  • Audio formats MP3, AAC, ALAC, APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, OGG, to 24bit, 192kHz
  • Inputs/Outputs Aux line in/out, Optical output
  • Dimensions (W×H×D) 69 × 24 × 69mm
  • Weight 40g
  • Price £89.98

WiiM Pro

  • Type Bluetooth Network streamer
  • Audio formats MP3, AAC, ALAC, APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, OGG, to 24bit, 192kHz
  • Inputs/Outputs Aux line in/out, Optical in/out. S/PDIF coaxial output to 32bit, 384kHz
  • Chip Ti Burr Brown PCM5251
  • Dimensions (W×H×D) 140 × 42 × 140mm
  • Weight 300g
  • Price £149

WiiM Pro Plus

  • Type Bluetooth Network streamer
  • Audio formats MP3, AAC, ALAC, APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, OGG, to 24bit, 192kHz
  • Inputs/Outputs Aux line in/out, Optical in/out. S/PDIF coaxial output to 32bit, 768kHz and DSD512
  • Chip AKM4493SEQ
  • Dimensions (W×H×D) 140 × 42 × 140mm
  • Weight 400g
  • Price £219

Manufacturer

Linkplay Technology

www.winhome.com

UK distributor

Henley Audio

www.henleyaudio.co.uk

+44(0)1235 511166

Read more Henley Audio reviews here

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Tags: PRO PRO PLUS STREAMERS WIIM MINI

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