WiiMUltra Music Streamer & Digital Preamp | 3.5" Touchscreen, Compatible with Google Cast & Alexa, Stream Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal & More | HDMI ARC, Phono Input & Headphone Output | Space Gray

I highly considered buying one of Wiim's lower end units on Prime Day, but I'm glad that I went for the Ultra. The screen is fantastic. The unit feels rock solid and looks like a much higher priced piece of equipment. But ultimately, I paid the premium for the Ultra to get the USB audio output, which I consider to be superior to COAX or Optical. Sound quality out of this output last night into my DAC and headphone amp proved to be right on par with what was coming out of my MacBook. And now I don't have to have a laptop sitting on my lap to flip through tracks. I can just use my iPhone like a remote control and use Tidal Connect to control Tidal on the Wiim.There has been quite a bit of buzz this week about the Ultra not including Apple Airplay. As a lifelong Apple fanboy, this should bother me. But it doesn't. I have an AppleTV that handles my Airplay needs just fine...and Airplay really takes a hit to your audio quality.So who is this product for? I think it's perfect for a guy like me. I consider myself a budget audiophile with a decent headphone listening setup. I'm not going to spend $900 on the EverSolo or even $600 on the Bluesound. But I'll spend $329. I think this unit is worth that price. It may be a tad lower than it could be.And if I ever get tired of my Ultra in this use, I'll gladly move it into my home theater and utilize the excellent internal DAC for music streaming purposes to my main system. The things it does well, it does exceptionally well at this price point.Who is this product NOT for? As good as it is, it doesn't do everything. As much as Wiim really wanted to call this unit a replacement for a preamp in a main system, I don't see it. Despite its inputs, it just would never be enough to replace my full featured home theater receiver. Maybe you have lesser needs than I do. It would probably do okay utilizing the HDMI ARC and a small external power amp and pair of speakers. But I'd never really do this. I just think you'd be better served stepping up to a decent entry-level Onkyo or Denon receiver. And if I was looking for streaming for a really small secondary system, I'd absolutely just buy the Mini.If Airplay is your breaking point, then you are already voluntarily sacrificing sound quality. You may as well either look at one of Wiim's lower offerings or just consider using an AppleTV run to your television and the HDMI ARC back to the Wiim Ultra. (I do love my AppleTV.)If I were still using Apple Music, I'd be hosed by the entire Apple closed ecosystem anyway. Which is why I switched to Tidal. Apple doesn't play nice with others, and doesn't seem care so much about sound quality. I am very happy with Tidal and the Tidal Connect functionality in the Wiim Ultra works flawlessly for me.So is this a perfect product? No. It's five-star product for my specific use case. If your use case is different, it may not be a one-star product. But if you are looking for a way to get a high quality digital stream from one of the services that the Wiim covers, it works exceptionally well. I could have likely lived without the USB and just spent $89 for the Mini. The delta in quality isn't big. But I did take looks/aesthetics into consideration. Would I have paid $500 more just for that? No. But $230 more for a screen, beautiful casework, and USB and Coax digital ports? I'm not disappointed with my choice.

I had an emotiva amplifier lying around and this product works seamlessly with it (using the trigger output to turn on the amp) .Sound wise I have it connected with a pair of klipsch rp600m and Def tech prosub 1000, the sound it's quite good and enjoyable after equalization. The interface it's quick and let you find and organize your music easy(playing music mainly from the usb port). For $300 dollars is a good value.

Another winner from WIIM. There was a lot of Hub Bub about this Pre-Amp Streamer when it was announced. I previously purchased and used the WIIM MINI puck streamer and enjoyed that one. So decided to get one of these for my office setup which includes a Yamaha R-S202 Amp, and Polk Monitor XT speakers.Setup was straight forward and easy, after connecting to my WiFi it automatically updated and was ready to go. I selected something from my phone as a test stream (Steely Dan Asia album) first impression was wow...really?...ok...then (Dire Straights Brothers in Arms)...neat-O....I have listened to my friend's streamers that cost 5 times more, this is on par with them easily..... Next fed it a stream from Amazon music (Mellow 80's Gold Bruce Springsteen I'm on Fire) so it wasn't a fluke...it really sounds that good.I haven't dug into the tech specs (sorry) I was using my ears to review. But they must have either changed the DAC, an OpAmp, board design or something but it sounds better than their other streamers they have offered before. To my ears more detailed, richer, deeper in tonal quality. Nothing to hate on here.The offered display screen to me is a big bonus plus as well. Yes I can look at my phone to see the cover art, but that would take me from the experience at hand. Speaking of the display it is crisp, color rich, and menu for options is logical. The only thing I would suggest for a change is to update so that when not listening is to have a mono black/white time date screen and not just an art work screen saver. Keep that layout as an option, but add another option.WIIM includes every cable you could possibly need to get this up and running. Connectors, optical, power cable of course. Saving you time and hassle of buying them separately just to get up and running.WIIM has a habit of updating it's app and firmware frequently. Is that a bad sign? no. It means they listen to their owners and adjust things when a suggestion or issue pops up. Great idea!If you are on the fence about trying this out, don't be you will spend hours in your listening space smiling.Bottom line. This WIIM product punches above it's weight class, to use a boxers parlance. Well built, error free operation, fantastic sound.WIIM send me products to review! I'm a lifetime convert and fanboy!!

For the money, this is hands down the best audio/video purchase I've ever made. Great features set and sound quality. I especially appreciate this company's engagement with the end-users in the forums, listening to the feedback, and then acting upon that feedback adding new functionality to the app. A great example would be the addition of room correction functionality and its rapid improvement like allowing multiple measurements. It's one of the few products I own that get's better with time. My own nitpicks/gripes would be the volume dial and lack of balanced outputs.