WiiM Amp Pro

WiiM Amp Pro, an amplifier with streamer and built-in DAC with excellent performance and incredible value for money.

That WiiM is now a bit of a “phenomenon” in HiFi is a well-known fact. Their signature products are characterized by a unique quality/price ratio, and characterizing them more than anything else is a management software that is unparalleled on the market, not only particularly stable but also equipped with extremely advanced features, one of them being subwoofer management, which we will talk more about later. WiiM is the consumer product brand belonging to Linkplay, a company founded in 2014 by a team of entrepreneurs from large companies such as Google, Broadcom, InterVideo, and Harman. The mission to develop cutting-edge wireless technologies, software, hardware, and high intelligence voice, and there are many emblazoned brands that have used Linkplay, including Harman, JBL, Yamaha, Marshall, Edifier, Audio Pro, Magnet, and just to name a few. Until a few months ago, only streaming engines were marketed under the Linksys brand, but now Linkplay has decided to run on its own, marketing an ever-expanding product line.

A new category

The WiiM Amp first and this Amp Pro now literally redefine the category of the “integrated amplifier.” Just as in the 1990s some British school and beyond-just remember Musical Fidelity’s A1 or the NAD320-demonstrated to all enthusiasts that it wasn’t the 5-zero distortions that counted, so these products today are suggesting how now quality listening must marry toward solutions that simplify life in general by bringing new audiences closer together. Streaming, Bluetooth, HDMI inputs, to make machines true multimedia entertainment centers ready to use and meet every need in a simple and intuitive way.

And so Amp Pro, as well as Amp, are compatible with any service that exists, Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, Pandora, Internet Radio and just to name a few, can play content over the network, via UPNP or DLNA, support AirPlay, AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, and are, of course, also multi-room via the app, and thus without having to rely on other services, such as Alexa Cast, with which they are compatible anyway. Bluetooth, then, is bidirectional, so it accepts incoming streams or sends them out to a BT headset or speaker.

But let’s see what are the differences with the Amp version, given the almost 80€ that separate them, very little in absolute level, but a lot if we take into account the price scale that WiiM has accustomed us to. First of all the DAC, now ESS9038Q2M the place of ESS9018, and then the PFFB (Post Feedback Filter) feedback circuitry, implemented by adding a secondary feedback loop external to the amplifier that uses a small part of the output signal after the LC filter sending an error signal to the amplifier input. PFFB allows lower noise, better THD+N and IMD, lower output impedance, and, most importantly, a frequency response less affected by the load impedance in addition to the suppression of LC filter nonlinearities. BT version 5.3 and WiFi 6 are then added.

The dimensions are only slightly larger, 21x19x6, to accommodate the new heatsink made of an alloy of copper, aluminum and graphene that disposes of the heat generated by the same chip on board Amp, namely the TPA3255. TI operational amplifiers are then employed, providing very low distortion and wide dynamic range. WiiM Amp Pro has analog RCA, HDMI ARC, USB-A and optical audio input but also a sub-out with a software-adjustable high-pass filter (30Hz-120Hz),

which cuts those frequencies from the L and R channels and allocates them to the Sub only, greatly easing the work of both the connected passive speakers and the amplifier inside the WiiM Amp Pro, but it doesn’t end there, since it is also possible to adjust the delay of both the subwoofer and the front channels, so that you can maximize the installation and give wide freedom in positioning all the speakers, without necessarily having to respect a line of emission. And that’s not all since you can also choose whether to send the full bandwidth to the front speakers anyway. Which is something from top-notch professional DSPs…kudos indeed.

Obviously the app is remarkably smooth, and this is thanks to the perfect implementation with the internal CPU, which NEVER gets in trouble, even if you ask it for complex operations on the signal, such as equalization, 10-band, graphical or parametric, customizable for each input, and that’s not the end of the story, but too many characters and space would take to tell everything….

Listening

WiiM Amp Pro is a shocking product. While it is fair to apply different grids for different prices, in the case of a €459 product that is many things at once, the grid is perhaps not there, or we are forming it now. As a streamer it is perfect, as a DAC excellent, the end sections are very well engineered, and while we have heard various products with the same Texas chip before, by now well known, this implementation appears more energetic and able to drive even demanding speakers better. The sound texture is more subtle, delicate, the colors are brighter, stronger, the soundstage defined. For certain the greater energy is due to the power sections, but the rest is probably the responsibility of the ESS9038 DAC in all likelihood, but it is not easy to discern. We take what comes for granted. And what comes for the value it offers, combined with versatility, ease of use, and stability, make it probably the best choice on the market right now.

Specifications, distribution, price

Power: 60W/8 Ω, 120W/4 Ω
Minimum impedance: 2.67 Ω
Home Theater Formats: Stereo PCM
Audio inputs: HDMI ARC, Optical, Line RCA, USB disks
Audio outputs: subwoofer, speakers
Signal-to-noise ratio: -98dB
Distortion THD+Noise: 0.0025%.
Audio formats: MP3, AAC, ALAC, APE, FLAC, AIFF, WAV, WMA, OGG
Equalizer: 10-band graphic, 10-band parametric, 26 presets
Subwoofer output: auto-sense, adjustable
Power supply: 100-240VCA
Network: 2,.4GHz, 5 GHz, dual band, 10/100 LAN
Bluetooth: 5.3, support LE, A2DP, AVRCP, BLE HID
Streaming supported: Google Cast, Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, Alexa Cast, DLNA, Roon Ready

Distributor: Audiogamma spa Via Nino Bixio 13 Monza.

Price: 459 euros