Wiim Amp Ultra - thoughts, and where and how to buy.

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Wiim Amp Ultra - thoughts, and where and how to buy.

Biglegs

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#322593 2-Sep-2025 19:57

A well worn amplifier that has lasted me well past its use by date is starting to play up. It was a good value hifi amp in its day, but it's time to move on.

I have many streaming services around the place, but my LMS server still reigns supreme. And I'm really attracted to the WiiM amp ultra proposition. Has anyone already purchased one, and is happy to feedback on this or perhaps its earlier siblings? (WiiM Amp/Pro)

The New Zealand tax is very annoying. Advertised in NZ for $1199, but in Aussie for $899. After accounting for GST it's still substantially cheaper in Oz. I'm travelling over there for a holiday in 3 weeks, and tempted to try and bring it back. Has anyone experience on claiming warrantee for OS purchases? Is that risky?

fe31nz

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#3410571 2-Sep-2025 22:41

I just took a look at the WiiM Amp Ultra and it looks like a pretty good product, although I would have to check the reviews for the sound quality. But one thing that struck me was that it was missing one potentially important input: USB. From Linux boxes and anything Linux based, a USB audio connection supports just about all available digital audio formats. My FiiO Q7 portable DAC/headphone amp uses it and it works well with my Samsung Flip 4 phone and S8 tablet and with my Ubuntu laptop. I believe Windows also supports pretty much the same over USB, but I have not tried that.

davidcole

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#3410625 3-Sep-2025 07:13

At that sort of money, wouldn’t you look at the Yamaha musicast amp?

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01EIBYRUA?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz

though that took me a while to find. I could see a preamp but not this standalone.

id been considering some of these to replace a 6.1 amp with 3 sets of speakers with 3 independent amps.
but not at $900.

that wiim thing would interest me almost. But not at that pricing.

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Handle9

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#3410643 3-Sep-2025 09:08

I don’t have the amp ultra but have used the WiiM mini for several years. I’ve also got a soundbar and amp in the music cast ecosystem.

WiiM is very actively developed and really driving a lot of innovation in the “Sonos like” space. Their app is excellent and they are constantly adding features while the Yamaha app feels very 2015.

I’d buy a WiiM in the class D space before I’d buy the Yamaha amp. The Yamaha is really old now while WiiM has really exploded in recent years. I think the WXA-50 is actually discontinued.

Streaming audio really is where WiiM plays. The one thing that’d put me the amp ultra is it doesn’t have airplay for reasons. A number of their other products do. I would look at the feature set as a lot of their cheaper amps are very capable.

davidcole

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#3410683 3-Sep-2025 11:10

Handle9:

I don’t have the amp ultra but have used the WiiM mini for several years. I’ve also got a soundbar and amp in the music cast ecosystem.

WiiM is very actively developed and really driving a lot of innovation in the “Sonos like” space. Their app is excellent and they are constantly adding features while the Yamaha app feels very 2015.

I’d buy a WiiM in the class D space before I’d buy the Yamaha amp. The Yamaha is really old now while WiiM has really exploded in recent years. I think the WXA-50 is actually discontinued.

Streaming audio really is where WiiM plays. The one thing that’d put me the amp ultra is it doesn’t have airplay for reasons. A number of their other products do. I would look at the feature set as a lot of their cheaper amps are very capable.

Cheers, thanks for that. You've obviously done more research than me, and I was working off old products. The only caveat....and I;'m not sure I matter, is yamaha is an old school amp producer...and wonder if sound quality would be better - but when talking about streaming its likely it doesnt matter much.

richms

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#3410726 3-Sep-2025 13:52

I have the wiim ultra, which is the one without the amp because it was half the price and available when I finally had enough with my chromecast on the downstairs stereo disconnecting and not showing as a device.

The touchscreen UI is worthless as I have it in a stereo rack where I have to bend over to see it.

Tidal connect is barely any better than casting at reliably showing on the sending PCs list of devices and at holding a connection. Nothing like spotify connect for reliability, but since they are patent trolls with one about sending a playlist thru a server noone else can do that so its all device to device comms about what to play so prone to dropouts as things move around the network.

I _think_ the audio might be better on the analog out of the ultra streamer, but really that system is so much of a plain jane system that its not important.

One thing that some people complain about is that the ultras do not do some variant of airplay, but that is no concern to me and I thought that it was a lossy transport so good riddance if so.

Richard rich.ms

davidcole

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#3410749 3-Sep-2025 15:30

richms:

I have the wiim ultra, which is the one without the amp because it was half the price and available when I finally had enough with my chromecast on the downstairs stereo disconnecting and not showing as a device.

The touchscreen UI is worthless as I have it in a stereo rack where I have to bend over to see it.

Tidal connect is barely any better than casting at reliably showing on the sending PCs list of devices and at holding a connection. Nothing like spotify connect for reliability, but since they are patent trolls with one about sending a playlist thru a server noone else can do that so its all device to device comms about what to play so prone to dropouts as things move around the network.

I _think_ the audio might be better on the analog out of the ultra streamer, but really that system is so much of a plain jane system that its not important.

One thing that some people complain about is that the ultras do not do some variant of airplay, but that is no concern to me and I thought that it was a lossy transport so good riddance if so.

I thought WIIM devices had both Airplay and Chromecast support?

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richms

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#3410753 3-Sep-2025 15:39

davidcole:

I thought WIIM devices had both Airplay and Chromecast support?

Some apparently do not have airplay which upsets apple users. Playing thru casting is just as bad as other devices with slowness to start and erratic control of it.

I'm usually driving mine thru tidal connect from the desktop PC as its totally flakey from the mobile as the phone transitions between wifi and cellular.

Richard rich.ms

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#3410824 3-Sep-2025 18:07

davidcole:

I;'m not sure I matter, is yamaha is an old school amp producer...and wonder if sound quality would be better - but when talking about streaming its likely it doesnt matter much.

I haven’t compared the two side by side but the Yamaha doesn’t have room correction at all. All the WiiM amps, and streamers, have room correction in the same way Sonos does through the app.

The other reason there won’t be a big difference is they are class D. They are using 3rd party amp packages and putting a nice skirt and window front on them.

I definitely wouldn’t be starting at the Amp Ultra though. The WiiM Amp is a much better comparison to the WXA-50, still with much more useful IO, like hdmi.

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#3410923 3-Sep-2025 21:39

The Yamaha WX-A50 came out in 2016... so it's still working with 1st Gen AirPlay and a PCM optical input.

It's a stable product with a design that was bang-up-to-date when it launched.

But that was 9 years ago...

Now WiiM, Sonos, Denon, NAD, Marantz and so many more have HDMI ARC, more power and certainly more developments app-wise. In-fact, all of them except for the newer WiiM products offer AirPlay 2.

It's a shame Yamaha walked away from developing their app post-Covid, but it is what it is.

Buying the WiiM ex-Australia makes a load of sense, but as the warranty is only 12 months you won't be protected by the CGA or... in 12 months and 1 day, by a retailer in Aussie.

Then again, $899 AUD vs $1149 as the cheapest NZ price, I'd be picking it up in Aussie myself.

Biglegs

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#3410956 4-Sep-2025 07:57

Thanks for your thoughtful replies! I am a Yamaha fan of old, owning both musical instruments and a few amps. However I've found in the domestic amplifier arena, their firmware support is not as proactive and besides minor updates unlikely to see the types of features I'm seeing for WiiM. And I don't want to buy into a closed proprietary format any more. I'm not an Apple geek, so the airplay side of things doesn't worry me. As I said, I have an number of LMS (which is now goes by its open source name of Lyrion Music Server) devices which provide seamless broadcasting throughout my home, and the WiiMs support it.

I'm not sure about that comment that assumes the amp quality doesn't matter if you're streaming: I am a Qobuz subscriber enjoying its hi-bit rate streaming. I don't touch Spotify any more for that and a number reasons.

Any comments for those that might have to use WiiM support in NZ?

Biglegs

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#3411418 5-Sep-2025 08:29

Buying the WiiM ex-Australia makes a load of sense, but as the warranty is only 12 months you won't be protected by the CGA or... in 12 months and 1 day, by a retailer in Aussie.

Then again, $899 AUD vs $1149 as the cheapest NZ price, I'd be picking it up in Aussie myself.

If I can get the price down a little further in $AU, I should be able to get the 15% GST back with no import duties. That would make it really worthwhile. And that's kinda what I was wondering - has anyone else had done something similar?