John
UPDATE 25th January: The Wiim Mini is reviewed here — but please read this introductory post as it contains information that the review treats as assumed knowledge.
Forget paying over the odds for a Google Chromecast Audio on eBay. Step over the Raspberry Pi’s microSD card write and OS configuration. The Wiim Mini is probably the most affordable and simplest way to add Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and (the Roon friendly) Apple AirPlay 2 to a hi-fi system. Connect the Mini to your home wifi network, hook it into an amplifier (or DAC) and you’re off to the races with a suite of streaming possibilities. Gapless playback guaranteed Wiim’s proposition is very much plug-n-play.
Inside the hockey-puck-sized device – it measures 7cm across – an internal Texas Instruments DAC circuit offers support for PCM up to 24bit/192kHz. Analogue output comes via a 3.5mm socket. No MQA. No DSD. For those already in possession of an external DAC, the Wiim Mini offers a TOSLINK output that, bit-perfect purists beware, resamples everything to 48kHz. That’s on par with the €50 Google Chromecast-fuelled Xiaomi Mi Box S. However, the Q&A section of this wallet-friendly streamer’s Amazon.ca listing suggests a forthcoming firmware update will upgrade TOSLINK to 24bit/192kHz.
Rounding out the Wiim Mini’s feature set is a 3.5mm analogue input, a microphone that assists with synchronising multi-room AirPlay 2 playback, capacitive touch controls (for volume up/down, play/pause) and Siri/Alexa voice assistant integration. Power comes via USB-C, presumably a 5V ‘phone charger’.
For €99 or US$99, that’s not a bad deal at all. In fact, that’s a really good deal.
One final thought: the Wiim Mini isn’t new. It’s just new to me. This post isn’t the result of a press release spilling from the manufacturer but an email from a Darko.Audio reader. A second reader then got in touch to confirm the absence DSD and MQA support and to give me (and you!) the heads-up about the TOSLINK socket’s resampled 48kHz output. A third reader then emailed to tell me that bit-perfection from that same TOSLINK socket might be arriving via a firmware update later this year.
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Further information: Wiim Home
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