WiiM into Outboard DAC


Was wondering if there are sonic difference using a WiiM Pro vs Pro Plus vs Ultra into an outboard DAC...Thanks

jl35

i have found the china made linear power supplies to be well made and a very good value, after all these oem’s make the branded ps’s for lhy, auralic, small green computer and so on (and pretty much all the euro made branded lps’s use mostly chinese parts in their products)... these ps's have very low measured ripple and are rock solid stable in use

there are several standard models of various va capacities on offer on the various chi-fi retailing websites (ali, ebay etc)... it is best to get the lps’s WITHOUT a front panel voltage display -- as that display has been shown to add measurable noise to the dc output

there is no doubt that to hit the low price point, wiim, bluesound and other mass market brands necessarily pinch pennies on the costlier bill of goods items like power supply, output stage components, clock... the power supply front is a no brainer user upgrade if it can be done cost effectively

I am also considering buying one of the wiim devices to use as a streamer to connect to my Grimm MU2. While I will be using Roon/Tidal to connect to the MU2 directly, I wanted something my family could use to connect easily (AirPlay, Chromecast). An interesting point to note is that the Wiim Ultra doesn’t support AirPlay, AFAIK.

I think to spend almost as much or slightly more on a decent LPS, power cord and DC cable as the streamer itself but I've found it to be very worthwhile. YMMV, just basking in the mediocrity here. 

“Basking in the mediocrity” 😂

I suppose I belong to the mediocrity basking club too. I sold all my external DACs after comparing them to the WiiM Ultra’s. Some of those DACs retailed for many times the Ultra’s price. 
 

Anyhow, there is no way to bypass the onboard power supplies in the WiiM devices without opening up the units. Not sure how an LPS improves streaming, especially when an external DAC is involved. Seems much more likely it’s a placebo effect.