Bluesound died - is Wiim a good alternative?

From my experience, Wiim’s native DAC circuitry sounds a bit thin. An external DAC is suggested.

I love my WiiMs Mini and Pro but it does not do any CD ripping.  It’s value proposition is hard to beat.

Curious, what went wrong with you BlueSound Vault ? I’ve been waiting for several years for them to come up with an update as I like the CD ripping feature.  Was it mechanical failure or something else ?  It's at least 8 years old today.  

As long as the Wiim is feeding an external DAC it’s good option.  I would also look at Cambridge Audio, who I think make excellent affordable streamer-dacs

I don't respond often because I don't have experience with alot of the questions asked but this one I do. I have used a node 2i, wiim mini ,wiim pro and wiim ultra. Recently I started experimenting with running my streaming front end with batteries.This has made the largest improvement to my system in terms of electronics that I have done in years. Only extensive acoustic treatment has done more to influence the sound. I run a tp - link A 750 router with a LHY 5v rechargeable linear battery supply , a 6 inch Ethernet cable to a blue sound nano also running on a LHY 5v rechargeable linear battery supply . From the node nano, a 6 inch USB cable into a singxer su6 ( eventually this will run on battery as well) and then 10 inch i2s cable into a PS audio direct stream DAC. This setup ( not including the DAC) was completed for less than $1000. The node nano I got during Amazon prime day for $275, everything else was on eBay either auction or for sale. From my experience, the best sounding inexpensive streamer is the nano/battery combination. If you are patient it will cost $400-$450. The rest of my system components are Plinius preamp or a hand built 6sn7 preamp (depending on mood) into a CODA continuum 8 to Arial Acoustic 10T.

Battery supply front end isn't for everyone but I am sticking with this form of isolation for the foreseeable future because, for me, it has worked better than all the other switch/filter combinations I have tried. All of the information about this kind of setup was extensively covered in a resent thread on this forum earlier this year. Have fun experimenting, it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Cheers!

Interesting, was pretty confident that one could stream Tidal or many other services to/via the WiiM Pro via Ethernet or surely WiFi. I have Pro Plus and Ultra units using them both as just streamers or with the internal DAC. Great units for the price IMO. Also their app is great. Pretty sure the Ultra is the only one that has a USB out.