What the hell is this, I remember thinking. The link to the website shows the image of a Bluetooth headphone from Samsung, and a gray box that resembles a Bluetooth speaker. In the middle of the picture, there is a small black puck. Slightly smaller than a hockey puck. With touch buttons on top.
Photos like this always make me skeptical, but the importer nicely suggested that this could be something to test. A wireless streaming device that handles hi-res audio and can be connected to anything? Sorry, heard that one before.
It wasn’t until I read the entire Wiim Audio website that I realized this could be the new Chromecast Audio. Which has long since disappeared from the market. Which was basically a shame. For Chromecast Audio was a simple and cheap way to make a system wireless.
Wiim Mini, as it is called, soon proved to be an equally simple, if somewhat more expensive, solution. The seven cm black puck is one of the easiest things I’ve tried, and the user-friendliness is good thanks to a clear and service-oriented app.
The idea with the Wiim Mini is simply to add wireless music streaming, either with Bluetooth, or preferably Wi-Fi. It supports AirPlay 2 and easily integrates with multiple speakers, or other Wiim Mini devices with AirPlay 2 for multi-room streaming. But important, at least for audiophiles, is that it supports high-resolution audio up to 24-bit and 192 kHz.
This tends to cost a bit more, and is often a bit more complicated to set up.
Easy to use
The first time you connect a Wiim Mini, you are guided through the process in the app. It all takes a few minutes, then the Mini is connected to the network. But before getting that far, it must be connected to a free input on the system, the soundbar or a pair of active speakers, if there are where one we have streaming. It also needs power, and then you use the included USB-C to USB-A cable, but since few amplifiers have a USB-A connector, you may need a 5 V USB charger, of the same type that you use when you charge your mobile phone.
With the power in place, you can choose between analogue sound out via minijack, or digital via an optical Toslink cable. Which is also included. This is the one you have to use if you want the best possible sound, because the analogue output sounds gray and lifeless.
The digital output does not.
Input for external sound
Wiim Mini also has a minijack input, in case you want to connect an analogue sound source. I don’t quite see for myself who it should be applicable to. Most people who choose a Wiim Mini do so because it easily allows them to stream high-resolution audio.
Which again requires that you have a good digital converter. Either a separate one, or as in my case, the eminent DAC in an integrated Hegel H190, to which I connected the Mini.
Then I could flow from whoever it was. In the app, you can log into your own account with Spotify, Napster (who would have thought), Deezer, Amazon Music, Qobuz and Tidal, among others. But not Apple Music.
It might not be that important either. I usually choose to set up a streaming device like this, and select it under AirPlay on an iPhone or iPad, and then stream directly from Tidal.
Bit perfect
You also get voice control here, with Alexa or Siri via the mobile phone, and it is possible to set a time when the music should start, or count down until it stops. The app also has a separate menu for the various equalizer settings, and you can choose how high you want to go in resolution from the digital output. All the way up to 24-bit and 192 kHz. But then it requires that the DAC supports it. The observant reader has already realized that the Mini supports bit-perfect – meaning that the music is streamed in the original resolution to the DAC at the other end.
The playback of the music takes place gaplessthat is to say that there is no artificial pause between, for example, the songs in a live recording.
Raises the sound quality
Bluetooth is simple and convenient when you’re on the go. A pair of good wireless headphones and a mobile phone with Apple Music, Tidal or Qobuz can provide truly memorable musical experiences. But when you come home and have an entire system at your disposal, you would like to have better sound as well. Hence the facility, right.
It is of course also possible to stream to headphones at home. But then you connect a Wiim Mini to either the system or a headphone amplifier with a built-in DAC. Regardless of your preference for speakers or headphones, preferably both, it is important to use the digital output from the Wiim Mini.
The analogue is the emergency solution you use when there is nothing else, but then you can just as easily stream via Bluetooth. Because that’s not where you get the best sound. With the Mini connected to one of the optical inputs on an H190, it became far more dynamic, and the bass on Burna Boy’s Last Last gained both bottom and weight.
A Wiim Mini wouldn’t match an expensive streamer in terms of sound quality, but it does surprisingly well. At least considering the price. Piano jazz with only bass and drums in addition, sounds full and nice, there is not much depth in the sound image, but it is balanced and well focused. The treble sounds a bit gray and colourless, and at the other end the bass doesn’t have the range or dynamics you get with a Linn Majik DSM, but you don’t expect that in this price range either.
Conclusion
The Wiim Mini is first and foremost a simple and relatively affordable way to get wireless streaming of high-resolution music. It is very easy to set up and use, and will improve the sound quality enormously compared to streaming via Bluetooth. The sound quality is not quite up to the expensive network players we have tested, but that is not the point either. Think of it as a modern Chromecast Audio, with bit perfect, better sound and ease of use. Then it is worth every penny.
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