Airplay (shairport) has stopped working again on my Roon server/streamer, a Salkstream III (purchased 2016). This has happened before, but I was able to fix it by rebooting or reloading the shairport-sync.conf file. This time nothing I’ve tried works.
My husband only uses Apple Music and uses Airplay to stream his music to our main system from his iPhone or iPad, so being able to reliably stream to our main system via Airplay is important. The main system includes an old pre/pro, an Anthem AVM 20 v2 (no HDMI, no USB connections).
I thought about adding a separate device to add Airplay capability to our old pre/pro.
The Wiim devices look interesting. I assume these would work? I’m thinking maybe the Wiim Pro or Wiim Pro Plus. Which would you recommend? Is the only difference between the two the audio specs and an included remote with the Pro Plus? Otherwise, is functionality the same? I doubt my husband could hear a difference (or would care) between the audio specs. I like that they offer an ethernet connection, Roon Ready (for me ), and s/pdif optical/coax output.
Any other devices I should consider? Btw, I don’t want anything that has to be connected to a TV or monitor.
The differences are listed in the table at the bottom of the below page. The Plus has a better DAC and supports up to 192/24, the regular one converts everything to 48/16.
It think this and the remote is the only difference but I only have the Plus. I use it in Roon Ready mode and it’s flawless so far.
If I’m reading that link correctly, the 48/16 restriction only applies to the analog input (ADC). Under the Spec Tab for Digital Audio Output, it shows this for both models;
“ Bit-perfect output, up to 192 kHz, 24-bit with digital optical or coaxial output.”
Am I understanding this correctly that anything sent to either model via Ethernet or digital input would be passed through to the digital s/pdif outputs unaltered up to 192/24? I don’t see us using the analog input on the Wiim, at least not for any serious listening, so maybe the 48/16 restriction wouldn’t be an issue for us?
If you are not interested in USB then a Primare NP5 Prisma might be the way to go. It is quite specifically designed for the use case you are looking at. A Mk 1 can be had for around half of a new Mk 2. It will have excellent support from Primare, mine still receives updates. Roon, Chromecast, Airplay 2 etc. via Ethernet or WiFi.
Love my filo sr11, AirPlay and Roon are all it does, coax, optical or usb out. No dac, no display, no app, so cheaper than the Wiims and pretty small and discrete to hide away.
I have a Wiim pro plus as well in another setup, it has a good app but other than that I find it mediocre and against what everyone will say it doesn’t sound as good over coax as the Fiio does over USB or its Coax output into my RME.
Indeed, I think you are right. There’s some more about it on the link behind the „what’s the difference“ image. It seems the analog out is also better, so if you feed it into an analog pre this might be useful.
When I bought mine, the Plus cost like 10 euros more than a regular one and a remote (which I need), so it was a no brainer. I understood there should be an analog out because of:
The price difference right now is about $55 USD, enough to make me hesitate. At a $10 difference, yeah, it would be a no brainer to go with the Pro Plus.
Our pre/pro does have digital s/pdif inputs available (both optical and coax), so that’s what I plan to use.
If your using digital out then go pro as your paying for a slightly better DAC, although they say the clock was upgrade to which could affect coax output. The wiims are quite jittery and some dacs have struggled to lock to their spdif.
If you can accept a little diy and there is a usb input dac in the equation then I’d strongly recommend to build a ropieee box with a raspberry pi, a display, power supply, sd card and a box.
If there is no usb input you could add an onboard dac but I’m not sure if that would fit inside the display box. For Roon use it will give you the convenience of a display and it also provides AirPlay interface whenever it’s not doing any Roon duties.
), and s/pdif optical/coax output.
