It would be nice to have a plug and play option that is cheap.
Raspberry Pi’s have gotten too expensive and you need to fiddle with setup.
Is this an acceptable option as I heard Wiims have been certified.
Only one is currently certified the Wiim Pro if you need the dac then wait until the Pro Plus is certified or you can use Chromecast or Squeezebox streaming via Roon both work well.
1 Like
I just got a WiiM Pro in a few days ago for testing. It’s working great so far. I’ll be pairing it with an S.M.S.L. D-65 DAC. Sadly, there’s no USB output on the WiiM Pro, so I’ll be using S/PDIF. Probably TOSLINK.
I’ve been streaming to the Pro continuously from Roon to test reliability. So far, there have been no drops all week.
Raspberry Pi 4 with 4gb ram is allllll you need. Usb output works superbly well, and you can get that setup for under $100 easily. Get an 8gb micro SD for a few $ and spend about 5 minutes of time following a Volumio or Ropieee tutorial. There is no contest. Flawless.
There is also this Raspberry Pi alternative (hat tip @David_Snyder)
But if you don’t have asynchronous usb on your DAC or amp, then you can grab a WiiM mini ($90) or an iFi Zen Stream ($300) for optical or coaxial.
If you don’t have a good DAC or integrated amp with a good DAC then you are going to have to rethink this.
1 Like
While I tend to agree, I also recognize that there are music loving Roon fans out there who don’t have the confidence or inclination to roll up their sleeves and build their own endpoints. They are looking for a complete product from a vendor who will provide some level of customer support, etc. For this use case, I have freqeuntly recommend products like the the SOtM sMS-200ultra, Sonore ultraRendu, iFi Audio ZEN Stream, and Allo USBridge Signature Player.
Based on my testing so far, I’m adding the WiiM Pro to the list…possibly at the top. Really, the only downside is lack of USB output, as I mentioned before. This limitation will turn off fans of Signalyst HQPlayer (due to the 192 kHz max sampling frequency), but those folks are deep into the weeds anyway and won’t mind getting their hands dirty with an RPi. 
I’m scheduled to do a streaming presentation for the Arizona Audio/Video club this November. I’ll be sharing my objective and subjective results with the WiiM Pro (as a transport) during that meeting. The goal is to help audiophiles who have been avoiding streaming to have the confidence to take their first steps. So far, the WiiM Pro seems like the ideal “gateway drug” for the reluctant streaming audiophile.
2 Likes
I’d agree it’s simple to use, has a lot of different features and covers most use cases. I have the pro plus in my dining room system and it works well. I had it in my office system before to see if it would be a good fit but found it’s dac a little lack lustre not bad just not great, swapping over to my RME and little thin client nuc beat it hands down as it should, RME is a SOTA DAC. But it’s good for the money and as you say dipping the toes in.
It’s ADC is way better than I thought it would be, proved handy for adding peq to my cd player. It seemed to be as good as same ripped file played by Roon via it streaming to the Wiim and using its DAC output, so ADC seemed audibly transparent via its own DAC for output. Passing it via analogue to my amp however was better so showed up limits of its DAC. But for £200 what can you really expect.
1 Like
I have the WiiM Pro now, better than to stream the music via Chromecast into the HDMI of my receiver. It’s a good Denon but its DAC is not top-notch, it’s beaten by the one in the WiiM Pro - so from the WiiM I go with standard RCA into the Denon, bypassing its DAC.
And the difference is there, I can switch between the two and compare. Not being an audiophile I lack the nifty words like “definition”, the “virtual soundstage” , “an unusually clear-sighted transparency which enables particularly deep and detailed soundstages” (copied from an audiophile forum, that last one). But for me it sounds better and I did’t have to empty my savings account.
And I configured Roon to use the Chromecast as display, so I win two times 
…
2 Likes