Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

Raymond Lin said:
It certainly has a lot going for it.

(I do have a Musical Fidelity X-A2 though that can be use on a desk. Which could drive basically anything.,all I need is a WiiM Mini though.)
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Wiim mini analogue section isn't great, if using analogue out go for the Pro Plus. Or Ultra if you want screen and USB digital out/USB HDD support.
 
jonneymendoza said:
Yup.

He talks a lot of nonsense but found it amusing as all he said was it's crap and can't power his speakers without any evidence as you said...

Every where else has praised the amp left right and center
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That provides 60W, that is plenty for a PC or bedroom system. I'm using 60W amps from about 3.7M away with 86dB speakers and they go plenty loud enough.
 
The wiim is a primarily music streamer right, not really designed for desktop use to be connected to a PC and mac to provide both speaker and headphone output?
 
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Angst said:
The wiim is a music streamer right, not really designed for desktop use to be connected to a PC and mac to provide both speaker and headphone output?
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How so? this can be connected via USB to a pc?

No?

If not, why are we mentioning this product in this thread that's dedication to setups used for a pc lol
 
Ideally you just want something with USB IN to connect to a computer, Bluetooth in from a phone.

Speakers out.

This should be simple enough, streaming features are a bonus.
 
Angst said:
The wiim is a music streamer right, not really designed for desktop use to be connected to a PC and mac to provide both speaker and headphone output?
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Which Wiim?

Mini, Pro, Pro Plus, and Ultra is a streamer. Also a DAC, pre-amp.
Wiim Amp is a streamer, DAC, and integrated amp
Vibelink is DAC and integrated amp.
 
hornetstinger said:
Which Wiim?

Mini, Pro, Pro Plus, and Ultra is a streamer. Also a DAC, pre-amp.
Wiim Amp is a streamer, DAC, and integrated amp
Vibelink is DAC and integrated amp.
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Do any of them even have USB input? The ones I've looked at dont seem to and most don't have a headphone output? My question/point was that it's primary purpose seems to be a streaming appliance and that's the feature you are paying extra for, it would be cheaper to just buy a device that's a dac/amp/preamp potentialy with bluetooth without the streaming features if it was just to be sat on a desk connected directly to a computer.
 
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Angst said:
Do any of them even have USB input? The ones I've looked at dont seem to and most don't have a headphone output? My question/point was that it's primary purpose seems to be a streaming appliance and that's the feature you are paying extra for, it would be cheaper to just buy a device that's a dac/amp/preamp potentialy with bluetooth without the streaming features if it was just to be sat on a desk connected directly to a computer.
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Nope you are correct.

Line, Optical, HDMI ARC, USB Disk

Thats all the inputs.

So my question is this.

Is there a better AMP that is priced the same but doesnt have all the streaming stuff ?
 
Angst said:
Do any of them even have USB input? The ones I've looked at dont seem to and most don't have a headphone output? My question/point was that it's primary purpose seems to be a streaming appliance and that's the feature you are paying extra for, it would be cheaper to just buy a device that's a dac/amp/preamp potentialy with bluetooth without the streaming features if it was just to be sat on a desk connected directly to a computer.
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No they don't have USB input. The Wiim has USB for USB HDD, or USB digital out.

Ultra has a headphone amp, but it's 3.5mm and apparently not very good. I agree the Wiim is more of a streaming device, rather than a all in one. But it can be used as a all in one, as it can be a DAC for other digital devices, also performs as a ADC, and a pre amp as well, if you understand the limitations. If you want HDMI, multiple digital and analogue inputs, 6.5mm headphone socket, well known room EQ, support for >3 speakers, it's not the correct product.

I have a Wiim Ultra myself.

For your use

if using analogue out from the streamer, get Pro Plus or Ultra (better DAC)
if using digital out from the streamer get Pro. Or Ultra if you want the screen
Then look into a suitable DAC, pre amp, headphone amp (or integrated amp if needing to power passive speakers)
 
 
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The fosi audio speaker amps are reviewed well, could use one of those combined with something like a fiio k11 to provide the dac and headphone amp. Lots of options really.
 
The MX3S was favoured for a nicer sound than the MX5 when that launched, it's also cheaper and has some USPs such as proper tone controls and source volume memory as well as gain memory for an output.

I would recommend the Topping MX3S for this sort of use case, the only time it won't be suitable is for very sensitive headphones like planars as it trips the protection mode. Otherwise it will power any speaker out there, as well as the vast majority of headphones, and has an incredible sound out of the box. The only reason I sold mine was because of my planars being so sensitive on it and the idea of R2R sound for under £150 was too compelling.

MX3S is also old now though, Topping, SMSL and others have newer models out, but they also cost more. Fosi ZA series are good, but they have analogue volume pots which don't play well with low volume use as you get channel imbalance until the volume is raised some more - This was what I found with the Fosi I bought recently as returned. So more me an amp or DAC has to have a proper ratcheted volume pot that is digital.

Venali said:
He's going on in that review saying measurements matter, but he doesn't have any. So he has no evidence?
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There is this rolling debate on forums like ASR where one pocket bandy up throwing around measurement this and measurement that like it's the gospel on sound, meanwhile a smaller pocket prefer to actually use their ears and decide what sound better.

Case in point, most recently a debate regarding OpAmp rolling started with the usual paper pushers stating there is zero difference in changing OpAmps because one veteran member compared 2 OpAmps on a specific Chinese DAC and found basically no measurable difference, and because the graphs said so, it was taken as gospel, even though others have stated that you can literally hear differences in soundstage and stereo imaging, these may not always translate into a graph like frequency response does, but the pushers don't care about that,m because graphs matter, MAN.

As you can probably guess, I side with the actual ear-enjoyers, since my experience of OpAmp rolling dates back a literal decades and beyond, back when the Xonar Essence STX was the hot topic and we were swapping in Burr Brown OpAmps to get that old skool airy sound. Fast forward to the p[resent and the same still applies, the A80's stock NE55532P OpAmps are good for the masses, but for a mere £15 or less, the OPA627 offers wider soundstage and a more music top end - That's simply not placebo like those ASR members seem to claim, I swapped back and forth multiple times on these Comete speakers and can hear the soundstage become more narrower with one pair of OpAmps, and then wider with another.

And this is why I don't really pay any mind to people who push the whole "but measurements!!!" argument.

There may well be some DACs or amps that don't implement OpAmp staging quite as effectively as others, and in those devices sure, the difference is not worth the effort most likely, but in amps like these where the OpAmp is at the literal output stage, it makes a noticeable difference.

Also you can get room shaking sound from just 10 watts, it's the quality of those watts that matter most not the actual number. Loads of youtube videos showing what just 1 watt per channel sounds like, well worth taking a see what quality is like over quantity. I recall the cheap audio man doing this very test a while ago.
 
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mrk said:
The MX3S was favoured for a nicer sound than the MX5 when that launched, it's also cheaper and has some USPs such as proper tone controls and source volume memory as well as gain memory for an output.

I would recommend the Topping MX3S for this sort of use case, the only time it won't be suitable is for very sensitive headphones like planars as it trips the protection mode. Otherwise it will power any speaker out there, as well as the vast majority of headphones, and has an incredible sound out of the box. The only reason I sold mine was because of my planars being so sensitive on it and the idea of R2R sound for under £150 was too compelling.

MX3S is also old now though, Topping, SMSL and others have newer models out, but they also cost more. Fosi ZA series are good, but they have analogue volume pots which don't play well with low volume use as you get channel imbalance until the volume is raised some more - This was what I found with the Fosi I bought recently as returned. So more me an amp or DAC has to have a proper ratcheted volume pot that is digital.


There is this rolling debate on forums like ASR where one pocket bandy up throwing around measurement this and measurement that like it's the gospel on sound, meanwhile a smalle rpocket prefer to actually use their ears and decide what sound better.

case in point, most recently a debate regarding OpAmp rolling started with the usual paper pushers stating there is zero difference in changing OpAmps because one veteran member compared 2 OpAmps on a specific Chinese DAC and found basically no measurable difference, and because the graphs said so, it was taken as gospel, even though others have stated that you can literally hear differences in soundstage and stereo imaging, these may not always translate into a graph like frequency response does, but the pushers don't care about that,m because graphs matter, MAN.

As you can probably guess, I side with the actual ear-enjoyers, since my experience of OpAmp rolling dates back a literal decades and beyond, back when the Xonar Essence STX was the hot topic and we were swapping in Burr Brown OpAmps to get that old skool airy sound. Fast forward to the p[resent and the same still applies, the A80's stock NE55532P OpAmps are good for the masses, but for a mere £15 or less, the OPA627 offers wider soundstage and a more music top end - That's simply not placebo like those ASR members seem to claim, I swapped back and forth multiple times on these Comete speakers and can hear the soundstage become more narrower with one pair of OpAmps, and then wider with another.

And this is why I don't really pay any mind to people who push the whole "but measurements!!!" argument.

There may well be some DACs or amps that don't implement OpAmp staging quite as effectively as others, and in those devices sure, the difference is not worth the effort most likely, but in amps like these where the OpAmp is at the literal output stage, it makes a noticeable difference.
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I read a comment today on Reddit that made me laugh....it goes something like this "Whenever I am in a room with some audiophiles and they starting talking rubbish I get my phone out and put on full blast and play a 17khz tone, only my daughter can hear it".

So I went and downloaded an app that generates frequencies...lol, and he is right. If you can't hear it then it doesn't matter what the graph says.
 
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Remember though even if you can't hear it, it can still play a part in the overall soundstage or other areas of the range, for example really low down bass you might not be able to hear, but the resonance it creates in the speaker cabinet exhausted through the ports or resonated through the driver cone up front can be "felt" if that makes sense. This ultimately is all down to the speaker or headphone engineering.
 
 
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