Alexa question

[gisbod]

Hi all,

I’ve just set up a new music system with a record player - fab - Rega Planar 1/ Rega amp/ Wharfedale 12.2 Diamond speakers. The store sold me a WiiM so I can also stream music through the amp/speakers. The music quality streaming has blown me away! I wanted to tie it in with an Alexa so I can play music with voice commands rather than using the App. It took us about 3 hours to do this! Followed the WiiM help section to the letter, had some issues, but got there in the end though.

However… my question now is, did I need the WiiM at all if I’m using the Alexa? Isn’t that doing the streaming now? Is the WiiM now just an interface to connect to the amp? Does the WiiM stream at a better quality than the Alexa - but I don’t know what’s doing the streaming?

I’ve tried different music streaming services - Amazon, Qobuz, Apple. The shop told me Qobuz is the go to for quality, but I’m not sure my ears can tell the difference! Apple doesn’t seem to be supported on the WiiM list of providers - but it does work through the Alexa, making me think it must be the Alexa doing the streaming?

So in summary, do I need a WiiM? What‘s doing the streaming when the Alexa is paired using voice commands?

Many thanks,


Guy

 

[Wiimer]

Hi,
Does your Rega amp support Alexa? Otherwise, you won't be able to play music wirelessly from the amplifier without a WiiM. In other words, you need a WiiM.

Even with Alexa's voice control, it is the WiiM that plays. Usually, the sound quality with voice control is HD or lower. Only when using WiiM can be played back in UHD quality of 24bit/192kHz.

 

[d6jg]

Open the Alexa app on your Phone and you should see the WiiM as an available device.
Create a group eg Living Room containing your Echo and the WiiM, set the speakers for that group to be the WiiM.
Then if your amp is ON, tell Alexa to play something and it should come from the WiiM -> Rega -> Speakers. The SQ will be infinitely better this way.

 

[Brantome]

Even with Alexa's voice control, it is the WiiM that plays. Usually, the sound quality with voice control is HD or lower. Only when using WiiM can be played back in UHD quality of 24bit/192kHz.

Not sure I agree with that, although it’s maybe how it’s phrased that makes it ambiguous. With Amazon music whether you are using Alexa, the Amazon Music app or the Wiim app, it’s delivered all the way up to 24/192.

It’s true that if you are using an Alexa skill to play back other services that the best you will get is HD if not just lossy SD.

 

[Brantome]

Think of Alexa as a remote control that directs music from a variety of Alexa supported music services to your WiiM device as a player. Alternatively, you can use the Wiim Home app to send music from a wider range of services and often in higher quality to your WiiM player device. You can often also use a streaming service’s own app (like Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music etc) to “cast” music to the WiiM using their “connect” mechanisms.

It might help to think of the WiiM device like a virtual CD player that has access to vast libraries of albums that can be controlled by voice or a variety of apps.

 

[Wiimer]

Not sure I agree with that, although it’s maybe how it’s phrased that makes it ambiguous. With Amazon music whether you are using Alexa, the Amazon Music app or the Wiim app, it’s delivered all the way up to 24/192.

It’s true that if you are using an Alexa skill to play back other services that the best you will get is HD if not just lossy SD.

Sorry, maybe it's a problem with my English skills. I'm talking about using an echo device to play with an Alexa-enabled amplifier.

 

[Brantome]

Sorry, maybe it's a problem with my English skills. I'm talking about using an echo device to play with an Alexa-enabled amplifier.

It was the "Even with Alexa's voice control, it is the WiiM that plays" sentence that threw me - the rest of your response seems to deal with using an alexa-enabled amp, but throwing that in about playing to a WiiM kind of disturbed the flow

 

[Wiimer]

It was the "Even with Alexa's voice control, it is the WiiM that plays" sentence that threw me - the rest of your response seems to deal with using an alexa-enabled amp, but throwing that in about playing to a WiiM kind of disturbed the flow

Should I have said this?
"When using Alexa, streaming is done through Alexa, but WiiM does the audio output."

It sounded like @gisbod was already using voice control in some way and asking if he needed WiiM in that case.

I would have said that if he doesn't have any "Work with Alexa" products other than WiiM, he needs WiiM.

 

[gisbod]

Ah thanks,

Let me just try and digest that and get back to you!

cheers,

Guy

 

[gisbod]

Morning,

I’m happy now, I’m using Amazon Music, I’m just asking Alexa to play whatever and the sound quality is ridiculously good to my ear, so whatever I’ve done - it works!

Very helpful replies, thank you.

Guy