USB output
- Thread starter Klipscher
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Mr Ee
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Digital output to external dac, e.g. dac/headphone amp.
Balthazar B
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And just to expand on this a little:
- Some people's preferred DAC has USB input only;
- Some people maintain that the USB input on some DACs (e.g., Schiit DACs with Unison -- which is pretty awesome, honestly) sound better on that interface than on Toslink, coax, or AES/EBU;
- Some people have multiple upstream digital sources and want to utilize and switch between two or more inputs on their DAC of choice.
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FreakyKiwi
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Yes, I really want to get a fully integrated WiiM amp and bypass both the DAC and amp in favour of separate components
I'd also like to bypass the WiiM amp streaming functions if there is a way of connecting another source, maybe a turntable connected to the Wiim over bluetooth would do so I don't have to deal with the convenience of streaming music but probably a separate bluetooth receiver is the way to go.
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What I really not understand is: Why buying an integrated amp with an integrated DAC and WiiMs streaming features when bypassing most of the features. With limited connectivity.
Why not a Pro, adding a DAC of choice and a real amp? With all the connectivity one wants to have.
Why not a Pro, adding a DAC of choice and a real amp? With all the connectivity one wants to have.
FreakyKiwi
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Apologies if my attempt at humour wasn't obvious.
Brantome
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It’s fine - there are a good few of us already in that club
Sorry if it's been mentioned in this thread before (my eyes went blurry, really) but one very important reason is to control the volume of the USB DAC from the WIIM. Called a USB gadget, I believe. Using just the WIIM remote, one could control the possibly analog volume control in the DAC.
To me, this is huge. Eliminates need to have DAC remote at the ready. And if DAC has multiple inputs, helps prevent potentially blown speakers.
To me, this is huge. Eliminates need to have DAC remote at the ready. And if DAC has multiple inputs, helps prevent potentially blown speakers.
FreakyKiwi
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Yes, this is a feature many want, but on a device with an integrated DAC and speaker amp?
Hopefully a new device will emerge soon with a USB output, and this is a promising sign at least.
Volume control (for those who want it) is available in the app. Not for me as that destroys bit perfect signal delivery to an external DAC.
FreakyKiwi
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Some DACs support hardware volume control, which I think is what Left is referring to, which would allow the Wiim to control the DAC volume the same as using the volume control on the DAC itself. I don't know if this can be supported by the Wiim.
In any case my preference if available is to run the DAC at 100% and control volume at the analog stage.
No DAC worth listening too should offer a digital volume control. LowFi stuff sure.
FreakyKiwi
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That's not the question, it is whether the DAC volume control is available via USB control.
The alternative is for the source to manipulate the PCM signal to lower volume which should be avoided if bit perfectness is wanted.
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Some contributors here question why someone might want to have USB out in a product which already has a DAC and amplifier. I can foresee a significant proportion of buyers subsequently wishing to upgrade from the WiiM Amp at some point with a better DAC and/or amp. As things stand it means (at best) having to repurpose the Amp and buying another streamer. At least having USB out means they can still use their Amp purchase as a streamer into the new kit, which I think is good thinking.
I think users have some reaction on usb that can switch between input and output. Take a look at blusound node, it’s one of the requested feature because not everyone like the sound of internal dac so node gave them the option to use of their choice. If flexibility is available why not have it? Once this implement, I have various dac that will try. The dac analog out will be feed to analog input on wiim amp.
Truly did not think my post would be contentious. After reading Hiphiman's post I understand why. The subject of this lengthy thread is "Feature Requests for WIIM Pro and Pro Plus." Not just for the WIIM amp. Many DACs have either analog volume controls attenuated via resistor ladders and similar, or digital volume controls that pad the bit lengths to at least 32 bits and fill the low bits with a dithered signal. These DACs are then fed directly to a power amp.
In this increasingly common case, a Wiim that lacks USB out and cannot control the volume of the downstream DAC is at market disadvantage. As Smartplug said, it provides flexibility if one wants to upgrade
Mr Ee
Major Contributor
This implies you're waiting to use the wiim amp as a streamer to send its usb output to an external dac, and then back into the same wiim amp.
Wiim have not confirmed if the amp will support such a dac loop function.
It'd be fantastic if it could do this, but I won't hold my breath...
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