WiiM connections - a quick question

[HAPPY1]

Thanks for the advice posted in the trouble shooting section but I thought this question would be better here!

I have a Mac mini holding all my music Brantonme has very kindly advised that I could connect the mac via DLNA server to the Pro Plus. Iam probably still old school and thought (maybe mistakenly) that a physical connection between devices is better that Wi-Fi network (but I have been out of the audio space for a long time)

If i hadn't received the great advice I would have connected the mac to WiiM via optical which is what i am currently doing with my mac but i assume there would be an option to link the mac to the WiiM via ethernet cable?

So....

Would I be better to go:

Mac to WiiM via DLNA network (wireless)
Mac to WiiM via optical (would the WiiM see this as a physical connection?)
Mac to WiiM via ethernet (would the WiiM see this as a physical connection in the app?)

I know im going to be opening a can of worms but i would like to get the sound quality as high as possible.

Hope the question makes sense and apologies if I am missing anything or it's a complete Newby question!)

 

[Brantome]

You can’t connect the Ethernet port on the WiiM directly to the same on the Mac Mini - they’d both need to be cabled via your router. And even then, you’d still need a DLNA server to deliver the files to the WiiM for playback.

However, don’t confuse data transfer over Ethernet or WiFi with audio transfer over optical - they’re entirely different things. What the WiiM (or any other streamer) does is take a music file from a media server source over Ethernet/WiFi and transfer that into a stream of digital or analogue audio into a DAC or amp over optical, coax or RCA connections.

So if you feel you want a wired solution, connect both your WiiM device and Mac Mini with ethernet cablés into your router (although I find WiFi is equally good for both). The output from your WiiM Pro Plus is then either a wired optical, coax or RCA signal into your DAC (for the first two) or amp.

 

[HAPPY1]

You can’t connect the Ethernet port on the WiiM directly to the same on the Mac Mini - they’d both need to be cabled via your router. And even then, you’d still need a DLNA server to deliver the files to the WiiM for playback.

However, don’t confuse data transfer over Ethernet or WiFi with audio transfer over optical - they’re entirely different things. What the WiiM (or any other streamer) does is take a music file from a media server source over Ethernet/WiFi and transfer that into a stream of digital or analogue audio into a DAC or amp over optical, coax or RCA connections.

So if you feel you want a wired solution, connect both your WiiM device and Mac Mini with ethernet cablés into your router (although I find WiFi is equally good for both). The output from your WiiM Pro Plus is then either a wired optical, coax or RCA signal into your DAC (for the first two) or amp.

Thanks again Brantome,

Again its probably the fact that i havent kept up with the advances in audio over wifi for the last few years.

Sounds like a server is the way to go and send it via wifi. I have plex but you recommended minimserver. i hate to ask but is there any variation in the quality of signal sent via the server or simply that the DLNA servers all send the same signal?

 

[Brantome]

Thanks again Brantome,

Again its probably the fact that i havent kept up with the advances in audio over wifi for the last few years.

Sounds like a server is the way to go and send it via wifi. I have plex but you recommended minimserver. i hate to ask but is there any variation in the quality of signal sent via the server or simply that the DLNA servers all send the same signal?

DLNA servers send the same file which is then processed by the WiiM into a stream of digital or analogue audio. You can try sticking with Plex as WiiM should be implementing support for that soon - in the meantime, you can switch on the upnp/DLNA option on your Plex server so the WiiM app/device can see and receives files from it rather than implementing Minimserver.

 

[HAPPY1]

DLNA servers send the same file which is then processed by the WiiM into a stream of digital or analogue audio. You can try sticking with Plex as WiiM should be implementing support for that soon - in the meantime, you can switch on the upnp/DLNA option on your Plex server so the WiiM app/device can see and receives files from it rather than implementing Minimserver.

IS there any need to install the wiim home app on the mac mini or would that just confuse the issue?

 

[goodmore]

I just put my music on a thumb drive and plug it into the USB port of my router. Browse to home music in the Wiim app and there it is.

 

[d6jg]

I just put my music on a thumb drive and plug it into the USB port of my router. Browse to home music in the Wiim app and there it is.

That’s only possible because your router must be running some kind of DLNA server. Many routers can expose USB drives as Samba shares but if that’s all they can do WiiM app won’t (currently) see the files.

 

[goodmore]

That’s only possible because your router must be running some kind of DLNA server. Many routers can expose USB drives as Samba shares but if that’s all they can do WiiM app won’t (currently) see the it

it is a TP Link Router with Samba. I never messed with the settings. It just did it from day 1.

 

[Mr Ee]

it is a TP Link Router with Samba. I never messed with the settings. It just did it from day 1.

My tp link did the same - could see it as samba, but it had an inbuilt dlna server, based on twonky I believe.
How many files do you have?
I'd bet that if > 10,000 you can't get to them all!