WiimPro Networking Question

[bom13]

Hello...I am new to the WiiM world, and have just recently installed 2 Pro's in my home. I am in the process of building out a new multi-room environment to replace an aging Sonos system. In the future I'll be adding a WiiM amp when it becomes available and probably a couple of mini's. I'm replacing the Sonos gear, because my personal feeling is that WiiM offers a much better value proposition when it comes to cost and functionality vs the new Gen2 Sonos gear. I have nothing bad to say about Sonos...it served me well and faithfully for well over a decade. However my gear is long in the tooth, and I've been having a lot of performance issues of late. Also the new Sonos gear has become quite pricey. As a side note, I am using Roon as my central control point software now and have struggled quite a bit to merge Roon with Sonos, even though Sonos gear is advertised as "Roon tested".
Anyway my question has to do with the networking infrastructure that WiiM utilizes for its multi-room capabilities. Is this a "mesh" system, or is it a point-to-point broadcast system? Sonos utilized a mesh system and I was able to do some networking modifications to optimize my internal setup leveraging the way a mesh system communicates to the various zones. I just recently replaced my router from an older Netgear model to a new Asus mesh. I also upgraded my internet service to 500mb. Depending on how WiiM networks itself, I would place the various devices in different places to optimize the wifi signal. I don't think that WiiM is a "mesh" system, but I couldn't find any info on it.
Thanks
Brian

 

[d6jg]

They are simple WiFi clients but you can use them in a Mesh WiFi network.

 

[bom13]

Thanks I understand that. I just read somewhere that WiiM uses something called linkplay as it’s native networking protocol. I’m trying to find out some more info on that if it is in fact the case.

 

[Brantome]

Thanks I understand that. I just read somewhere that WiiM uses something called linkplay as it’s native networking protocol. I’m trying to find out some more info on that if it is in fact the case.

When you group WiiM devices together in the WiiM Home app, they are part of a Linkplay group (Linkplay is the company WiiM are part of). I haven’t seen any documentation describing that “network protocol”. WIim devices can also be part of an Alexa multi room music group, a chromecast group or an airplay 2 group.

As long as you can configure your mesh to have a stable 5gHz wifi signal where you want to place the WiiM devices, I’m struggling to see what optimisations you could make for WiiM device groups.

 

[Doublej]

There might be something of interest to you here: https://www.linkplay.com/.

The only potential network optimization that I can imagine is prioritizing WiiM network traffic over other network traffic. However, given that each WiiM endpoint likely has a substantial buffer, one's network would need to be saturated with traffic for music to stutter. And the router may already prioritze WiiM traffic (audio/video traffic) over other less time sensitive traffic like loading a web page, saving/retrieving a data file, etc.

I don't know if all WiiM endpoints are required to be on the same network. This would be a configuration issue, not an optimization.

 

[Griff]

As a side note, I am using Roon as my central control point software now and have struggled quite a bit to merge Roon with Sonos, even though Sonos gear is advertised as "Roon tested".

Hi, you mentioned wanting to get some Minis , you should note they are not Roon certified. You could use Airplay2 I understand, I'm not a Roon user.

The linkplay multiroom platform I have found to be rock solid. I use a mixture of Wiim and Arylic products and have found it to be reliable and sound great.

However when using Roon won't you be using that to control the multiroom function? Not my area of experience