WiiMMini AirPlay 2 Wireless Audio Streamer, Multiroom Stereo, Preamplifier, Works with Alexa and Siri Voice Assistants, Stream Hi-Res Audio from Spotify, Amazon Music and More

If you use SPDIF instead of internal Dac, this little device would let you forget about the expensive BlueSound Node, the troublesome and unstable raspberry pi runs on any OS. This is simply the easiest and best solution by far. The downside would be that it uses it's own app to log into all the music services. You won't be able to browse through the native APP UI from spotify, tidal, qobuz or even amazon music.I haven't tried gapless so I can't put down "it just works" stamp yet! However, hi-res does work as expected. There are some glitches and bugs from Amazon Music though. When comparing to Qobuz, it simply just works as bit perfect. On the Amazon Music HD/UHD I believed it's probably Amazon's fault here. There will be constrain on bitrate and sampling rate if you output from TV because it's running mostly Android OS (ye! I am looking at you Amazon FireTV 4k Stick). You will only get 48k. However, on the Wiim mini is another story. It's better to show 24bit, but sometimes it's not bit perfect. it doesn't always shows properly up to 192k.Due to the inconsistency of Amazon music. Depends on your Dac, your streamer box (a computer, an iphone, tv, or wiim mini) they all behave differently. I can't grasp which one is the "best" solution or claim to be bit perfect here. But Amazon music seems to output hi-res music for sure. Amazon still need to work on their device compatibility issues though.For qobuz, it works like a breeze. Always accurate, and always works! I've had raspberry pi ran through LMS, volumio, audirvana, and roon before. If you want me to choose what's the best solution for sound quality and simplicity, I would choose wiim mini.Although you don't have a roon or audirvana as centralized server. You can't "stream" music to every devices from a home server. You will lose "screen display" feature on your computer or tv. However, you will not bump into audirvana can't switch playback devices or roon constantly having server down issues you need to restart the server. Best of all, you don't need to deal with LMS or volumio just another update that something "doesn't work" again.For the sound quality, I compare to Qobuz, it is indeed a close match. To be easy to use and bit perfect, Qobuz is obviously the best choice. Amazon music comes in second with this wiim mini.Best of all was the Alexa integration. It's now possible to tell Alexa to play music, and on wiim mini side, it starts to play bit perfect hi-res music. That's simply the missing piece from the echo eco system that Amazon did not have on their own products unless you've gone for Echo Studio. Amazon really need to do some catch up.It will sound better than you use Amazon FireTV 4k Sticks plug into the AVR before TV. Due to "compatibility" issues, versions of FireTV OS, and FireTV hardware. Not all FireTV works right out of box. In addition, not all AVR works with FireTV stick either. So I am grateful that Wiim Mini simply skips that whole route all together.The weak link would be spotify connect (not very sure if spotify connect is ever going to support bit perfect when spotify finally release hi res audio). Tidal works okay but obviously your DAC needs to decode MQA because wiim mini can't do that from internal DAC. Best experiences comes from Qobuz and Amazon Music HD/UHD. Bluetooth was alright. When you can stream through WIFI, why bother with Bluetooth?However, the streaming service is very limited. It won't support even something like Pandora just yet! You really need to use Airplay2 to playback those type of music services.

Here's what I said in my first review.... (look below to see why I bought a second, or just get one already).It does what it says, it does it well, and at a reasonable price.Now for the audio nerds out there... So, I can stream directly to my receiver using its built-in AirPlay2. It sounds fine, And I know that it's better to get lossless data directly into my external DAC, which sounds way better than the DACs built-in to my receiver. But for convenience, nothing beats AirPlay streaming to the WiiM Mini, which connects to my external DAC via Optical. Does it sound as good as a direct connection to the DAC (no AirPlay AAC shenanigans involved)? No, it does not. But it definitely sounds WAY better than streaming AirPlay to my receiver's DACs, and so much more convenient than direct-connecting to the DAC.When I want to do attentive listening, I use an iPad connected via USB-C to the USB input of the Denafrips. When I just want to hear the Denafrips as part of my whole-house sound, the WiiM mini is my first choice.Looks like the internal DACs on my receiver are now relegated to Home Theater.The Mini is super easy to set up, it inhabits my AirPlay whole-house sound system beautifully, and the app even has some nice music discovery features of its own. This morning my "alarm clock" automation went off. It played SomaFM in my bedroom, and in the Home Theater through the Mini and into my external DAC. I made coffee, and spent a little time in from of the home theater/Denafrips system and thought... "yep, that sounds nice". That's all I was after, and that's exactly what I got. Nice job WiiM.I may get a couple more Minis before they introduce a new model that doesn't have AirPlay2 (I know, they're only rumors).== UPDATE ==So yes, I just bought my second WiiM Mini, and this time it's to run a second zone in my house as part of an AirPlay setup.My AVR has two zones, and I was using the AVR for that, but it's nowhere near as convenient as having another AirPlay device. However, I want better sound than I can get from a HomePod, and I have in-wall speakers that I want to use.In-wall speakers sound better than a HomePod? Well, if they're decent and driven by a decent zone amp (I'm looking at you Parasound ZAmp), and you use the WiiM Room Correction feature, then YES, it's not even close.The Room Correction feature worked so well in my setup that my in-wall speakers in the dining room actually sound very good now. Like not just good, but very good (not mindblowing either, but I'll take very good for this application).So yeah, the Mini has shown itself to be a great little swiss army knife and that's just using the AirPlay capability.WiiM Mini with Room Correction is killer.