The vinyl revival may be in full swing, but for most people, streaming is the fast and enjoyable way to listen to high-quality tunes. After all, digital music has come a long way since the days of Limewire, and even Spotify. And thanks to streamers like the WiiM Pro, it’s easier than ever to stream your favorite music through an older system or hi-fi.
For streaming fans, Sonos makes the best connected speakers, with their integrated hardware and software. But those who already own a “dumb” stereo and speakers essentially have two wireless streaming options: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. With Bluetooth, the range is horrible and objective sound quality is even worse. Wi-Fi is more reliable and delivers considerably better sound, but there aren’t a lot of hardware options. For the most part, the choice comes down to the affordable-but-way-discontinued Google Chromecast Audio or much more expensive streamers like the $449 Sonos Port or $599 Bluesound Node.
At $149, the WiiM Pro not only gives music fans an up-to-date and affordable option, but it’s also more flexible than all those players put together. WiiM, pronounced “whim,” offers pretty much every streaming standard you can think of, including Roon, while also adding its own easy-to-use app. The device includes plenty of digital and analog connectivity options, some of which are even unusual for the money. Want to stream vinyl on a turntable around the house, for example? It can do that — though there are some caveats.
The $449 Sonos Port (left) versus the $149 WiiM Pro (right).
What’s in the box?
The WiiM Pro is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth music streamer designed to connect to existing stereo systems, soundbars or speakers. Competing ecosystems like Sonos offer rock-solid performance, but if you’re bringing existing equipment into the fold, it can get very expensive. For example, in my mind, it’s just not worth adding a $449 Sonos Port to a $600 receiver like the Onkyo TX-NR6100 — much less a cheaper system. But the WiiM Pro offers a salve by supporting every single open standard I can think of, as well as its own streaming app in an affordable box. Even adding a WiiM Pro to a $200 soundbar makes sense.
The WiiM Pro is a step up from the $99 WiiM Mini and while it offers the same Burr-Brown PCM5121 decoder, the Pro has more functionality, including Chromecast built-in and analog inputs. Design-wise, the WiiM Pro is exactly the same size as the Sonos Port, at 5.5 inches square and 1.6 inches tall. The WiiM is well made, and though it isn’t particularly heavy, it includes a rubber bottom to stop it from slipping around when you plug in cables.
The WiiM Pro offers plenty of connections, including analog in/out and digital in/out.
If there’s one thing the WiiM Pro offers, it’s plenty of connections — both physical and of the streaming variety. The back of the unit includes analog and optical digital in and out jacks, plus a coaxial digital out. This is in addition to a USB-C power input, a microphone for multiroom audio synchronization, an Ethernet port and a 12-volt trigger. The trigger output is unusual, as it’s designed to turn on an external amplifier once the WiiM Pro has detected an incoming stream. But I wouldn’t try to control volume from a honking power amp with the dinky +/- capacitive buttons on the front of the WiiM Pro — too much margin for error. Those buttons, which also include a source button and a Play/Pause button, can be changed from volume to fast forward and rewind in the settings menu, which may be more useful.
On the streaming side, the WiiM Pro is just as thorough with Bluetooth, Ethernet and Wi-Fi, which brings AirPlay 2, Chromecast built-in, Amazon Multi-Room Music, Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect and DLNA. In terms of competition, the WiiM Pro’s closest rival is the Chromecast Audio, but the WiiM does some things the Audio can’t do, such as gapless audio and support for more streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, Roon is a server-based music streaming system that aggregates all your music from local storage and multiple streaming platforms in one easy-to-use interface. The WiiM Pro has now been certified as Roon Ready, which makes this device an even better purchase for music fans.
While the WiiM is controllable with a separate Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, the company does make a $20 WiiM Voice Remote (not tested) that includes a dedicated Alexa button and microphone. The remote can also be used to control the WiiM Pro with transport controls such as Play/Pause and so on.
