Ask a bartender - serve a cheap whisky in a shot glass and it’s gone in an instant - in a heavy glass tumbler most customers coo about how earthy, peaty and marvellous it tastes. Suddenly, they turn connoisseur and ask about it’s single malt, sherry cask origins from the wild island 200 miles north of the Outer Hebrides…

Wiim’s Impact

The Wiim Amp has garnered many praises from reviewers. Darko Audio’s video review clocked 1.5 million views and with good reason. The Wiim is beautifully packaged and designed, if rather too similar to a fruity tech company, and an app that is a breeze to use with smooth setup straight from the box. That is the concern here, this feels too good to be true - A Hi-Fi product with modern design leans, small footprint, light weight and sounds great, All for an exceptionally reasonable £319.

But is this just a cheap whisky in a fancy glass?

Wiim Who?

Getting to the bottom of this young upstart in Hi-Fi felt like some sort of deep internet mining. The holding company is Linkplay Technologies, formed in 2014 - a consortium of Google, Broadcom, Inter Video and Harman with another 6 tech partners and a group of mostly Chinese Investors. Access to deep pockets will be needed, given the technology toes this new kid on the block is stepping on (to date a number of patent infringement charges filed, all won so far) It is almost comical that they chose an ambigram name like it’s closest rival.

Specifications

Having experienced the Wiim mini and Wiim Pro, the Wiim Amp follows the trend with an incredibly easy setup. From the moment you attach speakers to it and turn it on you are greeted with an audible welcome and instruction to download the Wiim App and follow the on screen steps. Out of the box it has Bluetooth 5.1, Spotify connect, Tidal Connect, Apple Airplay 2, Google Chromecast, Squeezelite, Roon Ready (awaiting certification - nearly there at the time of writing and should be in the next update), Alexa Cast & DNLA. Internet Connectivity is via 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.4G/5GHz Dual-band or 10/100 Mbps LAN. Audio inputs are via HDMI Arc, Optical & Line In. The Amp is a Class D putting out 60W in 8Ω, 120W into 4Ω, plus there is a dedicated sub woofer output.

The remote control is a Bluetooth device, so no need for line of sight. It also has a microphone at the top of the remote to allow for voice control via Alexa, Siri or Google voice control.

You can output to speakers, a pair of Bluetooth headphones or a speaker or to an Airplay device. Need multi-room? No problem, grouping and setup is a breeze. You can even take a line input from a turntable and have it play to the other devices.

Put simply, there is no other product on the market at this price that does all of this. And looking at the product roadmap, there is more to come.

Setup & Listening Notes

As mentioned previously, from the moment you open the box, clear instructions, connect this to your speakers and switch on, there is an audible direction. The package has a QR code that you can scan and download the Wiim app. The app actually guides you through the setup with very clear instructions. It’s fast, checks and upgrades itself with a very realistic time and off you go. The exhaustive list of streaming services available is impressive. The manual is possibly one of the best written available, comprehensive and clear with no marketing fluff - refreshing.

The audio settings allow for EQ options. Choose from 24 preset settings, fine-tune with a 10-band graphic EQ, or dive deep with a 4-band parametric EQ. Plus, enjoy the freedom to set independent EQ profiles for each input source, be it HDMI, Optical, Line, BT, or Network. Craft your perfect audio landscape, room by room, source by source. There is also the Sub Out level and crossover frequency to tune in the sub to your speakers.

Initially, we demonstrated the Wiim Amp with a pair of Acoustic Energy AE100². That’s a complete and comprehensive Hi-Fi system for a shade over £550. Switching to Dynaudio Emit 10 and then the Emit 20, each setup progressively improving the speakers resulted in a marked improvement. With the Emit 20, there was great detail, but a noticeable sweet spot, after which things became a little strained.

Listening Notes:

Lots of body with great control in the highs, mids and bass.
Large, involving stereo imaging with great depth and latitude.
Engaging listening across most genres. Classical and Jazz did come across a little thin in our listening session.

In Summary

How does it compare with separates?

The closest comparative would be the entry level Rega IO (£420) with a Wiim Pro (£149). That’s close to twice the price of the Wiim Amp and yes, in my humble opinion it does sound better, but twice as good? The Bluesound Poweredge is possible, but this is at £599.

This could be a case of a company with deep pockets looking to disrupt the cosy world of Hi-Fi pricing for market share. Only time will tell if the young company will mature gracefully over the years to come.

If you looking for a streaming amp for a smallish room, a starter system, or perhaps even a second system. At this price there is only one choice. But, as ever, don’t take our word for it - book a demonstration and audition it for yourself.

Thanks for reading

Justin - Audio T Bristol

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