The creative American firm WiiM continues to display its overflowing capacity for innovation, expanding what is already considered by many to be the best next-generation audio ecosystem of the moment, as a result of the unique fusion of design, technology, construction quality and affordability that distinguishes each and every one of its products. The new proposal from this young company is called WiiM Amp Ultra, a stereo integrated amplifier with a built-in streamer, which surpasses the already exceptional performance of the “best-selling” WiiM Amp Pro by adding engineering elements of the WiiM Ultra distribution center (“hub”). This means that the WiiM offers a strong mix of purist soul and flexibility to offer the ultimate in quality/price ratio within the context of intelligent audio systems. Hence, the presence of a beautiful 89 mm (3.5”) full-color touch screen that occupies half of the front panel immediately draws attention, maintaining the unmistakable WiiM aesthetic, materialized in an ultra-compact and elegantly minimalist enclosure made entirely of aluminum, which also contributes to evacuating excess calories, thus ensuring uniformity of performance and maximizing long-term reliability.
In this regard, it must be emphasized that thermal dissipation constitutes one of the outstanding technical aspects of the Wiim Amp Ultra courtesy of a sophisticated management scheme made up of a copper heat pipe, a large aluminum heatsink and a high-precision PID control that regulates the temperature of the assembly in real time. For its part, the audio section, of fundamental relevance in the “WiiM galaxy”, is structured around an ES9039Q2M SABER D/A conversion “chip” from ESS Technology, a double TPA3255 Class D amplifier from Texas Instruments (2×100 watts at 8 ohms or 2×200 watts at 4 ohms) and six OPA1612 operational amplifiers from the same brand. Added to this is WiiM’s exclusive “Post Filter Feedback” (PFFB) technology, which guarantees, through dynamic compensation of the impedance variations of the associated speakers, an exceptionally transparent sound whatever the operating conditions.
In parallel, the ground-breaking room correction RoomFit allows optimizing, through measurements and acoustic corrections, the adaptation of the speakers used to the listening space. Regarding connectivity, we are faced with a product that has been designed to offer extreme versatility due to its Wi-Fi 6F and Bluetooth 5.3 compatibility on the one hand, and, on the other, the presence of three inputs (analog line, optical digital and HDMI with ARC, the latter for connection to a television) and three audio outputs (USB with support for a maximum of 8 channels at 24 bits/192 kHz, speakers and subwoofer). The WiiM Amp Ultra, which is also Roon Ready approved, is completed with management via the WiiM Home “app”, largely responsible for the sensational user experience inherent to WiiM. Thanks to this, it is possible to customize the sound using tools such as a 10-band graphic and parametric equalizer (with memorizable settings for each input), 24 preset equalization profiles or adjusting the subwoofer cutoff frequency, and, of course, directly access the most popular audio streaming platforms (both standard and “Hi-Res”).
