How much would you be willing to pay for a WiiM Ultra? That’s the question the company posed to members of its forums just before it announced this new streamer, offering three options: £349, £399 and £449.
What’s most surprising is that, having been unveiled and put on sale, the WiiM Ultra is actually even less than the cheapest option on that list. Can you imagine Apple ever asking what a reasonable price for its latest iPad Pro might be? Us neither.
You get plenty of streamer for your money, too. The Mac Mini-esque aluminium chassis bears a 3.5in touchscreen, which can be used to just display things like artwork or to control playback and tweak settings, and a physical volume dial, adding a touch of the tactile to your digital music delivery.
There’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 inside, with two antennas for solid streaming from Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, AirPlay 2, and Chromecast, but it also has a pre-amp built-in, so you can use the wealth of ports round the back to connect other sources, from turntables to TVs. You get line-in and phono-in, optical and HDMI ARC, but there’s also a subwoofer socket, USB for adding storage, and a 3.5mm output that’s connected to a dedicated headphone amp.
The WiiM Ultra uses an ES9038 Q2M SABRE DAC, which means hi-res files at up to 192kHz/24-bit are on the playback menu, with tech to automatically tweak the sound based on the sonic characteristics of the room you use it in.
You get all of this for just £339 – a tenner less than the lowest price proposed by WiiM before launch. Bargain.
