WiiM Ultra

A$549 and it does what, exactly?

The short version is: the WiiM Ultra is the most feature-dense box at its price point in the Australian market right now, and I find that simultaneously impressive and slightly exhausting to think about. A network streamer, a digital preamp with volume control, an ES9038Q2M DAC, a phono stage, HDMI ARC, a colour touchscreen, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Tidal Connect, Qobuz, room correction EQ — all for A$549. I've spent more than that on cables that did less. Whether all of that adds up to something genuinely coherent, or just a spec-sheet bingo card, is what I want to work through here.

I'll admit I went into this sceptical. I write software for a living, and I know what happens when a single team tries to ship ten features at once. Usually six of them work properly. The WiiM Ultra mostly defies that instinct, though not entirely.

Design and engineering

The DAC section

ESS Technology's ES9038Q2M is the two-channel variant of the ES9038PRO, and it's been the go-to chip for mid-range DAC designers for several years now. It measures extraordinarily well for its price tier: WiiM specifies SNR at 121 dB and THD+N at -116 dB for the line outputs. Those numbers are consistent with what the 9038Q2M is capable of in a competent implementation — ESS's own data sheet puts the chip's THD+N floor at around -120 dB under ideal conditions, so WiiM is leaving a little headroom rather than overclaiming. That's an encouraging sign. Some cheaper implementations of this chip hobble performance with poor power supply design or a noisy digital ground plane; WiiM has clearly done enough work here to hit plausible figures.

The headphone output is driven by a Texas Instruments TPA6120A2. This is a current-feedback amplifier with good bench numbers and perfectly decent noise performance, but it's not a TPA6120A2-in-a-dedicated-chassis situation — it's a TPA6120A2 on the same board as a Wi-Fi radio, a touchscreen driver and an HDMI ARC transceiver. Dedicated headphone amplifier designers will rightly point out that the RF and switching noise environment matters. By design, this is a convenience headphone output for casual listening, not a stage to hang your Audeze LCD-4 off. I'll return to that.

The phono stage

An MM phono input in a box like this is unusual enough to warrant a pause. The inclusion makes genuine sense for someone building a mixed digital-analogue desk around an integrated amplifier that lacks its own phono stage, or around active monitors with no phono at all. The stage handles moving-magnet cartridges only — no MC — and feeds into the same ADC chain as the rest of the analogue inputs. That ADC conversion path caps at 24-bit/192 kHz, which is more than enough for any real-world phono source. The practical limit here is the phono stage quality itself, not the digital ceiling. WiiM hasn't published specific phono-stage noise or RIAA accuracy specs, which is honest; phono stages at this price are a convenience feature, not a reference-quality proposition.

Connectivity and topology

The I/O list is almost comically comprehensive. On the input side: RCA analogue, MM phono, optical (TosLink), USB, and HDMI ARC. The HDMI ARC inclusion is the feature most likely to surprise people who've been watching this product category. It means the Ultra can sit between a television and a hi-fi system and act as the audio hub — receive TV audio via ARC, apply volume control, send it out via RCA or digital outputs. For an apartment setup or a lounge room where the television is the primary entertainment source, this is genuinely useful and not something you'll find at this price from Bluesound, Cambridge Audio or Denon's HEOS range.

Outputs cover RCA line-out, optical, coaxial, a dedicated subwoofer output and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The subwoofer output, combined with the built-in parametric EQ and room correction, means this box can anchor a 2.1 desktop system without additional processing hardware. That's a thoughtful addition, not a checkbox.

One honest limitation: native DSD output isn't supported. The Ultra streams up to 24-bit/192 kHz PCM. For the vast majority of streaming library content — including Tidal's MQA-free FLAC and Qobuz's 24/192 hi-res — that's entirely sufficient. If you have a substantial DSD library or a downstream DSD-capable DAC you want to feed natively, this isn't the source component for you. I won't apologise for naming that directly because the DSD crowd will ask.

Sound

Here's where I want to be careful with framing. I don't have access to a calibrated measurement rig, so what follows is analysis grounded in the known engineering rather than invented lab numbers. That said, the ES9038Q2M has been implemented hundreds of times by now, and its sonic character in competent designs is well understood. WiiM's own published specifications and owners' reports across forums like AudioScienceReview and What Hi-Fi's community threads give us a consistent picture.

Bass

The ES9038Q2M in a well-filtered implementation tends toward a tight, well-defined low end rather than a warm, full-bodied presentation. Combined with the Ultra's 121 dB SNR figure, the noise floor is low enough that bass textures — the difference between a plucked upright bass and a bowed one, the articulation in a kick drum — should resolve clearly. The built-in parametric EQ and room correction give you the tools to compensate for room modes if the bass sounds lean in your specific space, which is a practical advantage over a bare DAC at this price.

Midrange

ESS chips have historically carried a reputation for a slightly analytical midrange — precise rather than lush. Whether that's a compliment or a criticism depends entirely on what you're feeding them. On acoustic music, orchestral recordings, or well-mastered vocal jazz, the resolving character works in your favour. On compressed or harshly mastered material, the same character can feel unforgiving. Owners consistently report that the Ultra's midrange is clean and open rather than warm or euphonic, which squares with the chip's known behaviour.

Treble

The 9038Q2M's treble can have a touch of brightness depending on the output filter mode selected. The WiiM app allows filter selection — a small but non-trivial feature that lets you push the presentation toward a smoother or a sharper high-frequency character. The built-in EQ is your friend here too. On paper, the -116 dB THD+N figure means intermodulation distortion should be well below audibility, so any treble character is likely to be filter and implementation rather than harmonic distortion.

Dynamics and soundstaging

With a 121 dB SNR, the dynamic range available on tap from the line outputs comfortably exceeds the dynamic range of any commercial recording I'm aware of. In practice that means the Ultra won't be the limiting factor in your system's dynamic performance — your room, your amplifier and your speakers will be. Soundstaging from a DAC is largely a function of channel separation and crosstalk performance; the ES9038Q2M's stereo channel separation is excellent by design, and WiiM's layout choices (running two separate output paths from the chip) support that.

Setup and system matching

Amplification and speakers

The Ultra's variable line output means it can drive a power amplifier directly with no additional preamplifier. That's a legitimate use case — pair it with a Hypex or Purifi-based class-D power amp, add speakers, and you have a very capable minimalist system for under A$1,500 all up. The volume control is implemented in the digital domain, which raises the familiar question about bit-depth reduction at low volumes. WiiM uses a 32-bit volume control path, which keeps resolution intact down to listening levels you'd actually use. At very low levels — say, below 20% on the digital scale — you'll want to be more careful, but that applies to every digital volume implementation.

For passive preamp purists who want to run a separate preamplifier: set the Ultra's output to fixed (bypassing the digital volume) and use the pre's own attenuation. The coaxial and optical digital outputs let you bypass the internal DAC entirely if you have a better downstream converter.

Room correction and EQ

The built-in room correction is genuinely useful in smaller or acoustically compromised rooms. It's not Dirac Live and it won't replace a full-blown room correction suite, but for the average lounge or study it can take the edge off bass room modes and high-frequency reflections without requiring a separate hardware DSP unit. I'd recommend taking the time to set it up rather than leaving it flat; the measurement process via the WiiM app is straightforward.

Partnering gear and cabling

At A$549, there's no justification for exotic interconnects. A decent-quality RCA cable with proper shielding is all you need; anything beyond that is punting money on diminishing returns in a system built around this source component. The phono input is MM-only, so check your cartridge output type before connecting a turntable.

The HDMI ARC input requires an HDMI 1.4 or later port on your television. Most sets sold in Australia in the last decade qualify. Check that your TV's ARC port supports the audio formats you need — standard PCM stereo works everywhere, but Dolby Digital and DTS pass-through depends on the television's output settings.

Living with it

Build and ergonomics

The 3.5-inch glass touchscreen is the Ultra's most visible point of difference from competing streamers at this price. It's responsive, readable at arm's length, and displays album art, track info and volume level clearly. By the standards of the category — where Bluesound Node's display is a small secondary screen and the Cambridge Audio MXN10 has none at all — the Ultra's touchscreen is a genuine ergonomic win for listeners who don't want to reach for their phone every time they want to see what's playing.

The WiiM app (iOS and Android) is, by the standards of the streaming app ecosystem, well-maintained and logically organised. It handles service switching, EQ settings, room correction, input selection and output routing in one place. This matters more than people give it credit for: I've used streamers with better hardware whose software was so frustrating I stopped wanting to use them. The WiiM app doesn't have that problem. It isn't perfect — the EQ interface is functional rather than elegant, and the room correction walkthrough could be clearer — but it's a long way ahead of where WiiM was two years ago.

AU availability and support

WiiM products are distributed in Australia through Interdyn, who handle a significant portion of the mid-range AV brands sold locally. Retail availability covers the major online audio specialists as well as JB Hi-Fi in select locations. Warranty is the standard Australian Consumer Law coverage; WiiM's international warranty terms offer 12 months parts and labour. Firmware updates are regular and have meaningfully expanded the feature set since the product launched — the room correction feature itself was a post-launch addition. That's worth acknowledging: buying into the WiiM ecosystem means you're likely to gain capability over time rather than being left on a static firmware.

I'll be honest: the long-term support question is the one I'd watch. WiiM is a relatively young brand and the A$549 price point requires manufacturing economies that larger incumbents can't match. The software dependency is real — full functionality relies on WiiM's cloud infrastructure for service linking and remote control. If WiiM were to scale back support in three years, some features would degrade. That's a risk that comes with the territory at this price, and it's worth factoring in if you're the sort of listener who expects a source component to still be doing its job in ten years.

How it compares

The Bluesound Node (around A$699-$749) is the obvious comparison. The Node has a longer track record, a marginally more refined app in BluOS, and a more conservatively specified but well-implemented DAC section. It lacks HDMI ARC, lacks a phono input, and lacks a touchscreen. For pure streaming performance and ecosystem reliability, the Node is a known quantity; for raw features-per-dollar, the Ultra wins decisively.

Cambridge Audio's MXN10 streamer sits at a similar price without the built-in DAC's depth of specification or the touchscreen. Cambridge's build quality and brand heritage are genuine advantages, but the MXN10 doesn't touch the Ultra for I/O breadth.

Moving up the price ladder, the Wiim Pro Plus (the Ultra's predecessor in WiiM's line) lacks the touchscreen and HDMI ARC. Within WiiM's own range, the Ultra is the one to buy.

At or above A$1,000, you encounter dedicated network streamers from Lumin, Auralic and the Naim Mu-so ecosystem — but those are different propositions for different system architectures and different buyers. Comparing them to the Ultra is like comparing a Swiss Army knife to a chef's knife: both cut, but they're answering different questions.

Who it's for — and who should look elsewhere

The Ultra makes the most sense for someone building a flexible, modern streaming hub around existing amplification or active monitors, particularly in a lounge or desktop context where the television is part of the ecosystem. The HDMI ARC input alone changes the calculus for many apartment listeners. Add in AirPlay 2 (which, as anyone who's wrestled with Chromecast audio dropouts knows, remains the most reliable wireless audio protocol for Apple device users), Chromecast and a growing list of direct service integrations, and the Ultra is one of the most flexible streaming endpoints available below A$600.

It suits vinyl enthusiasts who want a single-box digital hub that can also accept a turntable input without adding a separate phono stage. And it suits listeners who want to upgrade incrementally — feed a better downstream DAC via coaxial out, add a better headphone amp later, keep the Ultra as a transport and control hub.

Who shouldn't buy it? Headphone listeners who want to hang a pair of planar magnetics off the 3.5mm output and expect reference-quality drive are setting themselves up for disappointment. The TPA6120A2 is a competent chip but this is a secondary output on a streaming hub, not a dedicated headphone stage. Buy a separate headphone amplifier.

DSD devotees with large native DSD libraries, or those feeding a downstream DSD-capable DAC and wanting bit-for-bit DSD pass-through, should look elsewhere: the Ultra's 24/192 PCM ceiling is the hard limit here. And if you're someone who fundamentally distrusts cloud-dependent audio systems — fair enough — the WiiM ecosystem's reliance on WiiM's servers for full functionality is a genuine long-term question mark.

Everyone else? At A$549, this is a genuinely difficult box to argue against. WiiM has shipped something that punches well above its price, corners a few compromises honestly, and does the hard yards of everyday streaming reliability better than most of its competitors. The bit-perfect streaming problem, as I keep arguing on those forums at midnight, is mostly solved — and for what it costs, the WiiM Ultra solves it admirably.

— Theo Mensah, Digital, DACs & Streaming Editor