Review: Wiim Amp Ultra Streaming Amplifier

Every once in a while, it’s good to acknowledge the positives in our technological fever dream. Take Wiim, an audio brand that seemed to rise purely out of Sonos' failures, but has quietly become a favorite among numerous WIRED staffers for its affordable, all-in-one streaming amplifiers that work as simply and reliably as anything I’ve ever tested.

Wiim’s gorgeous little aluminum amps pick up where Sonos Amps left off, letting you gather your TV and other audio devices in one place, stream music from dozens of services, and control it all with a rock-steady app. Just add speakers.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

That may sound like a straightforward task: All you need is a streaming amplifier that works as advertised, and an HDMI ARC port for TVs. It is not. I can’t tell you how many hi-fi audio components I’ve tried, from amplifiers to powered speakers, that can’t decipher A/V applications as basic as consistently swapping between TV sound and another input, let alone more complex tasks. The only issue I’ve had with Wiim’s amps, including the more affordable Amp Pro, is that their sound quality isn't quite amazing, which is especially noticeable with high-end speakers.

The Wiim Amp Ultra aims to fix this issue, catering to those after a bit more than just worry-free performance at a very nice price. On that front, it proved an immediate success, providing noticeably cleaner, more expansive stereo sound than the Amp Pro I’ve had at the center of my living room for the past few months. The sound isn’t perfect, and the package leaves out some features I’d expect at this price (like AirPlay and a dedicated phono input), but it easily won my heart anyway. The Wiim Amp Ultra showed off a lovely mix of performance, design, and quality over multiple weeks on my TV stand.

Swift Setup

Getting going with the Amp Ultra is about as slick as it gets. Opening the box reveals two boxes of cables, a hearty rechargeable voice remote, and a cold aluminum cube with an obsidian glass front. It looks like a Mac Mini on steroids. For those new to amplifiers, you'll need to grab some speaker wire, but otherwise, Wiim includes all your accessories, including four banana plugs (pushable cable ends) for plug-and-play connection.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

After connecting my TV via HDMI ARC and wiring in my speakers, I plugged in power to reveal a QR code on the 3.5-inch color touchscreen (this has a color touchscreen!) for the Wiim Home app, which takes the wheel for network setup. The app couldn’t find my unit at first, but after tapping on the volume knob, the Amp Ultra quickly popped on. After a five-minute update, I was off to the races.

The beauty of the Wiim system—like Sonos—is that there are a ton of ways to play. From smart services to multi-room audio, the app provides multiple options to customize your home listening experience.

Loaded Little Box

Wiim makes a lot of products, including the very similar-looking Wiim Ultra, which does not provide amplification, instead acting as an add-on streamer to future-fy older amplifiers. The Amp Ultra packs it all in one 7.87 x 8.3 x 3-inch box.

Inside is a small Class-D amplifier with up to 100 watts per channel at 8 ohms (200 watts at 4 ohms), which should power virtually any speakers you’ve got, unless you're lugging around something very special. The digital audio conversion is handled by an ESS ES9039Q2M SABRE DAC chip—the thing that converts your digital sound to analog sound waves—with support for high-resolution audio at up to 24-bit/192-kHz, which is better than CD quality. At the back is a concise selection of physical inputs, including the aforementioned HDMI ARC TV port, digital optical, RCA analog line-in, a USB port for flash drives, Ethernet connection, and a subwoofer output.

Wireless connection starts with Wi-Fi 6 and includes support for Google Cast, Alexa cast, and a cascade of streaming services, from the usual suspects like Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, to network apps like Plex and random services you’ve likely never heard of like SoundMachine. Spotify Connect is on by default, while others need to be enabled to “reduce network load,” according to the brand. AirPlay 2 and Apple Music are conspicuously absent, which will be a big miss for some listeners. You can access it via Bluetooth 5.3, but frankly, if Apple Music is your main listening hub, I'd go with another option like the standard Wiim Amp.

Similarly, while I didn’t necessarily expect a phono input for turntables in the Amp Pro, it’d be nice to get one in the Ultra given the price increase and its tendency to be more of a hi-fi centerpiece. The Orbit Theory turntable I use for testing has a solid built-in phono stage, as do many of my favorite turntables, but it’s something to be aware of if you're connecting a turntable that doesn't have one built in.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

There’s no shortage of ways to control the system, starting with the front-side touchscreen, which lets you tap the Home symbol for a basic control menu. I barely used this method, because using my phone or the remote is way easier, but it’s nice as a backup. The aluminum remote is convenient for quickly adjusting playback or accessing Alexa (if you’re into that), but in my opinion the app is easily the best way to manage things, from input selection and streaming access to grouping multiple units in a multi-room setup.

Sweet Software

The Wiim Home app’s main screen offers a layout of all devices on your network, as well as the main bank of streaming services, but the Devices tab is where you’ll spend most of your time with the Ultra. Tapping it unlocks a laundry list of options, which can be overwhelming for new users, but the good news is you can do as much (or as little) customizing as you like.

ScreenshotWiiM Home app via Ryan Waniata

Case in point: It took me several days of being slightly irked by the Amp Ultra’s garishly colorful screensaver lighting up my living room at night before I finally dug into the settings to find, like nearly everything on the Amp Ultra, it’s adjustable! The Screen Settings menu let me lower the brightness and swap out the flashy rainbow clock for a minimalist analog dial that blends in perfectly with my setup. You can even add fun options like old-school VU meters in place of album art for playback (just plain cool).

Pretty much every Amp Ultra feature works similarly. Don’t want your system to automatically switch to the HDMI ARC input when you switch on the TV? Turn off HDMI Auto-sensing in the Inputs tab. Is your TV too loud or bassy compared to your record player? You can adjust the default volume and EQ at the input level, with over a dozen presets and both graphic and parametric customization. You can choose your preferred subwoofer crossover setting or even tweak the granularity of the volume knob.

Whether you’re a minimalist novice or a control freak looking to tweak every setting, the Amp Ultra abides. Most impressive, I never found a flub over several weeks of testing. The system never refused to connect to my TV, never paused streaming, never delayed an input switch. Everything just worked as intended, a refreshing change from so many devices I’ve tested, including (and sometimes especially) amps that cost over five times as much.

Squeaky Clean Sound

Features and usability are great, but they’re not much use if your system doesn’t sound good. Luckily the Amp Ultra excels there too, offering a noticeable upgrade over its cheaper siblings (and most other budget amps, for that matter).

I’m an Olympics nut, so it’s no accident that when I first connected the Amp Ultra, it was between qualifying runs for Women’s downhill skiing. Swapping to the Ultra from the Amp Pro was an instant upgrade, providing a deeper cut to the icy snow crunch, while expanding the stereo image to stretch further into the room. The din of the audience at the hill’s basecamp was so much more present and encompassing, I paused the sound to see if it was actually my Dyson air filter firing up (it was not).

Music playback stepped up similarly. The center image was clearer and more refined, the soundstage wider, and instrumental separation more precise. I did most of my listening over lossless Spotify Connect, as well as spinning some of my favorite reference records on the Orbit Theory.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Tonally, the Ultra leans on the brighter side, especially in thinner vintage recordings like Frank Sinatra’s “Luck Be a Lady.” That combined with the spritely SVS Ultra Evolution I use as reference speakers, meant for some extra sonic zeal in the highs, though it never pushed toward sharpness or sibilance (that thing where S sounds bother you).

Fuller tracks like Beck’s “Paper Tiger” revealed long hanging reverb trails, strings that pushed assertively forward into the room, and pleasantly firm bass. You may or may not need that subwoofer output at all, depending on your speakers. In my living room, it was generally ample, though (as expected) it’s not as authoritative as my favorite comparison amps with heftier internal components, the Outlaw RR2160 or Naim Uniti Atom.

When I hooked up my more affordable Polk L100 bookshelf speakers, the soundstage closed in a bit, and detail was less forthright, but the tonality stayed mostly the same, if a bit warmer in the lower midrange near bass and kick drums, thanks to the different speaker design. My Japanese-pressed copy of Sgt Pepper was appropriately sizzly with both sets of speakers, from crunchy horns and buzzy guitar solos to luminous synths. Once again, nothing ever pushed my ears too hard up high.

If forced to wage complaints without reaching for the in-app EQ, I’d wish for a bit more warmth and body in the midrange, more treble finesse, and a bit more dynamic punch in flat tuning mode. That's a small quibble, as far as I'm concerned: It’s hard to ask for much more than what the Ultra delivers for the money, especially considering how good it looks while doing it.

My WIRED colleagues and I have been pushing folks in our personal lives looking for simple and affordable all-in-one setups toward Wiim amps, but up to now, there wasn’t a major reason to spend up for anything other than the basic version. The Amp Ultra gives us that reason, with sound and features that easily outdo its price, and might see it become a staple in budding audiophile setups everywhere. Whether you’re after a single do-it-all amp like you used to have, or starting a multi-room, multi-speaker entertainment empire, Wiim is the new standard. The Ultra Amp is another great addition to the brand's growing empire.