John Darko
If the touchscreen-fronted streaming DAC door was opened by Hifi Roseย and then kicked clean off its hinges by Eversolo, WiiM and Shanling will soon walk through with touchscreen streaming DACs of their own.
WiiM teased its soon-to-be-launched Ultra in a forum post the week before last. Specifics are thin on the ground but my contact at Wiim sent me the following:
“The WiiM Ultra, inspired by the consumer-loved flagship streamer, is a central digital hub for your audio ecosystem, with audiophile-grade components and build-quality alongside rich audio connections and a vibrant 3.5โ full-color touchscreen. It brings Hi-Res streaming capabilities, advanced room correction, and smart home integration to your existing setup, be it powered speakers or amplifiers. Beyond these, it seamlessly connects with a wide range of devices including turntables, TVs, headphones, AV receivers, subwoofers, smart speakers, Bluetooth headsets, and more, offering a comprehensive and versatile audio solution.”
I was also told via email that 1) the Ultra can handle digital and analogue sources, 2) the case is aluminium, 3) the DAC circuit has been improved (over the โฌ249 Pro Plus) and 4) digital signal handling is bit-perfect. It’s probably safe to assume that the Ultra will land with the Pro Plus’s streaming feature set: Bluetooth, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Squeezebox emulation and Roon Ready (eventually) with Amazon Music and Qobuz support baked into the WiiM Home app.
The two supplied photos show the presence of an HDMI ARC input which, along with the front panel volume rotary, suggests that the Ultra will serve as a pre-amplifier. An input marked ‘phono’ then implies the new WiiM box will play catch on a turntable’s outputs (likely MM only) and a single RCA socket labelled ‘subwoofer’ tells us we might see a mirroring of the WiiM Home app’s hi/lo pass filtering as applied to the WiiM AMP.
Pricing won’t be revealed until the Ultra’s official launch at Munich High-End on May 9th but if the Ultra’s room correction-filtered output can be dispatched via its coaxial socket, we can expect long queues at the MOC and plenty of Internet chatter from next Thursday.
But wait. This morning brought news of a similar product also launching at Munich High-End next week: Shanling has begun teasing its less catchily-named SM1.3; a touchscreen-enabled streaming DAC. The volume wheel suggests pre-amplifier functionality – and the promo poster seen above confirms it – but the Shanling one-ups the WiiM on balanced XLR connectivity and an I2S output for two full doses of audiophile catnip. The (other) Chinese manufacturer also tells us that the new unit’s internal DAC will revolve around 4499EX silicon from AKM and (in a follow-up email conversation) it was revealed that the SM1.3 will run a customised (and non-native) version of Android with “direct access to streaming services”. Like the Ultra, the SM1.3’s price will remain TBC until its official unveiling on May 9th.
Today’s over-arching point is this: we have been notified in advance of Munich High-End that WiiM and Shanling are pulling the covers off something new and – old-school manufacturers keeping shtum until launch day – we now know exactly what it is to plan our MOC walkabouts accordingly. Holding back the ta-daa moment until the show’s opening sells visitors short. Hats off to Shanling and WiiM for going long.
