Introduction
After the Australian Hi-Fi Show, Audacity Australia was kind enough to lend me their open-box demo units for Amp Ultra, WiiM Amp, and WiiM Edition C10 MKII. The occasion? WiiM has introduced Dolby Audio support for their range of pre-amps and amps. I previously reviewed the WiiM Ultra streaming pre‑am and WiiM Amp and I was suitably impressed. However, I have never had eyes or hands on the Amp Ultra.
However, the Amp Ultra lands with exactly the kind of “do the basics well” brief WiiM is known for: clean Class‑D power, a sensible app, room calibration that’s more than checkbox marketing, and now proper Dolby Digital 5.1 over optical and HDMI ARC.
Add to that a tiny but transformative usability win—those removable speaker connectors—and you’ve got a one‑box that respects both your time and your living room. On paper, this is 100 W/8 Ω per channel, ESS Sabre DACs inside, HDMI ARC with Dolby Digital decode, USB audio out, and a sub out, wrapped in a solid aluminium shell with a 3.5″ touchscreen. That’s the promise; here’s how it behaved in my own living room. (blog.wiimhome.com)
Build and Hardware Impressions
Build quality is excellent— and to me feels better even than the WiiM Ultra streaming pre‑amp I reviewed earlier. The Amp Ultra’s unibody aluminium case feels tighter, the screen is crisp, and overall fit‑and‑finish lands where it should for a living‑room hub. Inside you get ESS ES9039Q2M, dual TI TPA3255 output stages with post‑filter feedback, and Wi‑Fi 6E/Bluetooth 5.3. AirPlay is still absent (Google Cast, Alexa Cast, Spotify/TIDAL Connect are present), but nothing else in this price band matches the combination of power, platform support and control polish. (blog.wiimhome.com)
If the lack of airplay bothers you, I recommend using an Apple TV for all your streaming, including audio, and then you can also do Dolby Surround where available.
Setup and WiiM’s Usability Masterstrokes
Credit where it’s due: the removable speaker terminals are awesome. The Amp Ultra uses recessed 4 mm banana sockets but ships with plug‑in adapters that accept bare wire or spades. You can wire the adapters at a table, then click them into the amp, and you’re done. No finger yoga, bending over your entertainment rack or TV stand, no strands hanging out and no scratched posts. I wish every AVR manufacture stole this idea like yesterday. It sounds trivial; it isn’t—this is the kind of friction that makes me roll my eyes every time I need to set up a new amp or AVR. I literally dread having to play with banana plugs and speaker posts. WiiM is clearly leading here. (stereonet.com)
Once powered on, the WiiM devices literally speak to you over the speakers to tell you they are in pairing or setup mode. and to use the WiiM app to continue setup. While this may seem silly, it actually works very well. The fact that the devices told me what to do out of the box reduced my usual setup anxiety and stopped me having to refer to the manual.
Once starting the app, the devices are recognised and automatically connected to your Wifi and setup starts. This was especially useful for the WiiM Edition C10 MKII wireless speaker, that only has buttons, and not a display. All of this went off without a hitch.
Again, I think other manufacturers should sit up and take note.
Speaker Calibration
Room correction is where most “smart” amps stumble. WiiM’s current RoomFit implementation is the opposite: effective, quick, and—crucially—honest about what it’s doing.
- You get a 10-band GEQ or PEQ per speaker per input, which is great!
- It lets you pick a target curve, frequency range, max/min gain and Q, and it exposes smoothing (1/3, 1/6, 1/12 octave) for room correction. That last one matters; smoothing changes how the algorithm trades surgical fixes for naturalness, and shows that WiiM actually understands calibration which is good to see.
- You can run multiple measurements (beta) or use MMM (moving mic measurement) for an averaged listening area—perfect for larger listening areas.
- The app compensates for the iPhone’s built‑in mic (iOS) and even lets you import an external mic’s calibration file if you want to go nerd‑mode. That’s rare at this price and shows the team actually thinks about measurement hygiene.
- For more info, you can refer to faq.wiimhome.com.
Net result? Even with low‑end bookshelves the system snapped into focus: bass modes tamed without killing punch, voices stepped forward, and the left/right boundaries “disappeared” more convincingly than with the default curve. It’s not Dirac, but it’s miles beyond your typical “one button smile curve”.
Dolby Digital 5.1 – Wireless Surround
The Amp Ultra decodes Dolby Audio 5.1 over HDMI ARC/eARC and can act as the front L/R “group lead,” then wirelessly distribute centre and rears to other WiiM devices. Setup is as simple as it gets: group devices in WiiM Home, tap the 5.1 icon on Now Playing, then assign channels. You can even run one device as both surround channels (“Surround Left & Right”) or promote a single WiiM speaker to centre—handy if you’ve got a C10 MKII to put into service. (faq.wiimhome.com)
The WiiM amp can be wired up for surround L/R duties and is very effective at that. Although you can use wireless speakers in all positions if you wish. Ultimately, there’s not a lot of difference between the two setups, apart from using active wireless or passive speakers connected to the WiiM Amp.
What I Liked
Channel mapping works as advertised, panning is stable, and the sub out stays active with a sensible default crossover (you can adjust 30–250 Hz). A single C10 MKII as the lone surround unit surprised me: it filled in the rear very well.
I am making new L/R speakers for the living room and will be repurposing our own SHC SUR08 design for L/R duties. However, until that’s done, I’m stuck with bookshelf speakers that don’t have a lot of bass – at least not as much as my SHC LCR10s. So I got the Amp Ultra to steer bass to the C10 MKI which instantly brought the audio and surround sound to life when acting in the surround position, even without having the subwoofer active. I was pretty impressed how effective this was.
Limitations of Note:
- Depending on your Wi‑Fi, there can be occasional micro‑stutters if you run everything over a congested 2.4 GHz mesh. That’s the cost of synchronising multiple endpoints. The fix is built‑in: set per‑input Group Audio Delay on the lead, wire the Amp Ultra via Ethernet for best results, and keep the satellites on clean 5 GHz. With that, lip‑sync and stability issues should be gone. However, if you use 2.4 GHz and leave the delay too low, stability can suffer.
- It’s Dolby Digital (Plus) 5.1 only. No Atmos or DTS surround here. If you want Atmos and DTS, you’ll still want an AVR.
- With some older TVs (such as some older LG OLEDs), there could be a bit of a delay when locking onto the HDMI audio signal with Dolby audio – up to around 5s. There are two possible fixes:
- Switch to PCM output which doesn’t seem to have this issue, but you will lose 5.1 surround.
- Use an Apple TV connected to the TV. When set to Auto Audio Out, there is only delay when switching from PCM to Dolby or vice versa, not every time a new video starts. When using forced Dolby Digital 5.1 output on the Apple TV, the lock-on delay is eliminated entirely. However, everything will be re-compressed to DD 5.1.
- I was assured by WiiM that this doesn’t happen on most TVs and setups, and it sounds like a quirk with my older LG OLED B8. Again, an Apple TV or Google TV streamer fixes the issue.
How it Sounds
With calibration engaged, the Amp Ultra sounded clean, quick, and unflustered. I personally love Class D when it’s done well, as that’s what I use in my own Home Theatre, and WiiM’s implementation here sounds great. I recon that if you feed it a decent pair of speakers and a sub, it should out‑image any soundbar under $1,500, while keeping wiring sane.
5.1 is effective and more spacious than I expected. Running RoomFit (WiiM’s name for Room Calibration) is essential to get the best soundstage, however, and using a sub will elevate the experience. Thankfully, WiiM catered for this with a dedicated sub-woofer output.
User Experience
First‑run took under 10 minutes including updates. The 5.1 group survived power cycles and a TV firmware update (I did have to re‑select Dolby Digital output on the TV once). Input switching is crisp; the touchscreen is both useful and pretty rather than being a gimmick.
Comparisons and positioning
- Versus an entry AVR + wired 5.1: An AVR still wins on formats (Atmos/DTS:X) and deep calibration, but loses on simplicity and industrial design. If you’re prioritising TV‑app viewing and easy rears, the Amp Ultra path is a good option.
- Versus the WiiM Ultra (streaming pre‑amp): I prefer the Amp Ultra’s build, the “just works” power on tap, and the overall feel. The pre‑amp is still great as a hub for separates, but the Amp Ultra is the better living‑room appliance. (simplehomecinema.com)
- Versus premium soundbars: If you already own decent speakers, this is a better bet for stage size, stereo integrity, and upgrade flexibility.
Conclusion
PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
✅ The removable speaker connectors deserve a design award! | ❌ No AirPlay. If you live in Apple Music/AirPlay, note the omission. |
✅ RoomFit’s transparency—target curve, range, smoothing, multi‑point (beta), built‑in iPhone mic compensation, external mic cal file import—puts it ahead of the usual “auto” EQs in this class. | ❌ A guided 5.1 calibration page (per‑channel test noise, distance/delay in ms, a global AV sync slider) would remove the last bit of guesswork |
✅ Stellar app – easy to use and lots of great functionality | ❌ Wi‑Fi gremlins on 2.4 GHz mesh if you don’t use Group Audio Delay |
✅ Wireless 5.1 that works when set up right |
Areas | Scores |
|---|---|
Build & Ergonomics | 9 / 10 |
Setup & UX | 8 / 10 |
Room Calibration | 8.5 / 10 |
Value | 9 / 10 |
Overall | 9 / 10 |
WiiM’s new software stack is great, and is married expertly with their already excellent hardware.
One small suggestion for WiiM would be to enable surround output from the RCA outputs of at least the WiiM Amp Ultra, or its future upgrade. This would allow for connecting powered speakers over RCA, completely eliminating wireless for those that want the ultimate stability and lowest delay, or already have an extra amp laying around.
However, that’s a small niggle. If you want clean stereo that scales to credible 5.1 without an AVR—and calibration that helps rather than hurts— WiiM’s 5.1 updated devices might just be what you’re looking for.
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