Exclusive: This is Wiim's first wireless speaker

Digital Trends

13-05-2025

Table of Contents
Table of Contents Another step toward a true Sonos alternative Between HomePod and Era 100 Still no AirPlay
Tomorrow, Wiim will announce its first wireless speaker, the Wiim Sound. It looks like a lot like Apple's HomePod, with an almost cylindrical shape that's wrapped in a fabric grille and topped with a set of touch controls. But the detail that will likely get the most attention is its built-in, 1.8-inch circular touchscreen. The hi-res screen offers the same album displays and controls as the one on the front of the Wiim Ultra, the company's flagship network music streamer.
As with all of Wiim's products, its core feature set is designed to work seamlessly with the rest of the affordable Wiim ecosystem, giving Sonos owners even more reason to make a switch.
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The Wiim Sound is set to debut at High End Munich 2025, an audiophile-centric audio show in Germany. Wiim hasn't released pricing or specific availability yet, noting only that the Wiim Sound will arrive in 'Q3 2025 on Amazon and at select retailers.' For now, it's only available in black.
Another step toward a true Sonos alternative
The Wiim Sound isn't the first Wiim-compatible wireless speaker. Earlier in 2025, the company announced it had partnered with Swedish brand, Audio Pro to create Wiim Edition versions of its A10 Mk II and C10 Mk II wireless speakers, which can be discovered and controlled natively within the Wiim Home app. However, the Wiim Sound marks an important milestone in the company's evolution as it begins to build out an ecosystem of in-house designed products that let it compete more directly with Sonos.
It's not difficult to imagine that Wiim will continue this expansion, eventually working its way into the rest of Sonos' categories, such as soundbars, Bluetooth speakers, and possibly headphones.
Between HomePod and Era 100
Physically, the Wiim Sound straddles the line between the Apple HomePod and the Sonos Era 100. Its footprint (5.7 x 5.7 inches) is almost exactly the same as the HomePod, while its height, at 7.5 inches is slightly taller than the Era 100 (7.18 inches). The presence of the circular touchscreen will no doubt renew speculation about Apple's next HomePod, which has been widely rumored to include some kind of display.
Internally, the Wiim Sound is much closer to Sonos' speaker, with a 4-inch woofer and two balanced-mode radiator (BMR) tweeters. Thanks to those dual tweeters, Wiim says the Sound can reproduce two-channel stereo, though like the Era 100, getting true stereo separation may be tricky. Wiim hasn't revealed the amplifier layout details, but it claims there's 100 watts of combined power on tap.
On the bottom of the speaker are ports for power, and 10/100 Ethernet, plus a 3.5mm jack for analog inputs. Wireless connectivity is supported by both Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. Wiim calls the Sound a smart speaker, but since there's no built-in mic and no native voice assistant, that might be stretching the term. You can, however, use it as Amazon Alexa device via the included voice remote. For the Wiim Sound, the company has created a modified version of it Siri-remote clone, the Wiim Voice Remote 2. Alternatively, the Wiim Sound is compatible with Google Assistant and can respond to those voice commands if you own an Assistant-capable smartphone or other device.
As with the rest of Wiim's ecosystem, the Wiim Sound has an impressive array of streaming and EQ features, including:
Hi-res audio support up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Chromecast (Google Cast), Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, DLNA, or Alexa Cast
24 preset EQ profiles, a 10-band graphic equalizer, and an optional parametric EQ interface
Room correction via a smartphone running the Wiim Home app
You can control the Wiim Sound as part of a larger multiroom audio system within the Wiim Home app. This includes grouping the Sound with other Wiim components for synchronized playback as well as the ability to stereo-pair two Wiim Sounds. Interestingly, a single Wiim Sound can be used as center channel speaker, or two can be used as surround speakers within a 5.1 configuration. To do this, you'll need a 5.1 source of sound — either a 5.1 audio recording that lives in your personal library on your home network, or from a TV plugged into one of Wiim's HDMI-ARC compatible devices (Wiim Ultra, Wiim Amp, Wiim Amp Pro).
Still no AirPlay
For reasons known only to Wiim and Apple, the Wiim Sound is now the third Wiim streaming product to launch without support for Apple's AirPlay 2 wireless streaming protocol. When the Wiim Ultra debuted without AirPlay, it was believed to be a temporary omission — one that would be rectified with a firmware update. This failed to happen, and then Wiim launched the Amp Pro, also without AirPlay.
While AirPlay is a useful feature for iPhone users, letting them stream audio on their home Wi-Fi networks from any any app that supports it, its popularity among Wiim's users is unclear. AirPlay 2 introduces lossy compression, which audiophiles consider an unacceptable tradeoff. Moreover, the trend toward streaming apps building their own version of AirPlay (Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect) plus the availability of Google Cast, reduces the need for AirPlay under most circumstances. Even on an iPhone when streaming Apple Music, Bluetooth can serve as an acceptable AirPlay alternative on Wiim's products.