Latest news with #Vibelink
Tom's Guide
20-06-2025
- Tom's Guide
I test audio gear for a living — and I found the perfect amp for those getting into HiFi
Look at this thing — the Wiim Vibelink amp is the same size and only slightly heavier than the Mac mini, and it only costs $300. All that, and it's got 100W of power on tap, so that you can power super-demanding speakers and subwoofers without it breaking a sweat. It's an absolute marvel, and I absolutely adore my unit and the place it now has in the house as a compact music unit. I also think, thanks to its relatively affordable price, decent array of inputs, and speaker-blowing power, that it also happens to be one of the best ways to get into HiFi and stereo in 2025. I've been testing the Wiim Vibelink Amp for the last few months, and here are my findings. The Vibelink Amp is packed chock-full of power and inputs for the perfect beginner HiFi amp. With up to 200W of power on tap for 4-ohm speakers and 100W available for 8-ohm, there's power aplenty for even the most demanding of speakers. All for less than a Nintendo Switch 2. Even down to the box that the Vibelink comes in, you can see the design inspiration for the little amp. The metal frame's shape and size are very much modelled around the previous generation Mac mini, and it makes the amp look simple, and I think pretty cool as well. I love the knob on the front for the volume, and it feels lovely under the finger as well. It spins with a nice, smooth resistance and provides plenty of feedback to ensure it has a satisfying feel. This is your only way to control the volume as well — there's no remote control in the box. The only other control you'll find on the front is the source select. Click the button, and you cycle through the various inputs on the back of the device. Simple, effective, and easy to use. No settings to play with here, just the amp and the inputs. Where's the power button? It's on the back, above the power connector. There are a grand total of three inputs on the back of the amp — an RCA connector, a coax connector, and an optical port. That's what you'll likely use to connect to a streaming device like the Wiim Ultra, which would also give you more potential inputs, including a phono, something lacking from the device itself. There aren't that many plugs on the back, but then it gives you pretty much everything you need to get playing some music. Just plug an aux cable into the RCA connector, a dongle into your phone, and you're away. If you want to plug in one of the best turntables, make sure you either buy one with a built-in pre-amp (like the excellent Rega Planar 1 Plus), or get a separate model. Most small amps tend to top out at around 30 watts. That's enough to power most bookshelf speakers, and plenty for smaller applications. "No," says the Wiim Vibelink. "I want to power all of the speakers." The Vibelink has 100W of output, so there's plenty of power available for even very large floorstanding speakers. That also means there's more juice for better sound at lower volumes for less power-hungry speakers — think better, smoother bass response, wider mids, and, you guessed it, better highs. The result is a small amp that plays much harder than its size and price would suggest. I've tested more expensive products that don't manage the same sound quality at lower volumes, so it's nice to see something like this be so cheap. That means, however, that you'll want to be careful with the vibelink. If you've got 4-ohm speakers that don't need loads of power to run, then you'll almost certainly blow them if you turn the amp up too high. Restraint with the volume control is key. The sound quality of the Vibelink will depend partly on the speakers that you plug in, as you might expect. Thanks to the power, it allows most speakers to sing at their best, and it presents a fairly neutral tone for the speaker to work with. That means good detail, great mids, and solid low-end. It's not going to hold a candle to multiple thousand-dollar amps, but pair it with some solid, inexpensive bookshelf speakers and you've a setup that's going to show the Sonos Era 300 the door. Look, when something costs as comparatively few dollars as this, there are going to be some compromises. It's very much designed to work with the Wiim Ultra, like I said above, because that fills some holes that amp alone is unable to fill. A lack of inputs and sub out for one are both solved by a Wiim Ultra. If you're willing to shell out another $329, that's not much of a problem, but it is if you don't want to spend much extra or if you've already got a streamer. It also has a habit of getting a bit toasty during use, although this is a 'problem' with just about any amplifier you'll lay your hands on. They get warm. All of these problems are very easy to forget when you consider the price. Toss in some $100 speakers or something second-hand, a $10 aux cable, and you've the beginnings of a very capable stereo system indeed.
Digital Trends
14-05-2025
- Digital Trends
Wiim's new Amp Ultra goes above and beyond its amplified streamers
Table of Contents Table of Contents No AirPlay Wiim Voice Remote 2 For those seeking the ultimate all-in-one network music streamer and two-channel stereo amplifier, Wiim might just have exactly what you want. Its new Wiim Amp Ultra, which debuts at the High End Munich 2025 show alongside its first wireless speaker (Wiim Sound) and Wiim Sub Pro wireless subwoofer, appears to be the company's award-winning Wiim Ultra, but packed with 100 watts of amplification and internal components that exceed the capabilities of Wiim's current Wiim Amp, Amp Pro, and Vibelink Amp, plus Dolby Digital decoding — a first for the Wiim lineup. Much like the Wiim Sound and Wiim Sub Pro, the company hasn't released pricing or availability for the Amp Ultra, saying only that it will be available in Q3 2025 through Amazon and select retail partners. However, given that the Wiim Amp Pro and Vibelink Amp both sell for $299, it's likely that the Amp Ultra will be more expensive, but by how much is hard to say — especially when tariffs are factored in. As you can see in these images, the Wiim Amp Ultra bears a very strong resemblance to the Wiim Ultra streamer, with a full color, 3.5-inch touchscreen, oversized volume knob/playback button, and a sleek aluminum chassis. Recommended Videos Around the back, the available ports look like a mashup of the Ultra's digital inputs (HDMI-ARC, optical, USB, and Ethernet), analog inputs (stereo RCA) and the Vibelink Amp's hybrid speaker terminals. Unlike the Vibelink Amp, the Amp Ultra picks up an analog subwoofer output, but sadly, it loses one of the Wiim Ultra's handiest features — the front-facing 3.5mm headphone jack. There's also no dedicated input for turntables. I guess you can't quite have it all yet. Inside, the Amp Ultra is nearly a carbon copy of the Vibelink Amp. It uses Post-Filter Feedback Technology (PFFT) with a 32-bit/384kHz ESS ES9039Q2M Sabre DAC and six TI OPA1612 op-amps. However the Amp Ultra get dual TI TPA3255 Class-D amp chips, compared to the Vibelink's single TPA3255. Like the Vibelink, the Amp Ultra can power a set of 8-ohm speakers with up to 100 watts per channel, and a pair of 4-ohm units with up to 200 watts. In both cases, you can wire up to two speakers per channel. On the streamer side of the equation, the Amp Ultra offers up all of the usual Wiim goodies, including: Google Cast Alexa Cast DLNA Spotify Connect Tidal Connect In-app access (via the Wiim Home app) to Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, Qobuz, and more Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility Wi-Fi 6E, two-way Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio Built-in room calibration Support for hi-res audio up to 24-bit/192kHz Parametric and graphic EQs No AirPlay It's notable that the Wiim Amp Ultra is now the fourth streaming music product from Wiim that lacks Apple AirPlay support. Neither Wiim nor Apple have offered any explanation, leaving us to guess as to what may have happened since the debut of the Wiim Amp, the last of the company's streamers to include Apple's wireless music protocol. For diehard audiophiles, the absence of AirPlay won't be a deal-breaker. AirPlay currently uses lossy compression, which deletes some information from audio sources to keep file sizes small. Those who care will choose Google Cast, Tidal Connect, DLNA, or Qobuz and Amazon Music from within the Wiim Home app to get truly lossless audio. Wiim Voice Remote 2 The Wiim Amp Pro will include Wiim's new Voice Remote 2, which debuted earlier in 2025. The Apple Sir remote clone, with its all aluminum construtcion is the perfect complement to the Amp Ultra and turns the streamer into an Amazon Alexa speaker via the built-in mic.
