Thanks for this great breakdown between these popular mini amps. I got the Wiim amp some time back to pair with a pair of Q Acoustic speakers for my study, to say I’ve been happy is a understatement. So easy to use, sounds great, and just works flawlessly. The price! Bargain! All the best with your channel.
With a huge reflective panel (the TV) between speakers it's not about a "great separation" but rather about a great sound editor work IMHO. I like that you pay attention on a vocal-instrument separation, sir. For me this is the main spec for an amplifier to call it "a great one". Especially this pays for D-class amplifiers. Very good.
I have a wiim amp pro with LS50 meta with SVS sub cross over at 100hz on app. In a small living room, it's Plenty loud but most importantly, Clean and clear music to my ears. Perfect combo since the SVS sb1000 pro takes care of the low end making the speaker shines. I was mesmerized by "Your power" song" and I can't even cry song . Thanks to you I can't stop listening about to those songs. I think the wiim amp pro and the new DAC+ PFFB feature makes a big difference. Great job! You got a new subscriber!
A very interesting addition from Unifi. I'm assuming that they collaborated with a third party on the amp design, but it seems odd that a company which targets professional integrators and 'prosumer' home installations would accept that heat envelope from the final product. I'm not sure if a firmware update would fix the issue but it would be great to see a teardown of the Poweramp. Thanks for the video.
It is interesting. The Sonos Amp and Bluesound Powernode have clear vents for passive ventilation. The WiiM feels like one giant metal heatsink. The Unifi PowerAmp just seems like a big block of plastic! There are no holes, and it gets pretty hot even with the latest firmware.
Thanks for a great presentation! I have a powered sub and 2 speakers that are currently connected to an older Sony receiver and an awful Bluetooth receiver. I use my phone, Samsung S24 Ultra to steam music to my BT receiver but I am hoping to use something better without breaking the bank. Can I use this Wiim Ultra instead of my Sony receiver and connect to my powder sub with the 2 (left/right) speakers?
I did consider the Sonos amp but went with the Powernode instead. I ran them with B&w 707 s2 I loved how they sounded. My brother has 704 s2 at the time he tried the Powernode he was impressed with the power it didn't have enough detail for him
Been hoping for a comparison like this. Watched this on my TV with Wiim Amp connected to a Unifi network. Gotta agree that the Wiim's detail is impressive at the price but it seems anemic in some situations. I really like the software (Chromecast and Tidal user), so I'm tempted to get an Ultra with a separate amp.
It would be interesting to try. But I don't think the pro has more power, just a fancier DAC with more SNR, faster / better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and no more Airplay.
Didn’t know Power Node can do Surround !!! I was just experimenting with 2 Sonys amp in my office TV room - hmmm. Also I think WiiM can do two amps and use one for Left and another for Right for those tricky installs - I only have one so I have not tested it myself.
Please move your mic's stand to a different table than the one you're putting stuff on. The bumping sound is super noticeable using noise-cancelling headphones. Great video regardless. Thanks!
Hello Sir, thank you for the detailed comparison of the Amplifiers. I am torn between Sonos and Bluesound for my LS50 meta speaker. Usage is 50/50% music/TV. I would love the nightmode and speech enhancement feature of the sonos but also the power/ quality of the bluesound. Which one would you suggest?
Really hard to say to be honest, it is very subjective. I would say if you value a darker more bassy sound in the music you like to listen to, Bluesound is the way to go.
Hi there, the Unifi Poweramp and WiiM Amp were box fresh, but the Sonos Amp and Bluesound Powernode were used. All were factory default settings and flat EQ.
Great video! Perfect amount of info and good testing between the models. This seems like the best video anyone has made so far to compare them all. My house is using all all WiiM. I had gotten mine before Ubiquiti came out with their amp, but I still would have had to go with WiiM because Sonos and UniFi Amp dont support Android phones general casting, they only support Spotify on Android which doesnt work for so many people, myself included. WiiM is the only option out of these 4 that support Google Cast/Chromecast :( One thing I did notice is that the two newest products from WiiM do NOT support Airplay on them, which is really strange. I hope they get it in the future as it is so disappointing to suddenly have the one company that supported all phones stop supporting iPhone casting on new stuff.
Yes exactly, Chromecast on Android is excellent and the WiiM Amp Pro doesn't do Airplay which is very interesting. You're also right about the lack of music services outside of Spotify on the Unifi PowerAmp. I could use my TV for the music services I use but that's really not as practical and not an option that everyone will have.
Funny thing is I've actually gone from my Powernode to a Sonos arc with a sub. Sound quality for music my B&w are in a different league as expected but the arc is definitely better for movies. The issue I have is since I got married I never have time for music other than in my car so we just watch movies that's why I moved to Sonos for a better movie experience
That is really interesting. I'm pretty delulu for thinking that I listen to music in my Living Room, it really is mainly TV and Movies here since I got married too. But on the flip side, I loved making this review as I got to listen to music on my sofa which was good fun, and musical elements in film are always really enjoyable. I think about your combination of Powernode and 707 S2 and I can understand the warm tone is probably not ideal for dialogue and subtlety hence Arc + Sub being more suitable for you. I think my Monitor Audios may be a touch brighter.
@audioflow you say in the video that these amps with 2 speakers beats any soundbar, now @birmingham_racing says it doesnt, where you talking only about music?i was thinking in buying an amp for outdoor speakers and a sonos arc for my tv, do you think its wise?thanks :)
@@PuTeFabiO I think this probably depends on the value and enjoyment you get from surround sound effects and the quality of those effects from your chosen soundbar and layout of your room. How important those effects are will also depend on the movies you enjoy watching too, it is all very subjective! Don't forget that Sonos and Bluesound do still have (non-Atmos) surround sound options with their Amps which could be another great option.
Great video Hussain, do you think there might be C4 integration with the unifi? P.S i bought 3 more of your speaker switches last week from Peats. Tony
Awesome, thank you Tony! I hope you enjoy the Audioflows 🙂I can't really comment much about C4 Integration with Unifi aside from they have taken some baby steps to create some APIs for some of their lines (developer.ui.com/) such as Unifi Access and if they do that for Unifi Play it probably wouldn't be long before a 3rd party creates a driver. It's early days I'm keen to see whether and how they expand on Unifi Play.
hello there, does someone know, if there all got the Texas Instruments "tpa3255" Class D inside ? and does the Marantz M1 also got the tpa3255 ? so they would be """the same product"""" thx
Unfortunately no longer available, but the WXA-50 from Yamaha with the icePower amplifiers was one of the best. A still available alternative is the XDA-QS5400 and XDA-AMP5400 from Yamaha!
@@kotec1234 typically, I wouldn't say it is worth switching if you already have a Sonos Amp. Audio quality is of course subjective and personally I do enjoy the sound of the Unifi PowerAmp a little more for sure, but it probably also depends on what speakers you are using and how important that is for you.
I was about to check out your other videos after watching this one, and then you said that this was the first one! Wow you fooled me. Great to become subscriber 45.
Very interesting, I wonder if you can help. I’m looking for the best way to play music from a NAS probably with Plex that is simple and easy to allow my non technical wife to play music
Sonos has native integration with Plex so if that's the way you play music this is probably the best choice. You can also Plex to WiiM via Chromecast or share your Plex music library to Bluesound via a file share.
The Sonos amp has eARC, but I wouldn't trust the Tidal app on your Sony TV anyway. Also the Sonos amp doesn't support Tidal Connect. You might have been using Sonos Connect which is not quite the same and I'm not sure if the quality is degraded Good video though, I'm intrigued by the Unifi amp
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video! You're absolutely right, the Sonos doesn't strictly do 'Tidal Connect'. Sonos Connect is pretty similar but limited to the bitrates which Sonos supports i.e. no 24/192, it tops out around lossless CD Quality. The Sonos Amp doesn't do eARC though, I think the only Sonos products with eARC are the Arc, Arc Ultra and Beam Gen2 (Sonos Amp and Beam Gen1 are just ARC). The Tidal App on my TV may not be perfect, but it was certainly useful as a baseline for comparison and to get music playing on the Unifi PowerAmp without Airplay compression.
@@audioflow You're right about Sonos Amp being ARC only, my bad. I was confusing it with the Sonos Beam (I own both the amp and the Beam). Even more reason not to use the Sony TV app as you will be listening to compressed Tidal. Curious where you are getting the specs on Sonos Connect. The majority of the time it doesn't work for me anyway. I would just use the native Sonos app to test Tidal sound quality.
@@keungy I did actually test using the native Tidal service within the Sonos app as well, but couldn't hear any difference between that and Sonos Connect so just went back to the Tidal app so it was easier to switch between different amps. Worked pretty reliably for me.
Sure you can, but that doesn't give you any HPF (High Pass Filter) function on your main speakers and LPF (Low Pass Filter) for the Sub out which means you're still driving your speakers full range. You probably want to relieve them of the low end near their limit for the best integration. Also it's so much more convenient to be able to control this all from the app while you are in your listening position.
@@audioflow You're right about HPF on main speaker... on PA subs we use you have all settings in hardware on the sub, and once you system is correctly equalized, there is no more need to touch it. So it's a 1 time thing at installation.
Nice. I don't have much experience with PA unfortunately but I do expect at that kind of pro level you would probably have HPF on the mixing stage? On the Unifi PowerAmp without the HPF you can probably get it sounding ok, but it'll be a lot more work and fine tuning which is not what you want in the all-in-one < $1000 domestic mini system demographic these amplifiers are aimed at. Thanks a lot for pointing this out though, using the controls on the sub is a good point! My workflow would usually be to get the controls on the sub roughly +20% of where I want them and then fine tune this down in software from the listening position.
@@audioflow Well, I'm comparing to the Sonos Sub, witch are another way to add bass... They are pretty decent, but IMHO too expensive for what they offer. You can find PA subs from good HiFi brands at roughly 30 to 50% less than the big sub of Sonos... with a much better sound than the Sonos Mini Sub. That said, in simple systems, you're gonna be totally >$1000. An Amp is costing here (Europe) $880 + a good pair of speakers, for example in-ceiling (B&W would be $600 to $1200, Sonance would be around $800 / 900, and we're talking roughly similar prices in other brands with architectural speakers) + a Sub ($880 for big Sonos or $450 / 600 for other brand). So we're talking $2 to 2.5K for 1 zone with subwoofer. It's true that if the 'main' speakers have small and limited bass unit, you'll need an HPF on those to not destroy them or have a very distorded sound. When you use some good speakers with 8" driver (eventually some brands with 6.5" driver) you can just do without HPF IMHO.
IMO, Unifi really messed up an awesome opportunity. There is NO reason why these things have to be THIS expensive. These boxes are the same price as some home theater recievers that have way more inputs and capabilties. While Sonos has been really failing hard lately, I'll stick with them, but also, not them. You can hack the Ikea Symfonisk series and run speaker cables to your own in ceiling speakers. All at about a quarter of the the cost. The whole audiophile position with any of these players is moot. All the content sent to the players is compressed and 99% of the people using Sonos or the other players, don't care. It's never made any sense to me that someone would pay this much for 'audiphile' quality and then conect their bluetooth phone to it. (ROFL)
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for this great breakdown between these popular mini amps. I got the Wiim amp some time back to pair with a pair of Q Acoustic speakers for my study, to say I’ve been happy is a understatement. So easy to use, sounds great, and just works flawlessly. The price! Bargain!
All the best with your channel.
Great little system!
Nicely done. I'm considering all these amps and one of the best overviews I've found.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
One of the best first videos I've *ever* seen, subscribed! Nice to see a fellow (gear)petrolhead as well~
@@micturatedupon Thank you!
Really professional comparison. You see a natural in front of the camera !
With a huge reflective panel (the TV) between speakers it's not about a "great separation" but rather about a great sound editor work IMHO.
I like that you pay attention on a vocal-instrument separation, sir. For me this is the main spec for an amplifier to call it "a great one". Especially this pays for D-class amplifiers. Very good.
NAD Master series M10 is the best box, if you want quality sound, power output and best UI. All these in video compared to it are just toys.
I have a wiim amp pro with LS50 meta with SVS sub cross over at 100hz on app. In a small living room, it's Plenty loud but most importantly, Clean and clear music to my ears. Perfect combo since the SVS sb1000 pro takes care of the low end making the speaker shines. I was mesmerized by "Your power" song" and I can't even cry song . Thanks to you I can't stop listening about to those songs. I think the wiim amp pro and the new DAC+ PFFB feature makes a big difference. Great job! You got a new subscriber!
@@markjasonsarreal502 Awesome, sounds like a great setup!
Just what i was looking for. Good job on your first video, would like to see more from you.
Thank you!
A very interesting addition from Unifi. I'm assuming that they collaborated with a third party on the amp design, but it seems odd that a company which targets professional integrators and 'prosumer' home installations would accept that heat envelope from the final product. I'm not sure if a firmware update would fix the issue but it would be great to see a teardown of the Poweramp. Thanks for the video.
It is interesting. The Sonos Amp and Bluesound Powernode have clear vents for passive ventilation. The WiiM feels like one giant metal heatsink. The Unifi PowerAmp just seems like a big block of plastic! There are no holes, and it gets pretty hot even with the latest firmware.
Awesome comparison, I learned a lot! Appreciate your expertise here!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great Reviews, Looking forward to your next one 🤓
Great video. Thanks for the information.
Very good video brother. Subscribed. 😎👍
Thanks for a great presentation! I have a powered sub and 2 speakers that are currently connected to an older Sony receiver and an awful Bluetooth receiver. I use my phone, Samsung S24 Ultra to steam music to my BT receiver but I am hoping to use something better without breaking the bank. Can I use this Wiim Ultra instead of my Sony receiver and connect to my powder sub with the 2 (left/right) speakers?
I did consider the Sonos amp but went with the Powernode instead. I ran them with B&w 707 s2 I loved how they sounded. My brother has 704 s2 at the time he tried the Powernode he was impressed with the power it didn't have enough detail for him
Been hoping for a comparison like this. Watched this on my TV with Wiim Amp connected to a Unifi network. Gotta agree that the Wiim's detail is impressive at the price but it seems anemic in some situations. I really like the software (Chromecast and Tidal user), so I'm tempted to get an Ultra with a separate amp.
Thx! What do you think about Marantz M1 (999,-) and Denon Home Amp? (675,-)
Nice review but what about the Marantz model M1
Thank you!
Would be interesting to see the WiiM amp pro in this comparison for more power output
It would be interesting to try. But I don't think the pro has more power, just a fancier DAC with more SNR, faster / better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and no more Airplay.
Didn’t know Power Node can do Surround !!! I was just experimenting with 2 Sonys amp in my office TV room - hmmm. Also I think WiiM can do two amps and use one for Left and another for Right for those tricky installs - I only have one so I have not tested it myself.
Please move your mic's stand to a different table than the one you're putting stuff on. The bumping sound is super noticeable using noise-cancelling headphones. Great video regardless. Thanks!
@@mandurphy23 Sorry about that! Still learning...
Good Job! It would be great to throw the Marantz M1 to that comparison.
Yes the Marantz M1 would be interesting to compare although it is already a pretty long video!
I'd be interested in knowing how the Bluesound compares to the Marantz because they are priced similarly
@@audioflow So what?
Hello Sir, thank you for the detailed comparison of the Amplifiers. I am torn between Sonos and Bluesound for my LS50 meta speaker. Usage is 50/50% music/TV. I would love the nightmode and speech enhancement feature of the sonos but also the power/ quality of the bluesound. Which one would you suggest?
Really hard to say to be honest, it is very subjective. I would say if you value a darker more bassy sound in the music you like to listen to, Bluesound is the way to go.
Very informative comparisons. Thank you! Were all amps except yours tested out of the box?
Hi there, the Unifi Poweramp and WiiM Amp were box fresh, but the Sonos Amp and Bluesound Powernode were used. All were factory default settings and flat EQ.
Great video! Perfect amount of info and good testing between the models. This seems like the best video anyone has made so far to compare them all.
My house is using all all WiiM. I had gotten mine before Ubiquiti came out with their amp, but I still would have had to go with WiiM because Sonos and UniFi Amp dont support Android phones general casting, they only support Spotify on Android which doesnt work for so many people, myself included. WiiM is the only option out of these 4 that support Google Cast/Chromecast :(
One thing I did notice is that the two newest products from WiiM do NOT support Airplay on them, which is really strange. I hope they get it in the future as it is so disappointing to suddenly have the one company that supported all phones stop supporting iPhone casting on new stuff.
Yes exactly, Chromecast on Android is excellent and the WiiM Amp Pro doesn't do Airplay which is very interesting. You're also right about the lack of music services outside of Spotify on the Unifi PowerAmp. I could use my TV for the music services I use but that's really not as practical and not an option that everyone will have.
Awesome video. FYI, you need to isolate your mic from the table in the intro. The vibrations were coming through my sub.
Yes was using the desktop stand for my mic on the floor, wasn't ideal
Funny thing is I've actually gone from my Powernode to a Sonos arc with a sub. Sound quality for music my B&w are in a different league as expected but the arc is definitely better for movies. The issue I have is since I got married I never have time for music other than in my car so we just watch movies that's why I moved to Sonos for a better movie experience
That is really interesting. I'm pretty delulu for thinking that I listen to music in my Living Room, it really is mainly TV and Movies here since I got married too. But on the flip side, I loved making this review as I got to listen to music on my sofa which was good fun, and musical elements in film are always really enjoyable. I think about your combination of Powernode and 707 S2 and I can understand the warm tone is probably not ideal for dialogue and subtlety hence Arc + Sub being more suitable for you. I think my Monitor Audios may be a touch brighter.
@audioflow you say in the video that these amps with 2 speakers beats any soundbar, now @birmingham_racing says it doesnt, where you talking only about music?i was thinking in buying an amp for outdoor speakers and a sonos arc for my tv, do you think its wise?thanks :)
@@PuTeFabiO I think this probably depends on the value and enjoyment you get from surround sound effects and the quality of those effects from your chosen soundbar and layout of your room. How important those effects are will also depend on the movies you enjoy watching too, it is all very subjective! Don't forget that Sonos and Bluesound do still have (non-Atmos) surround sound options with their Amps which could be another great option.
Great video Hussain, do you think there might be C4 integration with the unifi?
P.S i bought 3 more of your speaker switches last week from Peats.
Tony
Awesome, thank you Tony! I hope you enjoy the Audioflows 🙂I can't really comment much about C4 Integration with Unifi aside from they have taken some baby steps to create some APIs for some of their lines (developer.ui.com/) such as Unifi Access and if they do that for Unifi Play it probably wouldn't be long before a 3rd party creates a driver. It's early days I'm keen to see whether and how they expand on Unifi Play.
hello there, does someone know, if there all got the Texas Instruments "tpa3255" Class D inside ? and does the Marantz M1 also got the tpa3255 ? so they would be """the same product"""" thx
Unfortunately no longer available, but the WXA-50 from Yamaha with the icePower amplifiers was one of the best.
A still available alternative is the XDA-QS5400 and XDA-AMP5400 from Yamaha!
Damn, I didn't know the WXA-50 was discontinued. I've used those on a project once and thought it was pretty cool!
Nice video overall! I’m a basic music streamer from an iPhone and it doesn’t seem worth upgrading to the unifi power amp from my Sonos amp?
@@kotec1234 typically, I wouldn't say it is worth switching if you already have a Sonos Amp. Audio quality is of course subjective and personally I do enjoy the sound of the Unifi PowerAmp a little more for sure, but it probably also depends on what speakers you are using and how important that is for you.
Awesome!
Thanks!
I was about to check out your other videos after watching this one, and then you said that this was the first one! Wow you fooled me. Great to become subscriber 45.
Thank you for your kind words!
Subbed, looking forward to seeing more uploads, well done
Thank you
Very interesting, I wonder if you can help. I’m looking for the best way to play music from a NAS probably with Plex that is simple and easy to allow my non technical wife to play music
Sonos has native integration with Plex so if that's the way you play music this is probably the best choice. You can also Plex to WiiM via Chromecast or share your Plex music library to Bluesound via a file share.
The Sonos amp has eARC, but I wouldn't trust the Tidal app on your Sony TV anyway. Also the Sonos amp doesn't support Tidal Connect. You might have been using Sonos Connect which is not quite the same and I'm not sure if the quality is degraded
Good video though, I'm intrigued by the Unifi amp
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video! You're absolutely right, the Sonos doesn't strictly do 'Tidal Connect'. Sonos Connect is pretty similar but limited to the bitrates which Sonos supports i.e. no 24/192, it tops out around lossless CD Quality. The Sonos Amp doesn't do eARC though, I think the only Sonos products with eARC are the Arc, Arc Ultra and Beam Gen2 (Sonos Amp and Beam Gen1 are just ARC). The Tidal App on my TV may not be perfect, but it was certainly useful as a baseline for comparison and to get music playing on the Unifi PowerAmp without Airplay compression.
@@audioflow You're right about Sonos Amp being ARC only, my bad. I was confusing it with the Sonos Beam (I own both the amp and the Beam). Even more reason not to use the Sony TV app as you will be listening to compressed Tidal.
Curious where you are getting the specs on Sonos Connect. The majority of the time it doesn't work for me anyway. I would just use the native Sonos app to test Tidal sound quality.
@@keungy I did actually test using the native Tidal service within the Sonos app as well, but couldn't hear any difference between that and Sonos Connect so just went back to the Tidal app so it was easier to switch between different amps. Worked pretty reliably for me.
Kind of obvious the Ubiquity is made in the same factory as Sonos
Unifi amp and subwoofer out: you select the frequency cut / slope / volume on the active Sub or on the Sub power amp... You don't need it in the app!
Sure you can, but that doesn't give you any HPF (High Pass Filter) function on your main speakers and LPF (Low Pass Filter) for the Sub out which means you're still driving your speakers full range. You probably want to relieve them of the low end near their limit for the best integration. Also it's so much more convenient to be able to control this all from the app while you are in your listening position.
@@audioflow You're right about HPF on main speaker... on PA subs we use you have all settings in hardware on the sub, and once you system is correctly equalized, there is no more need to touch it. So it's a 1 time thing at installation.
Nice. I don't have much experience with PA unfortunately but I do expect at that kind of pro level you would probably have HPF on the mixing stage? On the Unifi PowerAmp without the HPF you can probably get it sounding ok, but it'll be a lot more work and fine tuning which is not what you want in the all-in-one < $1000 domestic mini system demographic these amplifiers are aimed at. Thanks a lot for pointing this out though, using the controls on the sub is a good point! My workflow would usually be to get the controls on the sub roughly +20% of where I want them and then fine tune this down in software from the listening position.
@@audioflow Well, I'm comparing to the Sonos Sub, witch are another way to add bass... They are pretty decent, but IMHO too expensive for what they offer. You can find PA subs from good HiFi brands at roughly 30 to 50% less than the big sub of Sonos... with a much better sound than the Sonos Mini Sub.
That said, in simple systems, you're gonna be totally >$1000. An Amp is costing here (Europe) $880 + a good pair of speakers, for example in-ceiling (B&W would be $600 to $1200, Sonance would be around $800 / 900, and we're talking roughly similar prices in other brands with architectural speakers) + a Sub ($880 for big Sonos or $450 / 600 for other brand). So we're talking $2 to 2.5K for 1 zone with subwoofer.
It's true that if the 'main' speakers have small and limited bass unit, you'll need an HPF on those to not destroy them or have a very distorded sound. When you use some good speakers with 8" driver (eventually some brands with 6.5" driver) you can just do without HPF IMHO.
Hi there is a new player the marantz M 1
only thing unifi can bring is $3 to the installer for margins
@@smaterhomes haha, this is the truth! Although to be fair, Sonos margins are around $3.50...
BLABLA...
No Chromecast = not interested.
From a fellow green bubble enthusiast, I totally get this!
IMO, Unifi really messed up an awesome opportunity. There is NO reason why these things have to be THIS expensive. These boxes are the same price as some home theater recievers that have way more inputs and capabilties. While Sonos has been really failing hard lately, I'll stick with them, but also, not them. You can hack the Ikea Symfonisk series and run speaker cables to your own in ceiling speakers. All at about a quarter of the the cost. The whole audiophile position with any of these players is moot. All the content sent to the players is compressed and 99% of the people using Sonos or the other players, don't care. It's never made any sense to me that someone would pay this much for 'audiphile' quality and then conect their bluetooth phone to it. (ROFL)