Without intending any offence or to upset anyone....In this thread (and on other forums) there are a lot of comments wishing that the unit had more inputs, different outputs, bigger screen, no screen etc etc. Ultimately manufacturers have to design a product that will have a big enough market to be a success, while keeping costs down (particularly a WiiM product which we have some reason to be confident, given their recent history, will be reasonably priced). That all means various compromises.
There are also quite a few other products that offer what some users may wish for (and are priced accordingly). If you really want many more inputs or balanced setup there are other, often much more expensive, manufacturers who can help you.
I remain keen to see the finished product with this one.
I've given some thought to my use case and expect it will still be a good fit for me. Like many on this forum I have various bits of audio kit in different systems around the house (mine at the more modest end I admit). So I thought a bit about what I might move around to best fit with the Ultra.
For me, this unit is about replacing a WiiM Pro in my living room where the system is used by family/more people aside from me. I have a study system etc that is really just for me.
In my living room I use a Gustard P26 preamp fed by a balanced DAC atm (the smsl DO200). Assuming the Ultra DAC implementation is good enough (and there is good reason for someone like me to expect so) then I can take that external DAC out of the chain. I'll use it elsewhere. The weak link for me is the unbalanced out from the Ultra because the Gustard P26 preamp performs less well when fed an unbalanced input. I'm lucky enough to have a Rotel preamp in other system that I can swap around with the P26, feed that Rotel pre from the Ultra and have the Rotel pre feed my hypex based power amp (probably balanced because why not?). The nice thing along the way with that approach is I pickup 12v triggers from the Ultra to the Rotel pre and to the power amp. So my family get everything switching on when then send a signal to the Ultra. User friendly. Sure, I probably like the P26 more than the Rotel as a pre, but I pick up plenty of functionality in the overall change.
The phono input interests me too because sure, it may not be a good as some others (and I use a Zen phono with a simple Rega Planar 1 deck), but I am just a casual vinyl user and this thing will mean I can stream vinyl to other WiiM systems around the house. Also something the wider family will get a kick out of.
I've found that with most new bits of kit, particularly more modern equipment like streamers, there is usually a bit of a juggle to work out how it best fits with your system - and that can include some swapping around or planning to change some of your units to make everything fit better.
Isn't that part of the fun?
