Room Size

10' by 19'

System Overview

A simple, budget-friendly but high quality system that is an elegant answer to my lack of space. No tuning or tweaks, it's a living room I have to share with my wife and the cat. All sources are digital, I don't have the patience to do analog properly anymore. Been there, done that, was always searching for something better. The Wiim Ultra/Wiim Vibelink combo does everything I want it to do, simply and properly.

Music Preferences

Jazz, classic rock, blues, old punk, old country, folk, reggae, classical, lots of stuff...

Room Description

Small, carpeted living room. About 10' by 19' including the front foyer, 10' by 14' for the actual living room space.

Acoustic Treatment

5 "C"s: Couches, chairs, carpet, curtains, cats.

Listening Impressions

I've come to the realization that I'm not really an audiophile, I just want the music I love to sound great to me. This simple system sounds great to me.

Media Storage

I love the convenience of a music server, but I also love having physical media around. Over 1800 CDs are stored on shelves in the upstairs office. They are ripped (using dBpoweramp) to FLAC format and backed up to three 2TB SSDs. A growing number of Hi-Res FLAC downloads in there for good measure.

Components

Digital Source

Wiim Ultra with attached 2TB SSD feeding the ESS ES9039Q2M DAC in the Wiim Vibelink via Coax. Samsung Q8F TV into the Wiim Ultra via TOSLINK. Wiim Ultra is controlled by Wiim Home app on a Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone.

Analog Source

Sometimes my wife plays the piano...

Preamp

Wiim Ultra for volume control, connected to the Vibelink by S/PDIF Coax. It also acts as a music server, via an attached 2TB SSD.

Power Amp

Wiim Vibelink amplifier, volume at max, plugged directly into the wall power outlet.

Speakers

Salk SongBird QWT in black oak (red oak veneer, open grain, dyed black). These have been in the system longer than anything else, mainly because of the cost involved in getting something of similar quality.

Subwoofer

No.

Speaker Cable

Blue Jeans Canare 4S11 with ultrasonically welded locking bananas.

Interconnects

Blue Jeans: TOSLINK S/PDIF, Coax S/PDIF, Cat 5e. Generic 12V trigger cable.

Power Cables

Stock.

Headphones

AKG K245, plugged into the headphone output of the Wiim Ultra. Rarely used.

Racking

Canadian-made solid pine TV cabinet.

Power Cond

SurgeX SA-966 for everything except the amp.

Tuning and Tweaks

No.

Other Components

Samsung Q8F 50" TV, XiOne TV Box, Rogers Xfinity XB7 wifi modem/router, Blue Jeans HDMI, TOSLINK, Cat 5e cabling for the TV. Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone running Wiim Connect for remote control of the Wiim Ultra.