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yeah, so you've gone from walking in to a store and coming out with a single box that you can plug in to power and connect to wifi and get music on, to decision

yeah, so you've gone from walking in to a store and coming out with a single box that you can plug in to power and connect to wifi and get music on, to decision on what amp to buy, and a decision on which of the hundred nearly identical bookshelf speakers to get, a question on whether your amp will drive those speakers. and then you've got to find a store to actually sell you all that stuff. it's an entirely different market from what sonos is providing to customers. fwiw i did exactly what you're suggesting for my personal use, i've got a wiim pro and a fosi v3 and kanto 5" speakers and i'm very happy with my setup. but i'm a nerd who likes shopping for things like that, and i know enough to know that most people would rather not. and it's not like i saved anything compared to going with a sonos. edit: and, as i just learned a little further down the thread, you've also got to be careful which model of wiim you buy - the newest and nicest ones don't have airplay.

tjoff 2y ago
So instead of: > because the problem with sonos is that they're actually really really good. dollar for dollar They were really expensive, but people confused quality (why else would it cost so much) with convenience and were happy not knowing about anything else. It's a good strategy, works well for other companies. But when you remove the convenience part of it everything else falls apart too.
omnimus 2y ago
So now choice is a bad thing? Let people have their Sonoses. The thing with audio gear is that if you get any of the recommended (youtube, reddit) cheap stuff and you are not audiophile level hobbiist you will like it. I would not say you didnt get anything back. You got setup where at minimum the speakers will work for decades.
omnimus 2y ago
Afaik WiiM ultra doesnt have Airplay yet as is new it needs certification. I believe this was the case with other their devices. People who pay for WiiM ultra most likely dont care about Airplay anyway because Airplay 2 devices send lossy AAC 256kbps audio. You dont get streamer for 329usd to send reencoded music there. You get it so it streams from the original sources directly.
- notatoad 2y ago
  official word from wiim is that the ultra will never have airplay the reason airplay matters so much is that even if you want great audio quality and care about the bitrate of your music, other people in your house don't and just want to make music come out of the speakers. no airplay resigns the device to "nobody else can use it" status.
  - omnimus 2y ago
    I wonder what all the people with Android or Windows are doing? I guess they cant listen to music… What a sad life it has to be.

tjoff 2y ago

So instead of: > because the problem with sonos is that they're actually really really good. dollar for dollar They were really expensive, but people confused quality (why else would it cost so much) with convenience and were happy not knowing about anything else. It's a good strategy, works well for other companies. But when you remove the convenience part of it everything else falls apart too.

omnimus 2y ago

So now choice is a bad thing? Let people have their Sonoses. The thing with audio gear is that if you get any of the recommended (youtube, reddit) cheap stuff and you are not audiophile level hobbiist you will like it. I would not say you didnt get anything back. You got setup where at minimum the speakers will work for decades.

omnimus 2y ago

Afaik WiiM ultra doesnt have Airplay yet as is new it needs certification. I believe this was the case with other their devices. People who pay for WiiM ultra most likely dont care about Airplay anyway because Airplay 2 devices send lossy AAC 256kbps audio. You dont get streamer for 329usd to send reencoded music there. You get it so it streams from the original sources directly.

notatoad 2y ago
official word from wiim is that the ultra will never have airplay the reason airplay matters so much is that even if you want great audio quality and care about the bitrate of your music, other people in your house don't and just want to make music come out of the speakers. no airplay resigns the device to "nobody else can use it" status.
- omnimus 2y ago
  I wonder what all the people with Android or Windows are doing? I guess they cant listen to music… What a sad life it has to be.