Review of the Advance Acoustic WTX Microstreamer (DAC)

[MeloManiac]

Up to now, I was streaming music to my amp using bluetooth or a rca/mini-jack cable connecting my phone or my Amazon Fire Tablet. This, of course, was not a hifi solution, and I was really curious about how my 1972 Heresy speakers would sound if connected to a more 'audiophile grade' streamer. I know how they sound with vinyl and a CD-player. But I wanted to find out what it would be like streaming Spotify Connect or local flac files. With the Amazon Fire tablet, I was particularly dissatisfied: 1) the output volume was really low and 2) there was often a popping sound. Take into account that the my TubeCube amp only has 3.5W output. With the cd player, this is enough, with the Fire Tablet, it was not enough. 

After doing extensive research - also on this forum - and shifting from really cheap solutions to considering the Bluesound Node 2,  a Shiit dac and even more expensive DAC/streamers, I thought I had found it: I had an unused Raspberry Pi in the house, and thought, what the hell, why not, I’ll buy a Hifiberry add-on DAC and stream music with the RPI. Soon I realized, however, that this was a way too complicated solution, which could cost a lot of money too, esp. when you start adding linear power supply etc. So I ditched that project as well.

So I started looking for the simplest, easiest, smallest solution. And somehow, I found the Advance Acoustic  WTX Microstreamer. It is a real streamer: you plug it into your amp (rca aux in), it connects to your wifi network (2.4Ghz only), and you use a tablet or your phone as a remote, using the free Advance Playstream app. It comes with multi-room functionality. Haven’t tested that myself.

All this in an apparatus that is smaller than a box of matches. It comes with the Wolfson WM8740 DAC chip, which has a pretty decent reputation (NAD uses its CD players and Cambridge Audio the CXA60).

Setup: Comes with a small power unit. The streamer plugs directly into a standard RCA AUX input of the amp. It fits both my Marantz PM5005 amp and my TubeDepot TubeCube 7. So no cable is required. Wifi connection: it has a WPS button and comes with good instructions. It only connects to a 2.4Ghz network. Mine is both 2.5/5Ghz. After trying all different methods and failing, I had just made up my mind and was about to change the settings of my router to 2.4, and just before that, it worked. (it took about 10 minutes). I had the same happening with the wifi dongle of my solar panels. I guess my routers scans every few minutes in the 2.4Ghz area, and I have to wait until it connects. Since then, the WTX Microstreamer has never lost connection. It has no on/off button. It has a blue LED that is far too bright and always on. I considered ductape to shield it from view. At night, I sprays a laserbeam of blue light on the wall and the ceiling. I left it, because its helps me prevent bumping into things when on my way to the toilet. 😴

 

Sound Quality: To my ears, it sounds like CD quality. I’m using Spotify Family at 320Kbps, and I have also tried playing some commercially bought flac files. They sound marvellous. Rich in the bass frequencies, excellent in the mids and highs. I don’t have a subwoofer. I have no command of the usual audiophiliac vernacular. Let's just say it is "set and forget": I'm enjoying streamed music, as if I was listening to a cd or vinyl record, with access to millions of songs, without having to leave my sofa.

Available services: Tidal, Deezer, Spotify Connect (with subscription), Qobuz, and many more. Internet Radio has many channels that sound excellent. Also Belgian radio stations sound much better than their DAB equivalent.

Prize: €135, bought at Amazon.de, delivered within a week (in corona-time…)

Specs: https://advance-acoustic.com/en/multimedia-and-wireless/wifi-network-player/130-wtx-microstreamer 

Conclusion:

Pro: excellent value for money, great sound

Con: no way to connect anything else to this DAC (no usb-connection available) & a very, very bright blue LED that is always on (see second picture)

 

[Tarheel]

5 hours ago, ILI said:

Up to now, I was streaming music to my amp using bluetooth or a rca/mini-jack cable connecting my phone or my Amazon Fire Tablet. This, of course, was not a hifi solution, and I was really curious about how my 1972 Heresy speakers would sound if connected to a more 'audiophile grade' streamer. I know how they sound with vinyl and a CD-player. But I wanted to find out what it would be like streaming Spotify Connect or local flac files. With the Amazon Fire tablet, I was particularly dissatisfied: 1) the output volume was really low and 2) there was often a popping sound. Take into account that the my TubeCube amp only has 3.5W output. With the cd player, this is enough, with the Fire Tablet, it was not enough. 

After doing extensive research - also on this forum - and shifting from really cheap solutions to considering the Bluesound Node 2,  a Shiit dac and even more expensive DAC/streamers, I thought I had found it: I had an unused Raspberry Pi in the house, and thought, what the hell, why not, I’ll buy a Hifiberry add-on DAC and stream music with the RPI. Soon I realized, however, that this was a way too complicated solution, which could cost a lot of money too, esp. when you start adding linear power supply etc. So I ditched that project as well.

So I started looking for the simplest, easiest, smallest solution. And somehow, I found the Advance Acoustic  WTX Microstreamer. It is a real streamer: you plug it into your amp (rca aux in), it connects to your wifi network (2.4Ghz only), and you use a tablet or your phone as a remote, using the free Advance Playstream app. It comes with multi-room functionality. Haven’t tested that myself.

All this in an apparatus that is smaller than a box of matches. It comes with the Wolfson WM8740 DAC, which has a pretty decent reputation (NAD uses its CD players and Cambridge Audio the CXA60).

Setup: Comes with a small power unit. The streamer plugs directly into a standard RCA AUX input of the amp. It fits both my Marantz PM5005 amp and my TubeDepot TubeCube 7. So no cable is required. Wifi connection: it has a WPS button and comes with good instructions. It only connects to a 2.4Ghz network. Mine is both 2.5/5Ghz. After trying all different methods and failing, I had just made up my mind and was about to change the settings of my router to 2.4, and just before that, it worked. (it took about 10 minutes). I had the same happening with the wifi dongle of my solar panels. I guess my routers scans every few minutes in the 2.4Ghz area, and I have to wait until it connects. Since then, the WTX Microstreamer has never lost connection. It has no on/off button. It has a blue LED that is far too bright and always on. I considered ductape to shield it from view.

 

Sound Quality: To my ears, it sounds like CD quality. I’m using Spotify Family at 320Kbps, and I have also tried playing some commercially bought flac files. They sound marvellous. Rich in the bass frequencies, excellent in the mids and highs. I don’t have a subwoofer. I have no command of the usual audiophiliac vernacular. Let's just say it is "set and forget": I'm enjoying streamed music, as if I was listening to a cd or vinyl record, with access to millions of songs, without having to leave my sofa.

Available services: Deezer, Spotify Connect (with subscription), Qobuz, and many more. Internet Radio has many channels that sound excellent. Also Belgian radio stations sound much better than their DAB equivalent.

Prize: €135, bought at Amazon.de, delivered within a week (in corona-time…)

Specs: https://advance-acoustic.com/en/multimedia-and-wireless/wifi-network-player/130-wtx-microstreamer 

Conclusion:

Pro: excellent value for money, great sound

Con: no way to connect anything else to this DAC (no usb-connection available) & a very, very bright blue LED that is always on (see second picture)

 

Great review ILI.  Sounds like you're happy with it.  Enjoy!

[rplace]

Slick little piece of gear. Nice review.

 

Enjoy!

[glens]

Does it conform to DLNA or is it something maybe proprietary only (akin to Chromecast)?

[MeloManiac]

2 hours ago, glens said:

Does it conform to DLNA or is it something maybe proprietary only (akin to Chromecast)?

 

I have just tested it for you. Activated DLNA on my Windows 10 Dell Latitutude E5550 laptop (nothing fancy...) and it works flawlessly with the standard Advance Playstream app.

See screenshot.

[Erick R.]

Sounds promising and a lot cheaper than the BS Node 2i. I will check it out for the second system in the kitchen, I hope it sounds just as good as the node 2i which I use in the living room.

[Schu]

It's a dongle...

[MeloManiac]

4 minutes ago, Schu said:

It's a dongle...

... For your Amp, not for your pc or laptop. 

[glens]

I looked up the item and it reminds me of the Chromecast Audio unit.  I've got a NAD amp with chromecast "built in."  NAD claims it was the first such stereo integrated amp on the market.  The wireless streaming board used was made by Librewireless and near as I can tell it's got the same system-on-a-chip as that used in the Chromecast audio proper.  I've done some pokin' around in the system running on that board.  There's the chromecast stuff along with a DLNA implementation by Libre.  

 

Interestingly, via DLNA (there're hints of gapless in the system but it's unimplemented in the amp) whatever the LRCK environment setting, the digital is resampled to that frequency whereas via the chromecast method the LRCK (I2S to the amp's DAC) seems to get adjusted accordingly.  Beyond that, the chromecast rendition of the program content has a notably better sonic quality even when no resampling is being performed.  Quite odd, and I'd surely rather not use the chromecast system since it doesn't work without providing and allowing it constant access to boxes within Google's network structure.

 

This product looks nice but I wish they'd provide digital output, or at least a unit which only does.

[MeloManiac]

2 hours ago, glens said:

I looked up the item and it reminds me of the Chromecast Audio unit.  I've got a NAD amp with chromecast "built in."  NAD claims it was the first such stereo integrated amp on the market.  The wireless streaming board used was made by Librewireless and near as I can tell it's got the same system-on-a-chip as that used in the Chromecast audio proper.  I've done some pokin' around in the system running on that board.  There's the chromecast stuff along with a DLNA implementation by Libre.  

 

Interestingly, via DLNA (there're hints of gapless in the system but it's unimplemented in the amp) whatever the LRCK environment setting, the digital is resampled to that frequency whereas via the chromecast method the LRCK (I2S to the amp's DAC) seems to get adjusted accordingly.  Beyond that, the chromecast rendition of the program content has a notably better sonic quality even when no resampling is being performed.  Quite odd, and I'd surely rather not use the chromecast system since it doesn't work without providing and allowing it constant access to boxes within Google's network structure.

 

This product looks nice but I wish they'd provide digital output, or at least a unit which only does.

 

All these considerations are about the Chromecast and NAD? Or do they apply to the Advance Acoustic product? It's a bit unclear. Google has nothing to do with Advance Acoustic.

 

They do have pretty high-end gear too, like this one:

https://advance-acoustic.com/en/hifi-elements/all-in-one-system/151-myconnect-150 

 

 

[glens]

I was rambling on about how such a unit might have DLNA "capability" but that it could well work better (in various ways) via its intrinsic methodology, if it has one.  I could not determine by what I'd seen at their site just what communication system is being used.  Is it Airplay with DLNA tacked on, the other way 'round, or are they both tacked on to something else?

 

Does the unit function fully in the absence of the Internet (probably not the Airplay?), or if it fails in some way, how?

[MeloManiac]

1 hour ago, glens said:

I was rambling on about how such a unit might have DLNA "capability" but that it could well work better (in various ways) via its intrinsic methodology, if it has one.  I could not determine by what I'd seen at their site just what communication system is being used.  Is it Airplay with DLNA tacked on, the other way 'round, or are they both tacked on to something else?

 

Does the unit function fully in the absence of the Internet (probably not the Airplay?), or if it fails in some way, how?

When I set up my laptop, I remember seeing UPnp at one point. 

[Erick R.]

8 hours ago, ILI said:

... For your Amp, not for your pc or laptop. 

My kitchen has an Amp. a Cyrus 3 that deserves a nice dongle  iso a chromecast

 

[MeloManiac]

On 5/1/2020 at 11:22 PM, Erick R. said:

My kitchen has an Amp. a Cyrus 3 that deserves a nice dongle  iso a chromecast

 

 

Google has ditched Chromecast Audio. 

[Peter Kuiper]

I have a question: do you need to select ‘Spotify’ in the wtx-microstream app, and only then you can connect from Spotify to this device? Or once it is setup, can you always connect from Spotify just like that? And what about my family members? Do they all need the wtx-microstream app installed on their phones? Will that work? Or can only 1 person have the app installed and connected? Or is wtx-microstream simply visible in Spotify (with a premium account) for everyone in the same WiFi network?

[A G]

The device can be selected from the Spotify app itself. So no configuration required for such use.

 

Also, I have two of them and the multiroom works fine. Great little device.