Budget audiophile brand WiiM is taking on Sonos with a new smart speaker and wireless subwoofer. These products, called the WiiM Sound and WiiM Sub Pro, offer lossless Wi-Fi streaming and can pair with other WiiM devices for whole-home audio functionality.
The WiiM Sound smart speaker has a sort-of HomePod-inspired design, with an upper control panel and a rounded 1.8-inch touchscreen. It pumps 100 watts of “room-filling” audio through a set of dual-balanced mode radiator tweeters and a 4-inch woofer, with support for 24-bit 192kHz high-res audio, automatic room correction, and manual EQ management.
Funny enough, the speaker doesn’t have an integrated voice assistant, though it is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant. So, if you care about voice control, you may end up in a weird situation where you have an Amazon Echo sitting next to the WiiM Sound. However, it’s got all the other stuff you’d expect from a Wi-Fi speaker—it supports protocols like Chromecast, Spotify Connect, and DLNA, it can connect to other WiiM products for whole-home or true stereo audio. You can also use the WiiM sound in a Dolby 5.1 surround setup, though you’ll need to connect a WiiM receiver or amp to your TV first.
For connectivity, you get an Ethernet jack, a 3.5mm port, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. The inclusion of Wi-Fi 6E is greatly appreciated, as it should increase reliability, particularly in apartments or other dwellings with a ton of wireless congestion.
WiiM’s Sub Pro is obviously intended to be an add-on device. It’s something that you pair with the WiiM Sound smart speaker, a WiiM receiver, or a WiiM amp. Still, the specs look pretty solid. It boasts a 250-watt output, an 8-inch driver, plus automatic room correction functionality. There’s also an RCA input, which I consider an essential requirement for wireless subwoofers—you can reuse the Sub Pro as a wired subwoofer, meaning that it won’t turn into a total brick if WiiM’s service ever shuts down.
The subwoofer also supports Wi-Fi 6E, of course, though I’m surprised to see an Ethernet jack on the back of the unit. I’m also surprised by some of the photos that WiiM sent my way, most of them show the Sub Pro with third-party passive speakers (rather than the new Sound smart speaker). Some of WiiM’s set-top boxes lack a dedicated subwoofer output, so maybe the company expects to sell the Sub Pro to existing customers who are desperate for deep bass.
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As a quick aside, I should point out that these aren’t the first WiiM-enabled smart speakers. Swedish brand Audio Pro recently introduced a line of speakers with WiiM OS. These third-party Audio Pro speakers do not have integrated touchscreens but are fairly inexpensive and can pair with other WiiM-enabled products.
Oh, there’s also a new WiiM Amp Ultra, which is effectively just the standard WiiM Amp with a touchscreen, upgraded dual TI TPA3255 Class-D amp chips, an increased output (up to 100w per channel at 8 Ohms), and an HDMI ARC input. It looks like a neat multimedia solution for someone who wants to run their hi-fi and home theater from a single amplifier, though it won’t provide surround sound audio, so you’d better be okay with 2.1-channel Dolby Digital.
WiiM says it’ll begin selling the Sound, Sub Pro, and Amp Pro in Q3 2025—so, probably sometime between July and September. Pricing hasn’t been revealed, unfortuantely. For what it’s worth, Sonos’ smart speaker and subwoofer sell for $200 and $800, respectively. I don’t think that WiiM will be able to undercut the price of Sonos’ smart speaker, but I hope that the Sub Pro costs less than $800.
Source: WiiM
