Wiim has just given us a sneak peek at its next product: the Vibelink Amp. It’s a 100-watt-per-channel, two-channel amplifier that doesn’t have any streaming smarts built-in. Wiim unveiled the Vibelink Amp at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show.
For now, Wiim isn’t revealing many details. We know that it will get its official launch in March, but the company hasn’t said how much it will cost. In 2024, Wiim released the Amp Pro, a two-channel, 120-watt-per-channel amp with built-in streaming for $369, so that may give us a sense of where the Vibelink will end up — likely less than the Amp Pro given the Vibelink lacks streaming features.
Oddly, Wiim says that the Vibelink is “designed for high-fidelity sound across digital and analog sources,” but so far it has only told us about its digital compatibility: Wiim says there will be digitial optical and coaxial inputs, which work with a “wide range of variable sample rates and bit depths, ensuring maximum compatibility and audio flexibility.”
The only official photo of the Vibelink Amp so far (above) shows that the device has the same footprint as the company’s flagship streamer, the Wiim Ultra, making it an ideal amplifier for people who either already own an Ultra or plan to create a system from scratch.
Wiim has been on a tear recently. In 2024, it launched the Ultra and Wiim Amp Pro, as well as the first Wiim-compatible wireless speakers in partnership with Audio Pro.
It’s quickly building an ecosystem of wireless and wired audio products that can compete with Sonos — at a time when Sonos is working through major upheavals that began with a botched app update in May 2024 that left many of its customers with limited functionality on their Sonos systems.
Wiim’s software reproduces many of the features found in the Sonos app, including universal search, while its advanced menu options provide far more tweaks for audiophiles.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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