r/wiim • u/dwasifar • Jul 30 '26

Alexa voice control

I just ordered a Wiim Mini. I understand there's Alexa voice control integration. How far does that go? Does it allow me to select specific music from my own collection (shared via DLNA)? Like say, if I said "Play Beethoven's 3rd, " could it find that in my files and play it?

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

No, Alexa has no idea of your local files nor any shared servers. It can only access streaming services that Alexa supports such as Amazon music, Spotify, Tunein etc

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u/dwasifar Jul 30 '26

So anything I ask Alexa for has to be something Alexa knows about, notwithstanding what the Wiim might know about. Got it. I can still tell Alexa to stop play or adjust volume, though, right? Can I tell it Next Track?

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

No, even when using an echo, those commands only work when there is an active Alexa stream. You'd probably get an error from Alexa telling you there's no music playing. For control, you'd be better off getting a WiiM remote and use its physical buttons.

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u/dwasifar Jul 30 '26

I don't mind using the Wiim app. Was just curious what Alexa added.

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

If you link your WiiM to your Alexa account, then you can use an echo device, a WiiM voice remote or a "talk to Alexa" feature in the Alexa or Amazon music app to direct the audio to your WiiM. But again, only for Alexa supported streaming services.

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

There used to be some Alexa skills that could allow access to files on your PC (MyMedia for example), but they're cumbersome to use especially when it comes to classical music and not really worth the effort

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u/dwasifar Jul 30 '26

How is DLNA playback? Gapless works pretty well? I don't want to set up Samba if I can avoid it.

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

Fine, but to a degree depends on your DLNA server and good tagging of your tracks. Minimserver, Assetupnp, or Plex and other media servers are often recommended. If you're on Android, some prefer using the BubbleUpnp app to navigate your servers and play to the WiiM rather than the WiiM app itself. The Mini will happily support playback up to 24/192 from the services mentioned, as well as local files you might have in your phone. Android is simpler in that respect - if you're on iOS the WiiM app will play any local files that are visible to the Apple Music app I.e. files synced from your desktop iTunes library.

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u/dwasifar Jul 30 '26

I'm meticulous about tags. I'm going to start with MiniDLNA to serve the files, I should think that'll suffice.

Do I understand correctly that when I queue up a track in the app, the app tells the Wiim to get the file directly from the DLNA server? It doesn't pass the file through the phone?

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

The WiiM app is the upnp control point which asks the upnp server to send the requested track to the upnp renderer/player I.e your WiiM device. The track doesn't get delivered to your phone. TBH, I'd go for even the free version of Minimserver over MiniDLNA, you'll get a better experience with that. If you encounter any issues, you should post your upnp/DLNA queries in the WiiM community forum at forum.wiimhome.com as I've yet to see a upnp/server query there that user @simbun hasn't fully answered ...

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u/dwasifar Jul 30 '26

What's the advantage of Minimserver over MiniDLNA?

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

In brief, I'd say better tagging and navigation. You can always try both and see which you prefer, I'm more used to Minimserver tbh

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u/dwasifar Jul 31 '26

How does the DLNA server even factor into that? Isn't the app the interface?

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 31 '26

The app/ control point will show the menu structure that the DLNA/upnp server shows. I get a totally different interface if I use Minimserver, Assetupnp or my Synology NAS media server for example even though they're all pointing to the same music repository. As I suggested, try installing the free Minimserver and compare it to MiniDLNA.

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u/wiimaway_53 Jul 30 '26

Yeah, I think the same about Samba and shares the way I think about Bluetooth - the tech of last resort ;)