Advance Paris WTX StreamerPro DNLA network streamer

Priced just below € 300 it does 192 kHz 24 bit, has volume control and an analog input, all in a tiny elegant housing. I recently reviewed the Advance Paris Playstream A7 streaming amplifier and on returning it to the Dutch distributor I noticed two very affordable streamers. In this video the review of the more expensive of the two. The WTX StreamPro can be connected over analog RCA cables to an amplifier that drives a set of loudspeakers. It also needs to be connected to your home network over either a network cable or 2.4 GHz Wifi using the b, g or n standard.

00:56 - Now you can play streaming services like Deezer, iHaert Radio, Napster, Qobuz, Spotify Premium, Tidal and TuneIn. Some of these are subscription based. If you want to play music from your computer, it needs to be connected to your network too, have DLNA or UPnP AV server program running and be switched on. The same goes for a NAS. The infrared remote has buttons for volume control, play, pause, skip back, skip forward and standby. Choosing music, making playlists and the like is done using a smartphone or tablet. Free apps are available for iOS and Android.

01:37 - The analog input allows you to connect for instance the analog output of the TV, game console or FM tuner. When using an integrated amplifier, it’s handier to connect these directly to the amplifier but if you use a power amplifier or active speakers, it is a useful feature. Another option is to connect the digital output of the WTX StreamPro to the digital input of an AV receiver or amplifier with built-in DAC, if that’s of higher quality than the DAC inside the WTX StreamPro. In this case the analog input is no longer usable. But then analog sources can be connected directly to the receiver or amplifier.

02:24 - The design of this tiny streamer is true to the design language of Advance Paris in that it has a polycarbonate front with blue LED’s and aluminium buttons. The rest of the housing is of sturdy metal. It measures 131 by 42 by 113 mm and weighs about half a kilo. The front holds a standby button, an infrared sensor, three blue LEDs that indicate what source is selected, the source selector itself and the 3.5 mm headphone socket. On the rear we find a mini USB port to connect the supplied switch mode wall wart power supply to, a connector for the optional Bluetooth dongle, a WPS button for connecting to your Wifi base station, a SPDIF digital output, a TOSlink digital output, a USB port for connecting a memory stick holding music to, the Wifi antenna, the network socket, the analog line outputs and the analog line inputs.

03:28 - Opening the cabinet shows a very crowded inside with the Linkplay A31 streamer module piggyback on the main board. It is identical to the streamer module used in the Playstream A7. A second small board holds the interface for the Bluetooth dongle. When we remove these two boards, we see the Cirrus Logic interface chip that handles the incoming digital audio from the streaming module, the MV Silicon ARM Cortex M3 processor for system control, the Wolfson WM8740 DAC chip and the AKM AK 4113VF interface chip that handles the outgoing digital audio. About any PCM file format up to 24 bit 192 kHz is supported: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Apple Lossless, AAC, AAC+, APE, RealAudio, MP3, WMA and OGG.

04:30 - Standard operation is as DLNA renderer but it also works as Airplay renderer. As Airplay renderer the sending device, for instance an iPhone, sends a music stream to the WXT StreamPro that performs the decrypting and plays it back over the analog or digital outputs. Airplay is an Apple protocol that uses lossless compression to keep the load in the wifi network as low as possible and encrypting to avoid problems with copyright owners that otherwise might consider it to be broadcasting. It is good to realise that both work without any damage to the audio bits. The only limitation is that 48 kHz is the highest sampling rate that is supported by Airplay. DLNA works differently.

05:17 - Here a program on a computer or NAS indexes the music and offers several lists of metadata to the ‘controller’. Nowadays the controller usually is a smartphone or tablet but there have been dedicated devices as well that still would work. Depending on the server program used and its settings those lists can vary. Limited server software only offers lists of artists, albums, tracks and genre. This is often the case with DLNA server programs that also do video and photos. For music we might also want lists of composers, directors, release dates and so on. These lists can be found with the better DLNA server programs. I like MinimServer, which only does music, so no video nor photos. It already offers lists like ‘director’ and you can add or alter list types if you’re a bit handy with computers. After the DLNA server has indexed all music files, the ‘controller’ - being the app on your smartphone - reads in these lists and then you choose on list, for instance ‘album names’ to browse to the music you want.

06:28 - If you then select a track or album, the server sends the audio data plus some of the metadata to the DNA renderer. In this case that is the WTX StreamPro. The metadata normally comprises artist, album name, track number, track name and album art and can be displayed on the renderers screen if present. The WXT StreamPro doesn’t have a display, which to me is no problem since the same info is shown on the smartphone or tablet you use as controller. When you open the app it searches for Advance Paris Streaming products and when found, it checks for updates. If an update is available, you will be asked if it should be installed.

07:16 - If not you are presented with the Advance Paris streamers in your network. I also borrowed the tiny WTX Micro streamer to see how Multiroom and party mode work, which was fine. But let’s select the WTX StreamPro for now after which the play screen appears. Let’s go to the input screen where we see the available sources. Here you can choose from the sources I mentioned earlier. The app is in portrait mode only which is fine on an iPhone but often not on an iPad. Let’s first see how to access the music on a computer or NAS and select Home Music Share. Let’s go to Syn8T, the simple Synology DS119J NAS that runs MinimServer. Let’s select albums and select Mudlark by Leo Kottke. From here I can play all tracks or any track.

08:13 - Let’s get back to the input menu and go for high-res streaming service Tidal, select ‘my music’, go to ‘artists’ and select my favourite rock singer Anouk. After selecting Michel from the album, Urban Solitude the track starts playing en the play screen appears showing a rather slow revolving vinyl record with label. Tapping the playlist button shows what music will be played next. Let’s show you the streaming services you can add. As you can see I have most services active, only Ximalaya and QQFM are switched off.

08:49 - Normal users, as in non reviewers - will have only two or three services active, for instance iHearRadio, vTuner and Tidal. It’s not the most impressive app but it gets the job done and will suffice for most users. By the way, sometimes the term UPnP AV is used in documentation. It stands for Universal Plug & Play Audio Visual. In practice it works exactly the same as DLNA. So you can use a UPnP AV server program as well. This is where it gets rather interesting for the sound quality is clearly higher than the price, if you catch my drift. The first thing to notice is the impressive sound stage that exceeds that of streamers costing a third more. To me that’s enormously important since it’s more emerging hearing the acoustic environment. The lows go deep and have a fair amount of texture.

09:48 - Mids and highs are more in line with the better alternatives in this class. That can be improved by replacing the power supply with an audiophile power supply. It cleans up the highs somewhat and increases the resolution in the mids. I used the sBooster BOTW P&P first generation although the Audiophonics or iFi power supplies would be more appropriate, price wise. I rate it top of my setup 3 or even on the lower end of my setup 2. Used with an audiophile power supply even somewhat higher. With the Advance Paris WTX StreamPro you buy a good functioning streaming solution. It will work with many streaming services, Airplay and your own DLNA server. More important though is that sound quality that really surprised me. I sometimes get question like: is that € 500 DAC just as good as that € 1000 DAC? If I have reviewed it, that is most unlikely for I only try to review equipment dat performs well in its price category.

10:59 - There is no point in spending a lot of production time on a product you shouldn’t buy. But some products stick out, the Advance Paris WTX StreamPro is such a product. So it’s not as good as a € 600 product but it sounds as good or better than, say, a € 450 product. That brings us to the end of this video. There will be a next one coming Friday at 5 pm central European time, Deo volente. Since you don’t want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out.

11:36 - If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up. I have been blessed with some royal donations this week, which is fine since it made up a bit for the loss on advertisement money coming from Youtube due to Covid-19. So a big hand to my royal supporters. If you like to support my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on Youtube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. As always, whatever you do, enjoy the music. And keep safe. .