Learning to live with less is not a bad thing, especially if you have what you need and that works for you. For those with a limited amount of space, there are a number of Hi-Fi options available in 2025 that can work rather well in a small apartment or cabin and our goal is turn you onto as many of them as possible.
Having to downsize from 3,200 to between 700 and 848 square feet might feel like a huge step backwards — but that all depends on your perspective. Less is more sometimes and might make you appreciate what you have.
If you don’t have a lot of room, what types of components and loudspeakers should you be considering?
A high performance and affordable music steamer should be on your shopping list because something like the WiiM Ultra offers some useful connectivity options like HDMI ARC for your TV, a subwoofer output, coaxial digital output if you want to use an external DAC to improve the sound quality of your streaming, and a phono preamp.
There is also a TOSLINK Optical input/output and analog input for use with a CD player or even an external phono preamplifier.
Park Life
Not the Blur album or where Ricky and Bubbles cause trouble.
One of the best features of the standard Zook Cabins A-frame Park model is the layout and intelligent use of space. 400 square feet is not a lot of room, but its use of natural light is a key component which helps open up the main living area to the outside world that feels rather huge looking out.
I know people living in tiny apartments in NYC who wish they had access to this much light, ambiance, and usable space to work, cook, live, listen, and read.
I also know New Yorkers who would tell me that their apartment was so tiny that they could sit on the toilet whilst doing the dishes in the kitchen and it felt normal.
Zook Cabins has also clearly paid attention to noise issues because the rentals, which are often surrounded by other similar cabins, parking for RVs and high-end glamping spots — also feel well isolated from the outside world.
Wind noise and rain pounding on the metal siding isn’t completely inaudible, but it’s certainly not anything that would keep anyone up at night.
Reach Out and Touch Someone
I remember the first time I watched a video on YouTube of the Zook Cabins A-frame Park model and wondered if I could stretch my arms out and touch both walls in the living room area by the massive window that gives this particular unit its unique look and amazing light.
Having spent time inside the 400 square foot model, it has become rather obvious that anything larger than a 55-inch TV is out of the question and so are loudspeakers larger than the Q Acoustics 5020 on stands or the M40 wireless speakers.
The Wharfedale Super Denton could also work.
One could mount a larger TV on the bedroom wall, but that would likely become somewhat overwhelming in the room and take away from the focal point which is the large window that creates so much light across the bed.
While I will be traveling around and renting the standard 400 square foot units – there is no question that the long-term plan is to invest in the 848 square foot ADU version of the A-frame Park model; and with only 12′ x 14.8′ (not to mention the angled ceiling) in the main living room space in the ADU units, my choice of speakers and listening position will be rather critical.
There really isn’t enough space in the living room areas for a dedicated book shelf — but I fortunately still have my 2 Sapien Bookcases that I purchased many years ago — you would be amazed at how many books you can stack vertically.
Why Do You Need a Digital Music Streamer?
The vast majority of consumers use their smartphone to stream and that’s a perfectly valid way to go.
Streaming does drain your battery. It gets even worse if you utilize a Dongle DAC to drive a pair of headphones or a pair of active loudspeakers on the desktop.
Another drawback is that the DAC (digital to analog converter) in your smartphone does not compare favorably to the DAC inside of a dedicated music streamer.
You also require a better quality system downstream to truly appreciate the improvement that a music streamer can make.
Streamer. Nothing but a Streamer…
The WiiM Ultra was a rather easy selection for our “Best Music Streamer: Editors’ Choice” list, but I am already starting to see just how flexible this little box can be when confronted with a lack of space.
The WiiM Ultra does not have to be totally visible. And that’s a very good solution when you may want to use the top of a credenza for a television and some photos and books; maybe even a vase with some pretty flowers that will bathe in the natural sunlight through the A-frame window.
Martha Stewart is probably smirking somewhere in Connecticut reading that.
So why the WiiM Ultra?
Just look at it. When you get past the plasticky looking chassis, a rather good music streamer with an excellent control app lurks beneath — and it’s hard to do better at the asking price of $329 USD.
All of WiiM’s streamers, including the entry-level WiiM Mini, support lossless and high resolution audio at a minimum of 192kHz/24-bit (depending on the source) with gapless playback for seamless track-to-track transitions.
All WiiM streamers except the WiiM Ultra and WiiM Amp Pro support Apple AirPlay 2 and Siri voice assistants.
The WiiM Ultra also offers a high-quality 3.5″ full-color touchscreen, but does so at about a third of the cost of the Cambridge Audio CXN100 streamer.
The upgraded DAC is the ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M DAC with decoding of up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM.
All of those features and connectivity options would be for naught if the WiiM Ultra didn’t sound better than the competition. The music streamer offers a rather clear sounding presentation that is just neutral enough to make it ideal for all kinds of amplification and even active speakers. Although we prefer it with a warmer sounding tonal balance overall.
The app is comprehensive and easy to use with access to almost every major streaming platform available.
Almost impossible to go wrong with the WiiM Ultra — unless you must have AirPlay 2 support.
Pros:
- Possibly the best network music player under $1,000 for only $329
- Control app offers comprehensive platform and setup support
- Support for TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, Alexa,
- Connectivity options including MM phono and HDMI ARC
- Supports up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM
- Clear and accurate sounding
Cons:
- Does not support Apple AirPlay 2
- MM phono stage is rather average sounding
All Loudspeakers Great and Small
One of the most glaring aspects of the standard A-frame Park model’s living room is that it is basically a 10′ x 10′ room with an opening to the kitchen and angled ceiling.
Because it’s an ‘A’-frame. Just making sure everyone is paying attention.
That means that front-ported bookshelf loudspeakers or something on the smaller side like the Q Acoustics M40 Wireless Speakers make a lot of sense. The lowish cabinet actually works in this room, although I still might use my paving stones from Home Depot with IsoAcoustics’ pucks underneath to raise the tweeter height somewhat because I’m on the taller side at 6’3″.
Most M40 owners likely only use Bluetooth to stream from their smart devices to the speakers and as I explained in the review, they sound different (and somewhat better) when connected to something like the WiiM Ultra through its analog outputs.
You will not require a subwoofer in this scenario as the M40 deliver more than enough mid bass and upper bass punch to energise this space. Even with the smaller room dimensions, I would pull these speakers 8-12″ from the wall at a minimum.
The phono stage is also a miss for me. Sorry. I would definitely go with something from our “Best Phono Preamplifiers: Editors’ Choice” list like the Schiit Audio Mani 2 or even something a little pricier like the MOON 110 LP v2 — assuming that you are using a turntable/phono cartridge combination that will benefit from it.
How Much Money You Got Left?
If listening to vinyl is part of your life (I will not feel shame about the mall pretzels), there are a number of affordable options that will work rather well with this compact system and not look ugly next to the vase filled with flowers and three books placed horizontally on your media credenza.
Make sure the bottom one is always the largest and written by someone extremely controversial.
Many of the options from our “Best Audiophile Turntables: Editors’ Choice” list would make sense if you have the budget for them. But I’m going off the reservation with this one with a pick that I think makes the most sense because we are trying to keep this system priced below $3,500 for everything.
Pro-Ject replaced the Debut PRO in Q4 2024 with the new Debut PRO B and whilst it is $100 more than the model it is replacing — the upgrades are worth the money and the supplied cartridge is a great starting point.
My preferred option would be something like a restored Thorens TD-145; my unit from 1977 was rebuilt by Vinyl Nirvana in New Hampshire and the tonearm with either a Dynavector 10×5 or Sumiko Blue Point No. 3 is an extremely reliable tank that has already lasted more than 4 decades and will be part of my home office system until they finally have to pull the sheet over me.
I would upgrade to the Sumiko Wellfleet if you go with the Pro-Ject when you can’t decide if you should upgrade from your existing Arc’teryx Beta to the SL or get another Moccamaster by Technivorm KBGV Select 10-Cup Coffee Maker to replace the one that your annoying cousin from Skokie broke over Thanksgiving.
I’m a lot fun during group therapy in the hospital. Someone please pass my Fellow Stagg EKG Electric Pour-Over Kettle and South African Rooibos tea.
How much will all of this cost?
Depending on your choice of phono pre-amplifiers, slightly under $3,500 and you will not require speaker cables because the M40 come with them inside the box already.
Saved you some money for that area rug you will need in front of the speakers, but this is a great place to start.
Buy Wiim Ultra:
Related Reading:
- WiiM Amp Review: The Audiophile System Builder
- Which WiiM Network Streamer Should You Get?
- Best Digital Music Streamers: Editors’ Choice
Anton
February 12, 2025 at 7:26 pm
Agree on the WiiM Ultra and Q Acoustics combination but the frequent references to Vinyl Nirvana and Pro-Ject are a tad much, friendo.
Are you building a cabin in Florida? That seems bound for disaster with hurricanes.
Ian White
February 12, 2025 at 7:35 pm
So a few things to unpack here.
I reference those two brands frequently because I have a lot of confidence in both. And I have invested considerable capital in both of their products.
VN is also one of the best when it comes to customer service and that makes it more comfortable for me to recommend them.
Yes, I will be living in Florida for part of the year but it will not involve a cabin. A combination of land costs in the area where I am going to be located combined with rather unbelievable home insurance rates because of the hurricanes makes one of the cabins a bad investment there specifically.
Apartment on the 8th floor in regard to FL which gives me a view, strong onshore winds, and slightly more space compared to the A-frame ADU that I’m investing in.
IW
Asa
February 12, 2025 at 9:59 pm
Thanks, Ian. I’m having a call with Zook in the next few months to go over all options – thanks for the intro to them.
Also, I look forward to more info and a review of the Pantheone Audio products (Pantheone 1 and Obsidian). Would be a perfect solution to my living room audio, at least on paper, and the better half would get some shelf space back. And tell them to get rid of that weird cursor circle on their website – not helpful. 🙂
PSA: For anyone with elderly parents, the Apple AirPod Pro 2s are an excellent hearing aid devices. She was using pricey, but defective hearing aides, and once these went in, she was amazed how well they worked, and for much less $$$.
Ian White
February 13, 2025 at 1:01 am
Asa,
Happy to hear that. Am headed to PA next week to see Zook and will take some photos if the A-frame house is complete.
IW
Larry Hennessey
February 13, 2025 at 5:14 am
Hi Ian,
The A-frame looks gorgeous. Being retired, I often spend extended stays (months at a time) in various VRBOs. Currently, I’m in NZ for six months. If I had more suitcase room, I’d use one of the KEF LSX variants. But since suitcase space is a priority I use a set of KEF EGGs. I drive them from a Samsung Galaxy S-21 to an outboard dongle DAC to the KEFs via their analog input. KEF is selling the EGG Duo’s for $299, which uses the same 11th-gen driver as the rest of the LSX family. Having lived with this combo since November, it’s fantastic. As an added plus, the Samsung provides access to all my video services as well. I’d be glad to share more if you’re interested.
As always, I enjoy your writing.
Larry
Ian White
February 13, 2025 at 11:35 am
Larry,
It’s an interesting design for sure that requires spending more to get what you need. Which in my case is the ADU model. I’m with you on the KEFs and my pair of LSX II (currently inside a duffel bag wrapped in towels) will be used either in the MB or kitchen. Just need to figure out the Ethernet connection part.
Appreciate the kind words.
IW
Larry Hennessey
February 13, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Hi Ian,
Instead of towels use foam laptop sleeves from Amazon. That’s how I protect the EGGs. The Ethernet connection part is easy, use a Wi-Fi extender that comes with an ethernet port.
Larry
Ian White
February 13, 2025 at 9:58 pm
Hi Larry,
I never thought of that in regard to the speakers. I actually came up with a different solution for the Ethernet in regard to the A-frame ADU. I have an ASUS Router with 4 Gigabit LAN ports and I’m going to spend the extra dinero to have Zook install CAT7 (CAT8 seems like overkill) cables and some wall ports. My router is pretty strong and considering the dimensions of the unit (57′ x 15), the lengths won’t be too bad.
IW
tonyE
March 21, 2025 at 8:26 pm
For short runs, even Cat5e is sufficient.
The badwidth specs are for corporate installations that run in the hundreds of feet.
I have three managed switches running GigE and Spanning Tree, in a physical delta configuration. The legs are about 40 feet long. No problems at all achieving GigE with Cat5E. I also run link aggregation, so I’m getting 2GigE on two legs, the other leg runs 10GigE.
No problem.
The drops to the room are all GigE. Each room has its own unmanaged GigE switch Three of us are on all day long… Tidal, Netflix, VPN for our jobs, big NASs (120TB), etc… and we have no bandwidth issues.
I also installed three WiFi access points ( same SSIDs, different channels ) for roaming. So, our wireless devices can roam across the house.
Note: enable ONLY ONE device as DHCP server… I recommend your main gateway router over its LAN connection.
In you small cabin, I’d recommend a physical connection to your PC only for security, but for media, a modern WiFi access point will be sufficient.
( You configure the access point by not assigning it an IP address to its WAN side, instead, assign the IPADDR of the gateway – your ASUS router. Then just plug everything into the same LAN. ).
TonyE
March 21, 2025 at 8:11 pm
I got a WiiM Ultra two weeks ago and I’ve been playing with it.
My goal is to get bit perfect audio from Chromebooks and Android Tablets. The Chromebook reclocks everything to 48Khz… my current Android Tablet test mate reclocks everything to 192 Khz.
The test set up uses USB-OTG to drive a Topping D90LE which displays the bit input bit rate.
The source is Tidal HiFi… where I can see the bit rates too… set up to “MAX” I see Redbook 16/44.1 all the way up to 24/192Khz.
BUT, the Chromebook and Android get in the way. The display in the Topping ALWAYS shows either 48KHz (Chromebook) or 192KHz (Android) regardless of what Tidal is telling me.
Hmm.. not bit perfect.
So, I put the WiiM Ultra in between. Driving the Chromebook and Android via WiFi ( Tidal Connect ), using a normal USB cable between the WiiM and the Topping DAC, and installed WiiM Home in the tablet and my Android phone as well.
So, the WiiM Ultra operates as a streamer, bypassing its build in DAC.
Since the DAC goes into a preamp, I disabled the volume and room correction processing in the WiiM. Also disabled its DAC by choosing USB as output. Configured as a bridge between its WiFi input and USB output.
Guess what? It seems like the Chromebook and Android Tablet are indeed hobbled by reclocking their USB outputs but their WiFi outputs are not reclocked. They are bit perfect. WiiM does not reclock the signal, it is indeed a “transparent bridge” for the signal.
So, now whatever the bit rate that Tidal shows, is also shown on the front panel of the Topping D90 and on the WiiM Home screen. From Redbook up to 24/192… Nice. Perfect. The bit rate is preserved from the Tidal source all the way down to the DAC input.
So, for 300 bucks ( I got it on sale ) I now have bit perfect audio!
Try it…
And, yes, it sounds better. The sounds is airier, the treble is more extended and less “crashy”.. the soundstage is deeper, dynamics faster, instruments are clearer and the sound is actually more relaxed, I can listen for hours in my home office system with this set up ( it’s a High End System… )
I’m thinking of buying a second WiiM Ultra and I’m gonna put that one in the den’s HT as a 2 channel source. That one will use its built in DAC. We’ll see, no big deal, I got several other USB driven DACs I can use if needs be.
Neat. No need to spend beaucoup de dollars… just this little gizmo gave me bit perfect audio from those cheapo sources ( I only buy those Chromebook/Tablet things when they’re on sale at Costco for 199 – or less).
Nice.
Catherine Lugg
March 24, 2025 at 2:34 pm
Ian,
I picked up a WiiM Ultra in hopes of “updating” my KEF LS50 Wireless 1s (state of the art 2016). Now that I’ve been moved to Gabapentin for pain management, lo and behold my tinnitus is down to a tolerable roar and the KEF tweeters no longer make my ears FREAK out. So, I’m only a day in with the WiiM, but wow! For 300 bucks, I can use it as a switch (between the HDMI and USB out digital streaming-only). That it also has a decent touch screen is a big win as I learn the app.
So, in the next month, after I’m a bit stronger, I’ll flip the Bluesound Node/Edge and Q Acoustics 3030is for the KEF/WiiM combo. The 3030is are great speakers, but do not have the clarity or OOMPH of the KEFs. Music nerd joy!!!
Thanks for the recommendation.
Ian White
March 24, 2025 at 2:38 pm
Catherine,
Great to hear that you like it. I still prefer the 3030i and the LSX II…but I’m happy it worked for you. They have more firmware updates coming.
IW