- Pro-Ject announces two wireless upgrades for classic WiiM OS-based hi-fi equipment
- Stream Box E upgrades your amplifier with streaming capabilities
- Wireless Box E turns any passive speaker into wireless by connecting it to the connection posts
Beloved hi-fi brand Pro-Ject hasn’t slowed down at all in 2026. After announcing a premium turntable in January and a record cleaner last month, it will soon have two more machines.
The brand has announced Stream Box E and Wireless Box E, as part of its growing hi-fi ecosystem. They cost £159 (around $200, AU$300) and £199 (around $270, AU$400) respectively.
Stream Box E is a wireless network transmitter and digital preamplifier that can upgrade your wired audio system to enable Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Qobuz. It can be connected to an amplifier or directly to active speakers.
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Then there’s the Wireless Box E, which also offers a clear technological upgrade to existing equipment. This time, it upgrades your passive speakers, acting as a wireless receiver for them, meaning you can place them anywhere without having to worry about running cables through them, giving you more flexibility over where to place them or perhaps where to place the rest of your hi-fi setup.
Of course, you will need one per speaker and each one must be plugged into a power outlet.
A WiiMsical Choice
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the news is that the Stream Box E and Wireless Box E will run on WiiM OS. This is a platform designed primarily for the brand’s own technology, such as WiiM Sound, but it is also available for other brands, bringing their technology to the burgeoning WiiM ecosystem.
We’ve compared Sonos vs WiiM in the past to help you understand the differences, but the gesture is clear: this is part of a growing alternative to Sonos, and it clearly wants to be as flexible as possible based on these releases.
However, there’s a big problem here for Apple users, which isn’t exactly a small portion of the world. WiiM has some sort of ongoing issue with Apple, meaning many of their products don’t include Apple AirPlay 2 as an easy streaming option, and the same goes for these.
While support for Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect may mean you’re okay with this, it also means that these boxes are basically no good if you’re an Apple Music user or if you want to be able to use AirPlay’s platform-neutral multi-room abilities.
In this case, Sonos still has the advantage: Not only does it fully support AirPlay, but it’s the only brand with a streaming amplifier that has native Apple Music support in its app for lossless listening.
The rapid pace at which Pro-Ject is releasing gear shows that it’s getting bigger and bigger in the home hi-fi game, especially with affordable options like these. Perhaps it has found an ideal partner in the equally ambitious WiiM; We’re eager to see how well they work in practice.
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