Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

@nyev The Merason is 24/96 at the AES input. When I owned it I had an Innuos Zenith and fed it via USB. Since I never enabled Roon to upsample so I only fed it native resolutions. Regarding how it sounds with the Grimm MU1 at 2fs only, it will still sound good.

The Merason was suggested as a very solid, well executed, beautiful sounding dac for very reasonable money. It will give you a good idea of where on the performance bar your Gryphon dac board measures up. I suspect the MU1 will elevate the performance of your Gryphon dac via aes that you have yet to experience and the Merason dac will provide a very nice data point for comparison. IIRC the Merason runs dual mono with two dacs with true balanced outputs. Since the interconnects you’ve chosen exceed the $ value of the Merason, I also suspect that $3.5k-ish USD preowned invested in the Merason dac and the $5k-ish USD retail Shunyata interconnects will prove to be a less attractive value proposition than your Gryphon dac. (Subtle, tongue in cheek poke at you there haha) But this exercise should tell you alot. You can set the Grimm up as your roon core, attach the wonderful Shunyata Omega (v1 or v2?) AES/EBU cable to your Gryphon dac and you will hear all your Gryphon dac is capable of. You could also configure your Innuos as an endpoint feeding your phoenix and then via usb to your Gryphon dac and switch between the two streams conveniently.

Did I roll my eyes???? Yeah, I have to be honest I did a little bit LOL.

At the end of the day, try not to get too hung up on bit rates and focus on the sound. I predict that your opinion of your Gryphon dac will spike once you’ve heard it with the Grimm once its well run in. There are many roads to happiness with this exercise. Are there even higher performing solutions? Of course…for me, my system and my ears I found the Grimm to be first class experience for frequent flyer miles money. Let me clearly state though and you already know my feelings…dropping in $10kish USD of cables on the two sides of the Merason leaves me with heartburn although its your party, you get to design the menu.

Ive heard from a couple reputable sources that the Grimm mu1 and mola mola tambaqui is a pretty magical combo. don’t underestimate the benefits of a world class dac with a world class digital source. i just got my lampizator horizon its a total game changer i had no idea the sound im hearing was even possible with my setup.

Thanks @ghasley , all makes sense with the DAC1.  At 2X OS I can compare the DAC 1 and the Gryphon DAC and see who wins.  That will still be a valid test of how a very well regarded outboard DAC compares.  The used DAC 1 cost me relatively little and I can always sell it get a different DAC if it happens to win the test.  Maybe the Tambaqui, who knows. 

If my Gryphon DAC survives and I’m left with that and the MU1, I will have an uber AES interconnect between them, the Omega.  As far as I can tell my Gryphon’s AES input will go to 192k.

If the DAC 1 wins, I have a unnecessarily premium interconnect.

@nyev 

Frankly speaking, I hope your jaw drops when you hear your Gryphon dac. It would be really cool if there is a unique synergy between a server/streamer and your Diablo/Diablo dac. That was your original goal and to most of us, it is irrelevant whether it is an Aurender, Innuos, Taiko, Antipodes, Grimm, etc, etc. Certainly there are fan boys of some gear and while I'm quite happy with my Grimm, anyone who has experienced a Taiko knows there is more there, there.

Everything comes at a cost and regardless of what we each can/can't/should/shouldn't spend, we each punch out where it makes sense for us. For instance, I have have a dedicated room on the lower level of our home. When the heater/air conditioner kicks on I can hear the air from the vents. If I am seriously listening, I adjust the thermostat so it wont come on but usually, I just could care less. I set up the system to sound great in a reasonably quiet room but houses typically have some occasional noise. Every time I think of going more elaborate with my setup, I ask myself how crazy will I be the next time the HVAC kicks on and then I pump the brakes.

I'm certain an Audio Note Ongaku sounds better than my amp...its just not relevant to my circumstance or enjoyment. Some Audiogoners may even squeal a bit and protest when you pick a piece of gear OVER the piece of gear they have. Who cares? While I hope the Grimm is a good fit for you, only you can decide what you like. As I've said earlier in the thread, none of the gear you are trying will sound broken...some just check your boxes, with your gear, in your room all run through the filter of your preferences. I've had good friends love something that I didn't and vice versa....horses for courses they say. I preferred Grimm in direct comparison to Aurender and Innuos. Others prefer the opposite....but something I have yet to see in the forums is "I thought the Taiko sounded broken, flat, horrible".

Regarding cables, If the difference made by inserting $5k interconnects into your system is worth it to you, then its worth it. Don't let anyone tell you any different. Its ok to bring a gun to a knife fight.