Maybe consider latest iteration of Statement….
Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?
I've recently become interested in the Grimm MU1. While reviews of top end players from Innuos, Aurender and Antipodes and others are typically all very positive, the tone of the many pro reviews of the Grimm MU1 go far, far beyond, with some reviews resorting to using superlatives and gushing of positive system transformation and not being able to stop listening to material, etc.. HiFi Advice and Steve Huff (actually calls it "magic") have such reviews.
Given the delay in availability of the Innuos Pulsar which I'm told will be better than my current Zenith Mk3 + PhoenixUSB reclocker, I am interested in replacing my streaming setup with a one-box solution that includes a high-precision clock. The new streamer will continue to feed my Gryphon Diablo 300's DAC module, which I have no interest in replacing.
I'm actually a fan of Innuos, after they improved the sound of my Zenith with firmware updates and after I added their PhoenixUSB reclocker. I appreciate this commitment to improving sound quality which is why I was so interested in the Pulsar.
The trigger for considering an upgrade is not for improved sound, but rather, to solve some issues I have with too many Audioquest power cords coiled and clumped together. I will get to lose one of them and one of my USB cords with a one-box streamer. I've noticed my sound is very sensitive to positioning of my AC cords and find I often need to re-adjust the PC feeding my amp to get proper sounding vocals at center stage. One of my subs also seems to be picking up AC noise when the crossover is set above 60Hz. The second trigger is simply system simplification, removing one box. All that said I don't really have any complaints regarding sound, and the PhoenixUSB reclocker truly did improve the sound of my Zenith.
While the Grimm MU1 has it's 4X upsampling up it's sleeve with reviewers absolutely glowing over this feature and it's extreme ability to separate tones to the left, right, front, and back far better than the rest, I don't see that Grimm has gone to any lengths with regard to power supply management in the way other brands do including Innuos. The MU1's ultra-simplistic interior doesn't bug me, but the lack of transformers and power management makes me wonder....
Are there any updates from folks who have directly compared the MU1 vs similarly classed streamers from the competition? Did you find it to be as revelatory as the pro reviewers found it? And, how does it compare to other streamers with it's 4X upsampling disabled? Does it sound like it suffers from it's lack of power management? I do see that the clock should be very good...
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@vgmbpty brings up one box vs multi box solution, whole other can of worms. This is where the rendering capability of streamers really comes into play , and I'd agree the one box solution becomes the more expensive proposition, especially if usb is preferred mode. Optimizing other ports may be less costly for streamer manufacturers, which may be reflected in streamer price.
Based on optimal usb rendering via one box solution, my choice in recent streamer purchase came down to Wadax, Taiko Extreme, both above my price level, Aurender W20SE, Innous Statement were others seriously considered, this new Statement looks very nice. All of these do usb rendering at highest level, may be others I'm unaware of. Antipodes K50 also seriously considered as it's very versatile unit. All these have first class power supplies as well. Grimm wasn't in my purview at the time.
Pricing of above units starts at something close to $20k, top flight usb rendering in one box solution costs big bucks in my view. May be reason to reconsider purchasing dac with usb as optimal port for some. Or one can go with two box solution at more reasonable price level.
At this point I'm finding streamers and dacs with optimized AES/EBU to be intriguing, not as difficult, read costly to implement as USB. The above mentioned review of Antipodes K50 compared to Grimm is enlightening. Also like the Antipodes other preferred path of two box solutions via their optimized network ports in K series.
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