Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

@nyev 

Your post at 01-13-2023 at 12:19am discusses USB cable length.

Steve Nugent of Empircal Audio, aka Audioengr here on A'gon, used to discuss the USB cable length question as it was often brought up. He has been around for some time, but haven't seen him post in a while either. But he often noted that USB cables shorter than 1.5 meters caused reflections (I think also mentioned in this thread) on the cable and so it was best that either the cable be very very short or 1.5+ meters in length to avoid reflections. That is the best that I can explain it, but Steve is very well respected, and he also builds some very impressive audio gear. His forum "Empiral Audio Forum" can be found on Audio Circle and you can also look up his website of the same name. I assume you'll find much more clear and concise information on this topic there.

I've heard several of Steve's systems at the Newport show and they were really really good, so that makes me give significant weight to what he says.

I've been enjoying following along with this thread, some great posters providing a lot of insight in here.

One thing that may be of value is that if you might consider adding a master clock in the future, that may be a feature that you'd want your streamer/server to allow.

“I’ve yet to find a dealers/salesperson who doesn’t let their biases get in the way of getting great advice”
@nyev

I know it’s a rarity but they do exists. I have been very fortunate to work with few dealers that are audio enthusiast at heart. They are driven by their passion to help others in putting together great sounding systems.

Back to your query, Is AES better than USB? The answer lies within the implementation of these protocols between the two components, your DAC and streamer. IME, N20 implementation on all of its available outputs is simply stellar and uncompromising. And I expect the same from your Gryphon DAC. What you end up preferring is squarely depends on the quality of USB or AES cables. YES, the cable between the two components is going to matter a lot. I have extensively compared the USB & AES between my components and they both sounded stellar with N20 as a source.

My advice to you, don’t buy a component that limits your options. Why spend top dollars and limit yourself to AES and 24bit/192kHz file resolution (MU1) or K50, that may sound better with AES but not USB. At the end of the day, listen and access what’s sounds best in your system.

As far cabling goes, sky is the limit. Shunyata, Harmonix, Acrolink and Sablon gets my vote for AES. For USB, Network Acoustics USB III, TCHERNOV, Kimber Hybrid are the among best I’ve heard.

Here is another important consideration that doesn’t get mentioned here. Aurender is been at their game longer than anyone else. They offer seamless integration (via Conductor app) with some of the top DAC’s. This integration includes Master Clock sync and advanced Network like RAVENNA. Also eliminates the need for AES, SPDIF or USB cabling. MSB and Merging are two I know of, I am sure there are more.

@lalitk thanks for this.  Very helpful advice.  Looking forward to trying some cable options, whichever way I go.  

I guess all options have limitations of sorts.  Innuos has no AES (except new Pulse line which may signal a general change for future products), Aurender you can only use their Conductor app, Antipodes has superior AES implementation to USB, etc.  for me, the player app doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t totally suck.  Yeah I love Roon and it’s radio mode but sound comes first for me.  I still find the Innuos Sense app is glitchy, with tracks sometimes not wanting to start when I play them or skip forward into the track.  But it still sounds better than Roon+Squeeze on my Innuos stuff so I use it.
 

Since the N20 is the lowest priced option, would it still be a higher class than my current Zenith Mk 2 + PhoenixUSB?  I’m pretty sure the K50 and MU1 must be.  Pretty sure I read a couple of posts a while back on other forums from guys who made the same jump to the N20 and found it was a big lift in sound.

“Aurender you can only use their Conductor app”

@nyev

As a long time user of Conductor app and ROON (18+ months), this would not be a source of your dissatisfaction with Aurender. The Conductor UI is not as layered or advance as ROON but it’s very intuitive and robust, both streaming from cloud based services or local files. Most importantly, conductor app renders your files faithfully, zero tempering with resolution. I’m not sure you read last paragraph in my previous post. That’s a very important consideration as it pretty much future proof your purchase should you choose to upgrade your DAC.

@lalitk , thanks and yes, I did read the last paragraph.  I guess I’m wasn’t really focusing on future-proofing as I have no desire to switch my Diablo and DAC module, which doesn’t allow for such integrations.  But it’s a good point as who knows what will happen years down the road…. Adding a master clock sounds intriguing but right now I want to reduce my devices and cabling!  And I just hate the fact that regardless of the device, premium power and signal cords ALWAYS make a difference, regardless of what the device is….  I suppose my objective now is to get the best sound I can with a one box player/server solution, with my integrated amp and DAC module.  But yeah your point is a good one still.