@lalitk after your post I decided to reach out to Sablon. They have a 28 day return policy (from shipping though, so not much time), on anything that is more standard. Hopefully their AES cable is standard. That way, I can try the Sablon and also the Audioquest Diamond AES cable. Whichever is best, I will keep regardless of how I feel about the N20 and my existing Innuos gear in the end. I will need an AES cable for my eventual test of the K50 and MU1.
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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While waiting for my AES cable(s) I am deliberating on which server to try next. While I could in theory go and buy one of the used K50’s for sale, I am forcing myself to be patient! On the other hand there may be none available when I am ready to try one. But I want to let the N20 have all my focus first. And I truly don’t know at this point which will be leaving first - the Innuos boxes or the N20. I can say with confidence at this point however that if I could only use USB, I’d keep the Innuos for it’s higher bandwidth (higher highs with more transparency and lower lows). But there is a high probability the AES cable may change that with the N20 pulling ahead. Can’t wait to find out. Getting impatient!
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“Getting impatient!” I couldn’t help asking….you grew impatient within a week with N20, how are you going to cope with K50 long break-in 😊 “One of the other network players I want to try, the Antipodes K50, is widely known to take many months before it fully settles, with very sudden improvements that show up every 1-2 months during this time. Word is it can be a bit harsh prior to this burn in.” |
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