Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

@grannyring , for sure have read yours and other’s accounts of the improvements fuses can bring. I definitely plan to follow up on this when I get to the tweak phase. I’m sure based on the many accounts out there that the fuses would lift both the N20 and my Innuos gear. But my thinking currently is to see how I find each server on equal terms first.

I’m a terrible audiophile and really fell into this path not for the sake of the gear, but rather by my obsession with music as a teen, and struggling to find a stereo system that I didn’t find utterly grating and destructive to my enjoyment of music. I found I couldn’t spend $5k (decades ago) on a full scale system and have it be enjoyable. I tried everything I could going to dealers and found everything to be grating in some way. I succumbed to a $1,200 Yamaha mini system that actually sounded rather good for what it was, and wasn’t grating like those $5k full systems sounded to me. My daughter now has it in her bedroom after my sister gave it to her after I had given it to my sister.

The quest continues, but yeah, for me personally music comes first.

So I asked my dealer for an ETA on the Audioquest AES cable, and lo and behold, it just arrived this morning. Like I said, happens every single time I check in for an update :)

Anyways at least I have an AES cable of decent quality to start burning in along with my N20’s AES circuits and clock.

So far, the ONLY difference with AES on the N20 is that it has less of the upper frequencies that make it through, ve USB. It will be interesting to see how this progresses as the Audioquest Diamond cable is brand new with 0 hours, I don’t think the N20’s AES circuits have ever been engaged, and my DAC’s AES input has never been used.

I’m actually really glad I started with the Diamond AES cable, so I can compare as much as possible the differences between USB and AES using a truly equivalent cable. It’s quite remarkable how they just sound identical when I flip from one to the other, with the exception of more upper frequencies with USB. Other than that, I can’t detect any other differences whatsoever at this point.

@nyev Go into the Aurender settings - ADVANCED and change the SPDIF output to PROFESSIONAL.

Next go to RESET DAC VOLUME CONTROL.

TURN YOUR VOLUME CONTROL TO ZERO BEFORE YOU DO THE RESET!!!!

Enjoy!!!!

I've found 'closed in' sq typical early in burn in period. Fuses do make a difference, forgot about this in case of streamer, will try the purple.

When speaking of deriving pleasure from the sound of my system vs music, its not a battle, rather I take great pleasure from both. Certainly my immersion into music has followed with better sound, but better sound has also brought a new appreciation of that sound, the analytical mode of listening is no longer something I want to avoid.  Now I can relate to the need to get away from the analytic mode of listening, in the sense this will uncover some already known flaw or perhaps new flaw. In this case the analytical mode is not bringing us full measure of pleasure, its simply a utilitarian mode required in creating our 'perfect' system. Easy to understand the desire to escape this and fall into the music loving mode. Perhaps I am like Matisse in that I can now derive pleasure from what could be analagous to a painting, in that I perceive my audio system as a totally unique 'work of art'. Think of all the work and time that goes into building our systems, in my case nearly fifty years of listening to audiophile systems and or building systems, think of all the resources we expend in our never ending search for this 'perfect' system.  So now we reach this point where the analysis of sound no longer brings displeasure, only pleasure. This becomes OUR great work of art, we take great pleasure in the 'shapes and hues' of our creation. Hues and shapes in regard to audio reproduction is the overall gestalt of our creation, this holistic perspective in regard to sound can bring great pleasure, the SOUND is OUR masterpiece, the music is another person's masterpiece.

And this mode of listening need not compete or interfere with our immersion into the music, it only ADDS to it. I have to seriously question whether I'm  alone in taking this amount of pleasure from APPRECIATION of the sound ? Hard for me to believe all of us don't take some measure of pleasure from our creations or works of art!

@charles1dad  When speaking of 'different strokes for different folks' I was referring to a  preference for the color of our systems on a warm to cool scale, romantic being on warm side, analytical on cold, cool end. I've built systems and heard systems that reside at nearly all places on  this scale. Based on quite large sample size I've come to realize my preference is for just slightly cool side of neutral, someone else may fall anywhere along this line. This preference is why I stated I'd prefer the Innuous over the Aurender based on @nyev  sound analysis.