@nyev I agree, seems your Gryphon supplies desired level of resolution, transparency with Innuos so Gryphon not the problem. And you hear desired musicality with Aurender, again Gryphon is capable of delivering here for you. This leaves streamer, in your position I'd stretch for new gen Statement, you may be surprised in what the very top tier of the top tier may bring you. Sean Jacobs designs Innuos power supplies, that new PS is really world class, present Statement first gen are jumping on the new gen PS. I can only say change from HDPlex power supply in my custom build streamer to JCAT Optimo ATX was a HUGE improvement, ps is extremely impactful in streamer SQ.
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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I’ll take it a step further and say that the quality of the power supply impacts every single audio component. Charles |
@sns , regarding the Statement Next-gen, I think I’ve come back down to earth a bit and realized I don’t want to go that route. I asked myself the question of whether in 10 years, how will I likely feel about this very expensive component? Would I be happy today with a top of the line server that came out in 2013? The answers to these questions are obvious. With a fair degree of certainty I can say that in 10 years I’ll be going through this process again. The server is probably the component in our system that will age-out the soonest. If I had unlimited disposable funds I’d consider this route but alas that is not the case! I was also considering my priorities sonically last night. What I realized is that while I like the “touch of warmth” in the server, that’s not the most important thing I’m missing from my current Innuos gear right now. Everything with the Innuos, while ultra-detailed with dimensionality and space, is presented more delicately. Snare drums hit lighter. Everything hits lighter. Guitars are less tangible. Vocals are more distant. Everything is slightly less solid and present. Buying the N20 was so worth it if only for me to figure this stuff out and learn things about my Innuos gear that I wasn’t aware of - both it’s strengths and it’s flaws.
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“ps is extremely impactful in streamer SQ” This may be more of a factor in a streamer or server that runs on ROON or HQPlayer software as these applications requires much higher processing power. @nyev The N20’s unique hybrid power supply delivers a pure DC current to flawlessly power the digital audio output board, while a separate linear power supply chain feeds clean power to the non-audio adjacent components of the machine. |
Speaking of noise reduction. I was trying to figure out what the Aurender’s signature sound reminded me of. Then it hit me. It’s a lot like the effect I noticed when trialing an Audioquest Niagara 5000 in my system. Super black background, focused sound, and as some folks feel about conditioners, a very slightly truncated top end. Ultimately I didn’t go with the Niagara because it’s transformers buzzed like crazy, just as some others have reported. My Torus RM20 is an isolation transformer that deals with noise, as opposed to a conditioner that filters noise, so the RM20 doesn’t have quite the same sonic traits as a traditional conditioner. In Stereophile’s K50 review, they published a lot of info directly from Mark Cole of Antipodes. One key thing that really stands out that Mark said is that his competitors implement noise reduction techniques that result in compromised bandwidth. Mark said that Antipodes instead focuses on maximizing bandwidth. Naturally I was wondering which competitors Mark was referring to. But I could see it being Aurender, as his comments would seem to fit with my experience - great noise reduction, gives that “conditioner” effect with black backgrounds and solid sound, but slightly less top end transparency (at least that is my experience with true filtering conditioners). |
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