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...
@lordmelton thank you for that. Were you using their clock too? if this was connected to their dac at the same time, then I could see the performance jump. There is a list on the link above which say it’s not applicable to the N20, not doubting you, just find it intriguing…
Steve |
@sc2 My DAC is Musetec not Mutec, although I'm very familiar with Mutec products. Yes, I know what Aurender says but it's not accurate as far as my experience has shown. @nyev hasn't been able to show any difference between AES and USB from the N20 even with a more expensive AES cable. So take what Aurender says with a pinch of salt or better still audition yourself. |
@nyev just a reminder to stay focused on your goals and your plan. |
@ghasley , thanks and yes I am sticking to my guns. I am not going to go the masterclock route, even though I don’t doubt the benefits that @lordmelton and @lalitk report. I am merely curious about the approach and relative value. Also, I decided to purchase one of the mint condition lightly used Merason DAC-1’s for a good price. Thanks for the suggestion. Considering the $ it’s no big deal if it doesn’t work out. Especially when you consider the amount I’m spending on severs not knowing if they will work out lol! I wanted to try this DAC in particular because it seemed to be one of the best bang for the buck options, and I couldn’t find an option in Canada where I could demo one. The only downside of the DAC-1 that I can see is it doesn’t do MQA or DSD. Not really concerned with that however as I don’t have DSD files, and haven’t really paid attention to MQA before. Although I hear it is supposed to be better. I am still hoping I will end up selling the DAC1 and succeeding in my original goal of only one box feeding my Diablo 300 DAC module, but I’m really interested in seeing how the DAC 1 sounds. If the “worst case scenario” happens and the DAC 1 sounds better than my current DAC, the seller told me Merason told him he could upgrade the unit to the MK2 version for a very reasonable price (considering the MK2 costs 50% more than the MK1). The seller ended up instead getting a very expensive EMM DAC. No clue at the moment what to use for balanced XLR interconnects.
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Back to the masterclock topic for a moment, I did notice that the original seller of my N20 just very recently listed a After Dark masterclock that is a two box option, for what seems to be a reasonable price. What a weird model naming convention - Double Emperor or something. Not sure if this is compatible with the N20. Again, not going this route! I’m just curious. |
