Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

Over the past two nights I’ve noticed sound with the Tambaqui to be significantly clearer with greater dynamics and more dimensionality at night, after midnight. Which is typical for most people I know, but the difference between day and night has become a bit more noticeable with the Tambaqui I think. My theory on why this is, is either the Tambaqui has greater headroom in terms of performance so with clean power the boost is more noticeable, or, that the Tambaqui is particularly sensitive to dirtier power. Certainly don’t see those big transformers in the small Tambaqui that larger DACs have.

I had this issue in my system before and the solution was to upgrade everything to the extent things sounded acceptable during the day. And the Tambaqui still sounds great in the day. But late night listening spoils me a bit.

Unfortunately I have found that while conditioners do reduce noise, the relative difference between day and night remains, as both day and night get better. That said I find conditioners adversely affect tonal balance and as such I went with a Torus RM20 isolation transformer instead. Which also reduces noise but without impacting balance, and not resolving the day/night difference (day/night improves equally so gap remains).

I’ve concluded there is no solution short of what I’ve read that some audiophiles have done: at their expense, convince their power company to upgrade the city transformer feeding their house. That’s not happening!

I agree and also purchased the same Torus isolation transformer from Bryston Bit-20.  However, as my system evolved and became better the day/night conundrum dissipated.  Biggest change in a decade has been SR fuses, now with a mix of blue and purple which made EAR equipment which was relegated to back-up status now the stars of my electronics.

@fleschler glad to hear the day-night problem went always for you as your system improved. For me it was the opposite. As my system started to become more revealing the problem emerged. And yes the problem was diminished as I further upgraded from there. But now with the Tambaqui DAC I do find that at least for 5-6 hours a day, its exceptional performance with soundstage, dynamics and clarity collapse more than maybe my other DAC’s do during those hours. The Tambaqui can sound a touch more congested than the others when the lower is bad, with dinner time being the worst. But then again, the Tambaqui also does better in these areas than my other DACs do when the power is “clean”.

Still trying to make sense of this!  @fleschler did you notice any components you upgraded in particular that helped the most with the issue?

@nyev what power cord are you using on your Tambaqui?

@nyev  Yes, in my prior home where night and day differences were quite obvious and distressing, the installation of Synergistic Research power outlets and fuses diminished the problem.  It could be that providing superior equipment power is the key.  I already had a dedicated audio only power panel which I implemented in my new home.  My new home also has superior acoustic isolation and enhanced sound distribution.  After 1am, the sound may sound better but I'm unsure because the equipment has already been on for an hour or more and may just have warmed up to maximum sound quality.  At a minimum, I listen every night from 12 am to 2 am.  

I know where you're coming from because 15 years ago there were stark differences in diurnal listening, especially between 6pm and 8pm when people got home and put on their A/C, tvs, microwaves, etc. negatively effected the grid..