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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...

 

 

nyev
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woots
284 posts
 

Little late to the party but received a Grimm MU1 a couple days ago to demo. Quite honestly, I’m shocked by the transformation this unit makes to my system. System had NUC for Roon, then my Lumin T2 as my streamer into my Nagra tube dac. The Grimm eliminates the NUC and the Lumin and now I go straight into the Nagra with the Grimm. Using an AES connection.  
 

Pro’s:

  1. much wider soundstage and more “musical”
  2. wow factor improvement on bass especially at lower volumes
  3. midrange and vocals much clearer
  4. Hard to turn off my system. Listened for about 6 hours yesterday

Con’s:

      1.  A little slower than NUC getting to songs

      2.  Will probably end up spending more $ on audio….again

 

 

 

fastfreight
679 posts
 

Hi all,  my mu1 is settling in so sweetly with my Tambaqui.  I also have the  Muon Pro System from Network Acoustics.   I have previously taken the Muon in and out of my system and always preferred it.  As @lalitk says, the cables are nice.  The ‘system’ includes their network cable before the filter;  the cable exiting the filter has a fixed attachment.   So I tried the mu1 Tambaqui combo with and without the Muon Pro.  It is better with it.  It is less noticeable than prior to the mu1, but still a noticeable improvement.  And YES @nyev the fact that it is non powered (passive) is very appealing. And my addition of the mu1 eliminates my Nucleus + as the Grimm runs my Roon core. (And eliminates my HDPLEX LPS powering my Nucleus).

arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,599 posts
 

+1 on @lalitk ’s suggestion of passive filter. I have the ENO filter which is one step below the Muon and still very happy with the results. It helped remove any lingering digital artifacts in the chain. 

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,084 posts
 

“Would actually like to keep both of the Phoenix devices in case I ever have a use for them”
@nyev

I very much doubt that you would feel the need to keep Phoenix pieces around once you hear Muon Pro Kit. I kinda miss the simplistic (passive) approach and the positive attributes of both Muon and ENO filters. In my case, Muon Pro arrived little too late on the scene otherwise I would have gone for Muon Pro Kit in a heartbeat. I am now deeply vested in another solution to look elsewhere :-)

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,084 posts
 

@nyev

If you’re into classical music, give it a listen to one of my favorite album by Ralph Rousseau - 12 Fantasias for Viola da Gamba. The 12 solo fantasias Telemann is known to have published in 1735, but didn’t get re-discovered until 2015. It is available on Qobuz in high resolution.

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