Grimm MU2 Experience

@ghasley - Thank you for taking the time to further educate me on the MU2.  For context, my digital front-end is a SGC sonicTransporter i9 Gen 4, to the Sonore Signature Rendu SE Deluxe via optical, then an Aries Cerat Helene DAC.  It all sounds very good but if I could have the same level of sound quality from the one box MU2, that would be a win.  Also, as I read your post, it seems you are saying that I should be able to program a remote (like an apple remote) to control the volume on the MU2.  If this is correct, I will definitely take a closer look.

@mitch2 yes, the MU2 will learn the functions of ANY IR remote and you will then have an old school remote control. When the remote eventually breaks/malfunctions, any other remote can be utilized in minutes. I programmed one and...use the ipad since it works perfectly from within Roon.

You have an exceptional DAC...you should get your hands on an MU1 or a Taiko or an Antipodes to really hear what your specific dac is capable of. Then listen to a MU2...of course they will sound different and your preference should guide the way.  With that said, I leave the MU2 on 24/7 so its always ready to go and no warm up required, its a no fuss product that does its job well.

I just read Lavorgna's review and he nailed it. For MOST people shopping in this price range (or higher), the MU2 is a plug and play stroke of genius. What it is not is an old school product that lets us try a bunch of different tweaks and adjustments to tinker. I'll be the first to admit, I'm a tinkerer, a tube roller, a cable roller, a speaker roller and I paused for a year for fear of that being an important part of my fun factor with hifi. I was silly to wait and I've now convinced myself I can get the same fun out of just rolling tubes in my other gear.

So you believe it may be an improvement if I were to replace my ST i9 and Sig Rendu SE Deluxe with an MU1 to use as a Roon server/streamer to feed my DAC?  Having a server/streamer in one box would be similar to what is offered by the Antipodes K50.  I am curious how those two units might compare sonically.

@mitch2 It’s a far more complicated question than the binary this vs. the binary that.

What are your goals? Whats the rest of your gear? Are you set on keeping your dac because its a great dac? Do you live near or have a realationshio with a Grimm dealer? Which input, if any, does AC optimize on the Kassandra?

I have an audio friend who tried the MU1 and preferred the Auriender N30SA. If you plan to keep your dac, then you should perhaps consider the questions I posed.

You have an exceptional DAC...you should get your hands on an MU1 or a Taiko or an Antipodes to really hear what your specific dac is capable of. 

Sounds like the combo that @tonywinga has put together. Haven’t seen a post from him lately though, and typing that didn't that didn’t show his name as one of the options in the drop down list (?) He did post reviews of both of those units (Helene and K50) in the review section. 

@ghasley thanks for the input. 

The Grimm gear does something to the incoming ethernet feed....something positive, something that rejects the unwanted....it seem agnostic to those tweaks. Believe me or don’t believe me but none of that stuff is necessary.

Not the first time I have read that. It certainly is appealing. How do you find the pre section compared to a separate pre- have you compared it to others?