Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

I am sure you have tried but if you check your Grimm mu1 and get the host name and IP address, you can manually find the hard drive.

@nyev, sorry I just saw your question. There is no generic cable that came with my Grimm mu1. I am using a borrowed (from friend) Shunyata Omega AES cable.I am also going to try then Sablon and Nordost.

@nyev I don’t have a windows computer or laptop. I only have Mac. I can see Grimm in my shared folder and it’s just drag and drop. Sorry that you are having trouble. If you have a Mac, maybe it will see your internal drive. Hopefully you can solve the issue without having to send back.

There is no reference to internal drive on the Mu1 anywhere (that I could find). Yes I do see my internal drive on my Mac. 

@nyev I hope it’s a minor issue and you will sort out everything easily after you are back from work. You can actually see your drive and capacity etc on the network. So I don’t think it’s an issue if everything works as it should. 
FM tuners are tough since most radio stations are going the streaming route. So unless you live in a region with high quality FM stations, it’s not going to be very useful. Even then, not sure how long before streaming takes over. 
I also hate to break the bubble, Grimm is not developing an alternative to Roon according to an interview in early 2022. I am hoping they change their mind on this or at the very least give a third party alternative to Roon. Euphony Stylus will be an amazing option. 
 

@nyev its nice that you are enjoying the system. It’s been great following your journey.

@peter_s You can use Grimm as Roon Core and connect multiple endpoints as long as they are on the same network. But you also will be asked to sign off your Nuc or get another Roon license. Obviously this has nothing to do with Grimm but required by Roon. Roon requires a license for each core. So in essence you should be ready to transfer your music to Grimm. 

@lalitk Thank you for the tip, I am ordering the Muon Ethernet cable and filter! I am sure it is going to be an upgrade for my system, if not with 30 day returns, I have nothing to lose.

@nyev I would reach out to respective manufacturers for their recommendations on appropriate fuses to upgrade. In my personal experience, whenever the fuse is part if the main circuit there is an appreciable improvement in sound. I would replace one component at a time and wait for it to settle down before upgrading the next one. 

@peter_s Agree with @nyev, There is no difference between fixed volume control and using Mu1 volume control.

There is a difference between AES cables that is easy to hear when you go back and forth. But the difference is not as significant as other interconnect cables. I have the Mogami and it sounds good until you try higher end cables. I used the Shunyata Omega extensively and it was clearly superior to the Mogami. I am now trying the Nordost Odin 2. This is better than Shunyata especially the textures and inner detail but more subtle difference. I am going to try the Sablon next.

Fyi, you get the same benefit using the Spdif instead of AES cable. No difference at all (between Nordost Odin 2 Spdif and AES) using 1.5m cable length. I tried my 2.5m SPDIF and immediately found it to be inferior to the AES cable so I think they  sound the same for 1.5-2m and shorter but anything long, the AES cable comes on top. 

@nyev You are correct the odin2 retails around 12k versus the Shunyata Omega at 4.5k, but the slight increase in the air and details make a difference for me and it is addictive. I wish I did not hear any difference, would have been better for my wallet. 
 

I am still not yet decided, waiting to try the Sablon this weekend and Jorma next week. 

@quattr0 I have Holo May currently as my Dac. I was talking about AES cable not XLR. With Mogami vs Shunyata/Nordost the difference is the bass. There is just more texture, nuance and solidity, easily apparent, no need to go back and forth. 
 

 To make it easier try any good Cello recording, the inner detail, timbre and tone is easy to appreciate. I highly recommend hi-res recoding of Bach suites for solo cello, Janos Starker. It achieves a rare feat of amazing recording (live sounding) with outstanding performance. 

@nyev I have Nordost Odin2 for the rest of my system so easy to borrow from my dealer. I am lucky that I live an hour away from The Cable company. You are right, Mark sent me a 1m AES but it should give me an idea. Moreover my Grimm Mu1 and DAC are in seperate racks so I am hoping the interference is minimal with 1m cable. 

@nyev I agree with using 1.5m cables for any digital connections. Nordost makes only 1.5m or more for digital cables. Unfortunately the only Sablon AES cable I could get was 1 m but still I could get an idea of how it sounds. I do have the Sablon 1.5m Spdif so I can compare the two. Grimm Mu1 outputs both AES and SPDIF simultaneously so I can go back and forth with a flip of a switch. So far the Sablon is holding on its own. I will make a decision once I get the Jorma to try. 

I will also be comparing the Grimm Mu1(mine) and my friends Taiko Extreme next weekend (hopefully). I will give my impressions on that too. 

Yes the Sablon is really good, I need to do some more back and forth before I can say for sure.
Tbh, I don’t know for sure if Nordost makes any cable less than 1.5 but when I was getting my XLR cables a couple of years back, I wanted 0.5m or 1m. But my dealer told me that as far as Odin2 digital cables, he could get me only 1.5m and I assumed Nordost did not make anything shorter. He also referred me to the article by Steve Nugent in positive feedback for the reasoning. So it may be either Nordost was not making anything shorter in Odin line or my dealer deciding not to carry anything shorter.

As far as Taiko and Grimm, I am going to take my Grimm to my friends place as it is easier than getting his Taiko to my home. I will be happy if the Grimm is getting close to 90% of Taiko.

@richtruss I am not sure I understood. Why would any device run only at 100gb/s? There is no 100Gb/sec available for any home in US. Even 1Gb/s is not consistently available.

Moreover why do you need 1Gb/sec. You can get max bandwidth (192hz/24bit ) with around 10Mbps. Grimm mu1 manual recommends 50 Mbps Ethernet. Can you link a reference as to where Grimm recommends 1GB/s?

I am not sure if the above post is Sarcasm, Joke or for real….

@nyev I don’t have a problem with a lower price component sounding better but the poster claims he has not even listened to it and is making comparisons between unheard stuff. 

@lalitk +1 Cannot agree more

Yes unfortunately that seems to the case with Jorma, even some of the dealers listed on their website don’t carry the brand anymore.

@nyev I have shared my impressions on the AES cables.

 Here you go https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/aes-ebu-cable-shootout

It’s great to hear that things are settling and you are enjoying your journey. I compared the Mu1 to two major streamers. I can PM you my thoughts. I do not want to derail your thread.