Mola Mola Tambaqui Roon vs Separate Streamers

Short answer is yes. Once you hear it, it’s hard to unhear it. This is not unique to the Tambaqui, any internal renderer will be surpassed by a quality separate renderer. Highly recommend the Grimm (home demoed that combo). More life and engagement factor. Have not heard the Auralic. The internal Roon renderer is nice though — can’t tell you whether the upgrade is worth the cost for you, you just need to try it yourself.

I ended up buying the Grimm.

@fastfreight the Grimm took me 2 minutes to set up. In many ways it simplified my set up, since it’s a server as well as streamer/renderer - in Roon terms, it’s both the core and the endpoint. The Grimm guys are working on their own software so for now it’s Roon only (a plus in my book). It also let me sell my Gigafoil and fancy Ethernet cables — they no longer made a material difference to me. Great clock so don’t even need to think about a reclocker. Only use AES into your DAC, don’t bother with the Grimm USB.

As far as how it is — for me personally, it puts a big smile on my face. I’ll leave it at that. Something you need to listen to, to appreciate.

Sorry If this takes the thread slightly off topic (OP seems more interested in Auralic)…but I have heard the Grimm and Tambaqui together, it’s a well tested combination in part because the Tambaqui designer used to work at Grimm (but didn’t design the MU1 as far as I know).

Yes, the Grimm updates are super simple and because they run FPGA, the updates are actually very meaningful. The most recent update took the Grimm to an even more remarkable level. So when you buy it, you’re buying into a company that’s committed to continually improving the product — they’re working on their own software (a Roon alternative) and a DAC as well, which would make it a true one box digital front end.

Yes, it’s both a Roon core and endpoint. Just add DAC.

You need to use as AES cable into the DAC. DH labs makes good inexpensive ones, black cat makes great but more expensive ones.

I believe there are four US dealers last i checked, any should be helpful if there’s nobody in Canada. There’s Doug White in Philly who is an industry legend and super nice guy, there’s Kyomi in Chicago run by a concert pianist and music professor, and there’s Analog Audio which is run by another special dealer. I don’t know anything about the SF dealer. In other words, it says something when some of the best (best in the sense Of experience/knowledge and also customer service) dealers around are carrying this product.

@low325 @fastfreight Congrats. You'll want to use the AES output or, on the newer units, the spdif output should also carry the Grimm's reclocked signal. Do not bother with the USB output (no benefit there).