Best Dedicated Streamer

What impressed me when I got a Hegel 190 was how much it improved streaming music (which wasn't a particularly high priority thing for me). I wouldn't call myself highly informed, but a subject for research would be what the amplifier stage does for streaming sound.

I switched from a dCS Vivaldi Upsampler to a Grimm MU1 about 6 months ago.  It took me about 15 min. of an in home dealer demo (via UPS) to decide the Grimm was playing in a different league. If you are interested read the reviews on the Grimm and the interviews on Youtube, as I found them to be accurate to my listening experience. I didn't believe the company's claims that you don't need the usual exotic power and internet treatments, but I have found their claims to be true. By replacing the factory power cord with a Shunyata Sigma or Alpha V2 NR cord I can make it sound slightly different, but I can't tell if it's better. I also had the whole two Farad LPSs with all the upgrades, Afterdark 10MHz clock with $450 clock cable, all tied to my Etherrgen and several higher end Ethernet cables. I went naked for fun, that is I plugged the "house wire" CAT 6 cable with no switch other than the utility house switch to the Grimm. Without the big time switch, cables. and clocking, my decay and leading edge definition were better and still digital glare and sibilance didn't show up. All that extra gear did help my previous streamer, but it sounded like a filter with the Grimm. It was a humbling experience. It appears that Grimm has sorted clean power and low jitter to a level that other manufacturers have not yet achieved.  So for 12K invested in a Grimm you get a built in Roon Core, 4 to 8 TBs of storage, a world class streamer, AND you don't need to spend 7 to 8 K on ethernet enhancements and power cords. The Grimm is also designed to feed any other manufacturer's DAC which appeals to me as well. If you PM me I will tell you what Grimm dealer let me do the free in home trial. This is a difficult post to write, but I went down the wrong road for the right reasons. For me, learning is one of the joys of this hobby.  I encourage you to seek out a  free Grimm in home trial and experience the grimm within your audio ecosystem. I think you will be very happy you did so,

Also suggest the small green computer rendu roon player via usd to dac.  My house is 6 years old and built with standard cat 5, using recommended cat 5 on Amazon.   Roon core is a Microsoft surface 7.  My only issue was using Amazon hd via iPad.  The orbiter has an apple simulation called shareport  which to my ears is not up to the roon mode. maybe blasphemy, but since I prefer Amazon’s ai to find new playlists, using a 40 dollar chromecast audio via optical cable with a Lenovo tablet.  

I recently attended a presentation by Lynn introducing their new Klimax Streamer/DAC. $50k if memory serves. I asked what the new product had inside besides the DAC which made it reach the new levels he described and we heard.

His reply "The DAC is everything" .

That said I would shop DACs carefully and spend my money there.

I own an Innuos that has no DAC but rips, Streams and stores.

Made in Portugal. Support people very responsive.

For my money it is perfect. Is the Grimm better? Or is it a Grimm fairy tale?

Maybe just Grimm and bear it.

It is $10k more so lets hope so.

Odd thing is nobody reviews streamers against

each other as is done with other equipment. Why? Perhaps it is

as the old Blue Bonnet margarine French Chef ad stated " Pas difference".

Do make the right connections from router. Buy an Uptone Audio Etherregen.

And enjoy the new music you will discover with Roon. BTW Roon has no support

at all!. 

Innuos has its own sorting/search software called Innuos Sense. Rumor has it that

Roon degrades the SQ.  Not so with the InSense or so they claim.

I do like Qobuz. Hope they survive.

1. Whatever streamer you may chose, first improve the network. As a minimum, install a decent audio switch such as SOtM SNH-10g (best with full upgrades) and an external power supply such as SOTM SPS 1000 or Ferrum Hypsos. If possible, enter it through fiber and SFPs from Finisar. This will be a huge improvement for whatever streamer you choose. Better than these, just get the Melco S10 (not S100).

2. What is your preferred input to work with your DAC? If you like USB, I have found nothing better than Melco N10. Most Innuos and other brands are OK, but their USBs are noisy and need external reclocking. People will tell you they are happy with the USB from other manufacturers, because they have not heard better. Using DDC brings benefits but is yet another way to fix a problem you should not have in the first place. The Melco does not need extra crap, their implementation of the USB port is superb, the best I have heard. If you would rather use AES/EBU or even better, I2S, then the best are Grim Audio or Antipodes Oladra.

3. Which one to choose depends also on the rest of your system for sound matching and the type of sound you like. For thorough reviews please go to Hi Fi Advice and check their music server reviews for Grim and Antipodes. For something better than these two you would need to spend more than $60K and get diminished results from brands such as Wadax.

Hope this helps, it comes from a lot of personal experience and research. I do small private reviews and A/B comparisons for friends, one is a high end audio shop owner with plenty trade ins, the other is a high end distributor. I enjoy testing as part of my hobby.