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...
“Turns out the seller of the N20 is a longtime poster here” Even better! |
Just an update, I went through with the purchase of the Aurender N20 (mint, two months old as the seller upgraded to the N30, which his system definitely deserves…). Even if it sounds equally good as my Zenith Mk3 + PhoenixUSB that will be a win, as my objective was to reduce boxes and cables. Hoping it will sound better though. That said I will list it in a few months and follow through with my plan, as I’m interested in the K50 and finally the MU1 as well. I may lose a bit of cash in the process but it’s worth trying these well respected machines. Update: I keep forgetting to mention the upcoming Innuos Pulsar as well. I guess finding out how the other side of the fence sounds is intriguing. But the Pulsar could be a profoundly good product with it’s fancy power supply (sounds similar to Statement Nextgen PSU) and included PhoenixUSB Lite. That said I just recently started noticing how much better the files sound played from my Zenith Mk3, so local file support is an option I think I will want to keep, unless the Pulsar is so good at streaming it actually succeeds in removing the need for local file storage altogether. But, no one actually knows how good it is yet. The Statement Next Gen is supposed to be way ahead of the regular Statement according to those that heard it or have it, which could mean great things for the Pulsar if it shares aspects of the power supply design. |
