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...

 

 

nyev

“If N20 survival hinges upon how you hear things through the AQ AES cable, I suggest you try atleast two-three different AES cables from the brands I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.”

@lalitk yes, I was thinking about that.  My plan is to see how the first AES cable goes and see how much difference it makes, before moving to a different brand.  Unfortunately my dealer (only dealer in town) doesn’t like shipping anything unless it’s not a sale.  For some reason, they make an exception for Audioquest cables.  They said something about them making shipping easier, and Audioquest pays for shipping. And that not all cable companies do.  I offered to pay shipping for demos, but they didn’t like that approach for some reason.   I will need to call around for other cables.  Not that it means anything but I am quite familiar with the difference between the AQ Diamond USB and a small handful of other brands of USB cables. It’s also a fairly resolving cable with a good frequency range that doesn’t really have much of it’s own character at all.  It doesn’t call attention to itself.  It’s not what I call liquid or organic.  It lets the character of surrounding components come through unaltered.  Not sure if those qualities apply to the AES version as well.

That said, someone else mentioned that there was not as much of a variance in AES cables as there is in USB.  But IF the AQ cable doesn’t pull the N20 clearly ahead of my Innuos gear (I’d say it’s a tie when using USB, they are both great at different things), then I’ll source more cable demos.

 

 

@nyev The Cable Company lending library has a multitude of cables available for demos, used them for years for all manner of cable shootouts. I agree with your characterization AQ Diamond, don't feel the need to replace this usb cable.

“Curious as to no suggestion or comparisons to Aqua LinQ”

@rowlocktrysail 

Linq is a two box solution…needs an external server to run ROON or HQPlayer. OP is looking for a one box, no frill streamer or server/renderer.