Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

@ghasley certainly no offence taken and I agree the Diamond is not what to turn to for “a touch of warmth”. But here’s the thing: the N20 with my Gryphon gear, with the Diamond cables connecting them, gives me all the warmth I’m looking for. All I’m missing is the top end transparency, which is certainly not caused by the Diamond cables.

I’ve read many accounts that the Shunyata digital cables are superb. I’ve also read that they lean towards a very smooth, liquid, organic sound. My philosophy (rightly or wrongly) has been to seek such sonic characteristics from components and have the cabling inject as little as possible of their own character. Others have the opposite approach. I read one post from a guy who loved his Shunyata Omega USB so much that he was basing his choice of system components around this cable.

@nyev 

I read one post from a guy who loved his Shunyata Omega USB so much that he was basing his choice of system components around this cable.

Whomever posted that isnt someone with whom I would agree with about very much. His statement is silly.

All I’m missing is the top end transparency

You will get no tonal arguments from me about the N20 vs Innuos. The Innuos with a different USB cable would be a start. It would also be interesting to know the rest of your digital chain upstream from your streamers. As I'm already on record...I preferred the Innuos...until I tried some others and ended up preferring the Grimm MU1. There is no right or wrong answer, only your preferences.

I agree dac maybe limiting factor here. If dac not fully optimized usb and roughly equal to AES input, I'd expect streamer with optimized AES to have superior SQ. If this were my setup and comparison, my next comparison would be to another streamer with optimized AES, perhaps the deficiencies heard with Aurender AES may be alleviated.  Assuming usb in Gryphon not fully optimized, streamer with optimized usb in not allowing full usb potential to be heard. In general terms I suspect any dac with less than optimal usb will sound better with other inputs, streamer optimized for outputs other than usb will only increase the advantages of these other inputs.

@nyev 

I'd assume you are in for some gyrations in SQ over the next few weeks. At least it isn't worse than the USB at this point, but it very well could be worse at some point in the near future.

I'm living through this right now. I changed out the Network cable running from my fiber ONT to my router with a Supra 8+ cable on 1/28/2023 and it had 1,000s of hours on it, so fully burned in. It hadn't been used in a year though. But I thought it should easily be better than the $0.10 cable from ATT, regardless of that fact. However, it isn't even near as good. Loss of bass, not as lifelike, etc. In fact, less bass today than yesterday. Pretty frustrating, but I know I need to let it burn in for a solid week or more. If it never perks up, over say two weeks, I'll turn it around and listen to what happens.

So, I'd do the same if I were you; let the cable and the circuitry in the N20 fully burn in and settle. I know it is hard to wait, but hopefully you won't have to wait too long before it comes on song.

Thanks All for the excellent advice and thoughts. Yes, I’d be even more surprised if the sound of the N20 doesn’t change over the next two weeks. I’m being patient now!

@sns yes my next step down the road will be to try an alternate server with AES. Maybe the best next server to try would be the Grimm, which is known for its transparency and neutrality. The reason why it might be best as the next in line is that if the Grimm doesn’t get me that extra degree of transparency, along with the expected bump in performance over USB, then I guess at that point I could reasonably conclude that I need to lean towards the Innuos Statement (possibly with a different cable as @ghasley suggested), if I am committed to the Gryphon DAC module. I really hope my quest doesn’t evolve to looking into streaming DACs… my aversion to that approach is really due to budget - which needs to be higher to factor in the cost of the DAC while achieving a comparable quality, not to mention that I would feel then need to buy a premium interconnect, likely for higher cost than the AES cables I’ve been looking at.

I’m confident the Statement wouldn’t have the issue with overall image solidity, but while my Innuos gear is clearly class-leading at transparency and detail, what comes through just isn’t as stable, solidified, saturated and focused as on the Aurender as I mentioned above. I could be mistaken but I’d be surprised if a cable fixed this issue. Especially because the N20 with those same cables absolutely does not have this issue.

@ghasley my upstream components include the Innuos PhoenixNET also with AudioQuest Diamond Ethernet cables on either side of it. I’ve been experimenting with and without the PhoenixNET with the N20. Still not sure I like the combination as there seems to be an additive effect towards overall smoothness, whereas this really helps with the Innuos Zenith Mk3 + PhoenixUSB. Torus RM20 powering everything on a dedicated AC line, Audioquest Hurricane source cables powering everything except the Torus and Diablo300 which are Dragons.  My full system is listed on my profile.