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...
“I recently added an audiophile switch (with LPS), and I was very surprised to hear the highs rolled off dramatically, compared to Ethernet directly connected to my router.” What switch did you try? The N20 LAN is 2x isolated so a subpar switch probably do more harm than good :-) |
"What switch did you try? The N20 LAN is 2x isolated so a subpar switch probably do more harm than good :-)" The other question is "did you let the SoTM switch burn in?" It may need several+ weeks to get there, maybe even more. I've never owned that switch, so I'm not sure on burn in for it, but I can tell you even Network cable can take some time to burn in; I've heard the "highs rolled off dramatically" in a Supra Cat8+ cable that has 1000s of hours but had been in a box for a year. I put it back in my system recently, then reversed direction after a few weeks, and it took near another week before it opened up and all the resolution was there. Was frustrating, but patience let me find the correct orientation. I also had a power conditioner that had literally 15 years of use go back in on the network side of my system a few months back and it took over ten days to open up, but it was very easy to hear once it did. Just a few of my recent observations. Anyway, good luck in your journey. Sorry about the off topic OP; enjoying the thread. |
One would assume that! In grand scheme of things, SoTM recommends using few different configuration of their own LAN cables to get the best out of sNH-10G switch. Not to mention two layers of upgrade option on their switch. I do not know, how deep did you go but it can get pretty expensive with their cabling and LPS. |
Do you think it is important for the switch and cable to burn-in even when the digital signal isn’t transmitting through them?
I went all-in on the switch, special caps/silver wires etc. My Ethernet cables are simple Certified Blue Jeans cables. But the only difference is addition of the switch plus another certified Blue Jeans cable. Thanks for the insights. I thought this was relevant to the conversation since @nyev is using the PhoenixNET switch, and also observed less detail etc when using an N20. |
