How important is the quality of the AES cable, for connecting the MU1 to the DAC (which in my case is a Holo May Kitsune Edition)?
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...
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@peter_s I found that a high quality aes/ebu cable was a worthwhile investment but it isn’t night and day “a veil was removed and my wife walked in and asked what changed” kind of improvement. It matters but its the last thing to address rather than the first. |
@peter_s Agree with @nyev, There is no difference between fixed volume control and using Mu1 volume control. There is a difference between AES cables that is easy to hear when you go back and forth. But the difference is not as significant as other interconnect cables. I have the Mogami and it sounds good until you try higher end cables. I used the Shunyata Omega extensively and it was clearly superior to the Mogami. I am now trying the Nordost Odin 2. This is better than Shunyata especially the textures and inner detail but more subtle difference. I am going to try the Sablon next. Fyi, you get the same benefit using the Spdif instead of AES cable. No difference at all (between Nordost Odin 2 Spdif and AES) using 1.5m cable length. I tried my 2.5m SPDIF and immediately found it to be inferior to the AES cable so I think they sound the same for 1.5-2m and shorter but anything long, the AES cable comes on top. |
@svenjosh not surprised the Odin 2 is better than the Omega. Isn’t it an order of magnitude more expensive than the Shunyata, if I’m not mistaken? I think anything from the Odin 2 loom is going to be near “the best”. Thanks for sharing your findings. I once tested a Valhalla 2 USB and found it was definitely better than my Audioquest Diamond. But the difference to me was small and maybe worth half the asking price, and I ultimately felt I enjoyed the sound from the far less expensive Diamond just as much. Very interested to see if you think the lower cost Sablon beats the Omega though, as a few have found this to be the case. I noticed there is a used 1m Sablon currently for sale. However after my experience finding a 2m Valhalla 2 USB cable sounding far, far better than a 1m equivalent, I started heeding Nordost’s guidance for minimum cable lengths. They say digital cables should be a minimum of 1.5m. I might have sprung for the used Sablon if it was 1.5m. |
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