I will also be comparing the Grimm Mu1(mine) and my friends Taiko Extreme next weekend (hopefully). I will give my impressions on that too.
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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@svenjosh ”So far the Sablon is holding on its own. I will make a decision once I get the Jorma to try.” Probably too early but is the Sablon AES really keeping up with the Omega and Odin 2? If so that’s incredible…. BTW I did actually get two Nordost Valhalla 2 USB cable demos last year (I needed two for my Zenith and PhoenixUSB reclocker) and one was 1m and the other was 2m with the 1m practically sounding broken in comparison to the 2m. So if Nordost stopped making sub 1.5m cables it must have been recent (or my demo cables were old possibly). Very lucky you get to test the Taiko. Will you get to try it in your system or will you try your MU1 in your friend’s system? I expect the Taiko will win although I have seen some forum posts saying a few prefer the MU1. But even if I could afford one I’m not sure I’d go that route. Imagine spending that much on a top of the line server from 2013. Personally I’d not be at all happy with a top of the line 2013 server here in 2023. And spending that much, I’d want to be still happy with it in 2033. I can live with having to upgrade the Grimm MU1 in 10 years or so however. Just my own perspective though…. The Grimm ring-binder manual that comes with the unit says something like “Your music player for life” or something like that…. Funny. |
Yes the Sablon is really good, I need to do some more back and forth before I can say for sure. As far as Taiko and Grimm, I am going to take my Grimm to my friends place as it is easier than getting his Taiko to my home. I will be happy if the Grimm is getting close to 90% of Taiko. |
@svenjosh , thanks I’ll check out that article on Positive Feedback. TBH every explanation I’ve seen to date detailing the reasons for the 1.5m minimum has been specific to the USB protocol and how it synchronizes between source and destination. AES cables use a totally different protocol and maybe are different. That said Nordost suggests 1.5m minimum for all digital cables. Again I wouldn’t put too much stock in vendor statements like this, if not for the fact that I heard the difference for myself as plain as day (for USB cables). And I heard this for myself before I even knew about the general recommendations. Looking forward to seeing how the Sablon cable pans out for you - results seem very promising so far considering what you are staking it up against. |
“Also… in reading the manual for the MU1, I noticed that they state that you must use the variable volume control, and that they recommend not using a fixed volume level. I am interested in how that does not reduce the quality of the digital signal. Can anyone chime in about that?” @peter_s , I checked page 11 of the MU1 manual after you pointed that out, finally... I believe the manual is referring to when you are NOT using an analog preamp as a volume control, you must use the MU1’s variable volume instead of other volume controls (in other words don’t fix the MU1 volume and have Roon set the volume in this type of setup). I think using the analog preamp as the volume and disabling the MU1 volume control is just fine.
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