New DAC! Meitner MA3, Denafrips Terminator Plus, Holo May KTE, Mola Mola Tambaqui

@chauncey I use Roon through a Aries g2.1. I auditioned a number of streamers including the 3 you’ve listed. Thought the N200 and Aries G2.1 were even in sound quality but went with the Aries because it’s Roon-Ready and operates well via Wi-Fi (my listening room doesn’t have an Ethernet port). Earlier, a poster suggested looking at a Bricasti with network card. If I was in the market for a DAC, I’d give that a strong look. Happy hunting!

Hi @brewerslaw ​​​​@chauncey !  I use Roon and had a Nucleus+ in my computer room.  I have the Mola Mola Tambaqui and was looking for a streamer to up the game.  I was told "you have a Ferrari for a DAC and are feeding it cheap gas" !

I ended up with a wired Aries G2.1.  Definite improvement.  Then I modded it with a Sean Jacobs AR6 power supply. Expensive and requires internal conversion of the Aries.  It sounded amazing.  But my wired Aries G2.1 was very finicky.  I have good internet, 1G service, 1G switch and throughputs etc. If I left it for any time (overnight) it would be locked up and a PAIN to restart.

So when I learned about the Grimm MU1 I jumped on it before the price went up.  It runs Roon Core so it replaced my Nucleus +, It's power supply and a power cable. It is also an amazing streamer, especially for the non DSD stuff.  It does DSD, it just is amazing on the 44 to 196 stuff.  Special.  AES to my DAC.  I think it is a real value, rivaling the N20 and besting most other servers.   And it runs Roon Core without issue.  And nobody talks of changing the power supply as in other streamers.  No wifi though... You need to hear the Grimm.  

@fastfreight So I was mistaken... My MMT only clips at 6v, 2v is fine and 0.6v also.

I do appreciate the volume adjustment help. Do you think it would be of benefit to run that MMT at 6v and reduce the volume to avoid clipping? I'm just kind of puzzled by all of the voltage output difference.

Is the ideal setting one that outputs the highest volts without clipping?

If I run the MMT at 2v there is no clipping regardless of volume, but there could be room to spare?

Based on the variable voltage output of the T+A 200, I would estimate my clipping threshold to be around 4v (0-5v XLR variable output). Direct is at 5v and clips at all volumes, but running variable at 85-90% volume doesn't (4v est).

Hi @ja_kub_sz ,  I can only speak about how my Tambaqui interacts with my Audionet Stern (and formerly Audionet Pre G2).  The 6v output sounds better than the 2v output on the Tambaqui.  At 6v I only got the clipping on some recordings, but was super annoying.  So by setting Volume offset to -2, for me, it fixes everything and I can still run 6v output.  Remember to use Volume Offset, not Volume, as the digital voilume on the Tambaqui casues bit strippiing or loss of resolution.  Again I run fixed volume output (now adjusted by the volume offset) and control volume on the preamp.  I would think we want to run the highest output from the DAC that works in our system.  The variable output on the T+A is interesting.

I do not know how to equate the amount of Volume Offset you need to run at 6v and eliminate the clipping.  Please experiment and get back to us!

@ja_kub_sz Thank you for a well thought out comparison between the MMT, T200 and Musetec 005.

You have exactly the same priorities as myself, Solid State, dynamic wide presentation and I thought very interesting that you try to get a multi-channel sound from stereo, again excellent points. The only quality I would add is timbre or texture of instruments plus vocal realism - does Jagger really sound like Jagger including his London accent?

Your enthusiasm for DACs is reflected in my love of pre-amps. My very first HI-End gear was Naim, before they became famous. Naim always insisted that the pre-amp is the heart of the system but still adhered to the top to bottom approach of trash in - trash out. So most money should be allocated to the source, closely followed by the pre-amp.

Recently a new school of thought has insisted on the DAC creating the most influence. To this I say I believe it's a combination of the DAC and source that creates a true source.

Are you using the MM Streaming Card with your MMT? Or what's your source?

Regarding clipping it's usually a symptom that your power amp is too small, you're operating it at over 100% of its capacity.

You said the Musetec 005 doesn't cause clipping, these are its specs:
Single-ended RCA output level 2Vrms
Balanced XLR output level 4Vrms

@fastfreight advised to reduce the gain by 2V so I guess this would fall into line with the 005's 4V balanced output.

Good Luck!