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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...

 

 

nyev
carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,382 posts
 

@antigrunge2 sounds like we are both after the same minimalist system (when it comes to the signal path).  I agree Roon offers a bunch of DSP but I keep it turned off.  I have used volume control when testing a DAC w/o VC and it wasn't bad, but generally VC is even locked out.    with it all turned off, roon and innuos both pass a naked signal through the streamer to the DAC.  --Jerry

fastfreight
685 posts
 

@carlsbad2 said:

@antigrunge2 sounds like we are both after the same minimalist system (when it comes to the signal path). I agree Roon offers a bunch of DSP but I keep it turned off. I have used volume control when testing a DAC w/o VC and it wasn’t bad, but generally VC is even locked out. with it all turned off, roon and innuos both pass a naked signal through the streamer to the DAC.

I also love Roon and want to keep it. And I totally agree about the convenience and quality of Grimm MU1 running Roon Core and its upsampling.

But I do think Roon makes more ’noise’ even when all the processing, volume and multiple zones are turned off. I have been told it creates much more network traffic by pinging to make sure you have a subscription, providing metadata etc. Simply it makes more noise (I have been told).

When I had the XACT S1 on trial, it sounded amazing. Better easily than my Grimm running Roon. Marcin at JCAT says Roon can never sound as good as his streamer without Roon, My goal is to keep Roon, but optimize it to its best. While I love the Grimm, and have two systems, I have my eye on Aurender N30SA when it is a certified Roon endpoint, and of course eyeball the Taiko Extreme. Now that Taiko has announced their new better Olympus streamer, Extremes are showing up used for the same price as the new N30SA...

And I am now enjoying the MU1 with internal upgrade of its network cable, sounding even better. And I still stand by a great switch making even these SOTA machines sound better.

antigrunge2
1,366 posts
 

Even when you switch all ‘noisy’ functions off in Roon you still need to run it on a processor capable of fulfilling those functions; and that alone through additional power and processing generates noise.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,099 posts
 

It’s no secret that ROON needs more processing more to run its fancy and complexed software. IME, ROON is not the best choice when it comes to handling and passing of digital bits if you are comparing solely based on SQ. Many Innuous users already reported that Sense App sounds better than ROON (same setup). And my findings are just the same, Aurender’s Conductor app in direct comparison with ROON sounds much more sublime and faithful. 

Again, this is all very subjective and whether someone can hear or care to listen intently between ROON and competing proprietary Apps is also largely depends on one’s rest of the system and a choice of streamer / DAC. 

fastfreight
685 posts
 

Hi @lalitk , I can not disagree.  But I want my cake and eat it too!  So if Aurender's streamer is a Roon endpoint, I would have both the convenience and attributes of Roon and the ability to use the Conductor for critical listening...if it sounds better :) This is key to many Taiko owners..ability to use both at a high level.

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