Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

@ghasley 

You have affirmed what I pretty much suspected. The Network Acoustics Muon filtering system is the real deal. It will be a part of my upcoming audio streaming system. Thanks for sharing your latest listening experiences.

Charles 

Regarding network switches, I do have the Innuos PhoenixNet in the chain with the Aurender, as I did with the prior Innuos gear. I find it helps a lot - ironically it brings the Innuos setup slightly in the direction of the N20’s sound. Why do these things help? Who knows. But I think it has to do with reducing noise introduced in the chain that ends up on your speakers. Every cable in our systems will introduce some level of noise, and putting in mitigations for that have an additive effect on what ends up playing on your speakers.

Or as I tell my non audiophile friends when they ask what that box does: “It cleans the filthy internet so my stereo sounds better”. Might as well lean into the crazy that goes with being an audiophile.

My PhoenixNET is fed by a 50ft cable from a generic Ethernet switch in my house’s smart panel downstairs. I’ve wondered what might happen if I were to replace the Dlink Ethernet switch in my smart panel with a second PhoenixNET, so the PhoenixNET at my stereo is starting with an already “clean” signal. Not something I’m planning on trying, but…

@nyev Congratulations on your N20. Reading between the lines it sounds to me as if the N20 is sounding more unforced and natural.

The N20’s signal is un-tampered with, not oversampled or clocked but upsampling is available on SPDIF outputs.

However I digress. Let the N20 run in for a week or so, you can play an internet radio station 24/7 when you’re not listening.

One thing is for sure it won’t sound any worse than it does now...lol

As @lalitk advised there are many stages to achieve what the N20 is truly capable of, so take your time and plan what you would like to do next.

The "X factor" of course is getting a master clock, but not yet.

Think maybe firstly your streaming setup may need some improvement but before you do that download your favourite files onto the N20 SSD and see what SQ you are getting.

Anyway well done and looking forward to more reports.

@lordmelton yes you’ve read between the lines correctly. Will let it run for a week and see. I also need to go back to my old setup for a few days to validate my findings, down the road. I find my perceptions sometimes change after this step. An example is when I tested the Nordost Valhalla 2 cables over my Audioquest Diamond cables. At first I was immediately ready to shell out for the new pricy cables. “Component level upgrade” and all that. But after a few days, and going back to the Diamonds later, I realized the jump in performance wasn’t as large as I had initially perceived. Certainly not a component level jump, at a component-level price! So I didn’t proceed.

Back to the Master Clock concept - isn’t that only of value if you have a DAC that allows for a clock input, so all your digital devices are using the same clock? Or does this benefit the N20 in isolation? I don’t think a stand-alone DAC is in the cards anytime soon.

Update:  I also don’t think a Master Clock is in the cards anytime soon given the price lol!!!  The Aurender MC20 I think costs more than all network players out there, aside from one (Taiko).

This has been a very interesting thread so far.

As several others have mentioned, letting the N20 run for a week would be a good idea. I'll go on record that most likely it'll need that or more given the fact it really hasn't been played that much by the prior owner. Let me share a story with you I'm living through now.

I've been working a bit on Network optimization. I have a Shunyata Hydra 6 power conditioner that I'm not using and that had been in two systems over the course of approximately 15 years. I recently replaced the Hydra with a much better power conditioner in my main system and so it was free. The Hydra has been sitting for a year in my office and I finally decided to use it in my Network; the Hydra 6 now powers my router, ER + LPS, fiber endpoint coming into the house, and a computer + monitor and powered speakers. Sound Cliffnotes: upon listening to my system, the sound was much worse with the Hydra 6 than with the $25 power strip that had been there. It took 10 days before the sound started to open up and it was changing a little each day for the better. It took another five days until it really started on song and my system has now never sounded better, but I think this burnin/settling has not fully finished yet. I share this with you because I thought I shouldn't really have any or just a little burnin/settling since the Hydra has literally 15 years of use on it. I found that to be totally untrue. So my advice is to just give the N20 time, I bet you'll get much more out of it. I've had an N10 for four years and have had my eye on the N20, so I'm very interested in your findings. Have fun while doing all this!