Grimm MU1 Streamer - Really "The Best"?

On the subject of Grimm DACs, no the MU1 has no onboard DAC.  It is in the same class of product as the N20 and K50, but with its FPGA upsampling board.  The other thing that distinguishes it is that currently, it only supports Roon.  But as @ghasley said, the MU1 intercepts things and the usual disadvantages of Roon don’t apply to the MU1.  Grimm have gone to great lengths to do this.

Now, the truly interesting product which is long overdue is the MU2.  I believe it’s about two years late coming out now.  The MU2 will have an onboard DAC.  Not sure if it will finally launch this year. But I have read that MU1 owners expect to have the option to upgrade to a MU2.  I’m not sure how this upgrade works, but sounds good.  Another reason to hold off on purchasing any DACs I suppose.

Other forums report incremental improvements in the MU1’s sound with firmware updates (as has been reported with other servers updates too).  The most recent being the 1.5 update in December.  People report a denser, bigger midrange, however they did report this effect gives the top end less of an edge.  But overall thought it was an improvement.  I don’t like thinner sounding midranges, that’s one reason I like the N20.  Prior to the December firmware release, I read that Grimm had actually overhauled the code that does their onboard upsampling.  I like how they present each firmware update as a labour of love, indicating how long they’ve been working on it will all the value it provides.

In one of their firmware release notes they sadly said that they failed to enable the FM tuner hardware that is on the MU1 with their firmware release, with the resulting sound not being up to Grimm’s standards.  They announced they were giving up on this notion.  I’m thinking this was an April Fools joke, as that particular release was in April.  Either way, funny!

@lalitk

What are your impressions of MU1 internal DAC vs external DAC? I believe, I read somewhere that you were using a Total DAC, is that still the case?

The MU1 doesnt have an internal dac, it is a D to D only via an AES/EBU connection to a dac. Yes, I have a Totaldac D1-Tube-Mk3 which has three dac ladders per channel and a two tube 12au7 output stage. I have played around with the Grimm upsampling at 4fs, 2fs and then disabled. It sounds quite good with each and its really dependent on the recording. For instance, I happen to almost seek out a well recorded 16/44.1 recording over some (I repeat, SOME, not all) higher resoluton versions of a given piece of music. It seems there is something really special when the Grimm gets ahold of a really good 16/44.1 file and runs it through its 4fs upsampling and outputs it to 24/192. Quite special to my ears.

Seriously though, I went through all the right brain, various iterations of the options and I have just left it on 4fs and forget about it. I just listen and enjoy these days.

@charles1dad

Indeed, the Merason utilizes two Burr Brown 1794a dac chips in dual mono. To many ears it competes well with well executed R2r ladder dacs. I mentioned it as a very well built but no frills non-oversampling option with an excellent output stage for very reasonable money. At least it used to be very reasonable money at ~$5k...its now an $8k dac.

@nyev

The Grimm firmware updates are well done, you are correct. I must admit though...I just dont hear "night and day", "a veil has been lifted", "my wife walked into the room and asked what I had changed", "my jaw dropped" kind of comments I read all too often. It just sounds great. BUT....so did the Aurender I demo’d and while the Grimm MU1 clearly outperformed the Innuos Zenith Mk3 that I owned at the time, I was never unhappy with the Innuos. In my system, I appreciate the Grimm remote volume implementation almost as much as some other independent components as my amplification of choice doesnt have a remote volume control.

Some rumors of the MU2 are a little off the mark. I have heard, although unsubstantiated by anyone with good knowledge, that the dac section for the MU2 is (once again, rumor) being contributed to by Bruno Putzey of Mola Mola Tambaqui fame. Evidently they are good friends and have collaborated in the past.

@ghasley 

At least it used to be very reasonable money at ~$5k...its now an $8k dac.

Yikes!!! 
A 60% increase. Resorting to its Switzerland roots it seems.

Charles

@nyev 

I’m a bit down on Innuos currently - I’m sure just due to my system parameters - super impressed with its detail air and space but not with its lack of image stability and solidity in my current system.

When I first got my Innuos Zenith MK3, I had a similar experience. I know someone mentioned the SR Purple fuse earlier and you commented that you wanted to keep the playing field level. However, the SR Purple fuse had such an impact on the sound quality that honestly I was shocked how a mere fuse could do this much. You already gave the advantage to the N20 by playing to its strengths when you tried the AES output. I strongly feel that the Purple fuse is Innuos' key strength. You should at least give it a shot. Plus it's only $200, you can return if it doesn't work for you. In my case, it helped tremendously by providing more stable and vibrant imaging. The increase in soundstage depth and width and the extra vibrancy the fuse provided was not subtle at all.

Secondly, if you are planning to try out dacs within the $7K range, let me be the first to tell you that you will be disappointed. While they might reach the potential of your built-in dac, I seriously doubt you will hear any improvement. A well-designed, well-thought out built-in dac gives the designers several opportunities to fine tune performance which is in line with the overall sound signature they are aiming for. If you're lookin for substantial improvement I strongly feel you have to set your sights on a higher price bracket. Lalitk has the Merging dac which I believe is the real deal. I heard it at his home last year and was very very impressed. 

Lastly, I really appreciate the feedback you are sharing with the audiogon community. There are very few people who compare high-end streamers in their own systems and faithfully report their findings without any bias. I certainly have enjoyed reading your posts and find them very valuable. Thank you for sharing!

@arafiq 

Lastly, I really appreciate the feedback you are sharing with the audiogon community. There are very few people who compare high-end streamers in their own systems and faithfully report their findings without any bias. I certainly have enjoyed reading your posts and find them very valuable. Thank you for sharing!

Agreed!

This is something you’re more likely to find on Whatsbestforum. The effort and time is appreciated.

Charles