Grimm MU2 Experience

You have an exceptional DAC...you should get your hands on an MU1 or a Taiko or an Antipodes to really hear what your specific dac is capable of. 

Sounds like the combo that @tonywinga has put together. Haven’t seen a post from him lately though, and typing that didn't that didn’t show his name as one of the options in the drop down list (?) He did post reviews of both of those units (Helene and K50) in the review section. 

@ghasley thanks for the input. 

The Grimm gear does something to the incoming ethernet feed....something positive, something that rejects the unwanted....it seem agnostic to those tweaks. Believe me or don’t believe me but none of that stuff is necessary.

Not the first time I have read that. It certainly is appealing. How do you find the pre section compared to a separate pre- have you compared it to others? 

I leave my MU-2 on all the time.

I control volume with the svelte Apple Remote which is super easy to program to the MU2. I tried using Roon to control volume, but I wasn't really comfortable with that.

The Roon screen on my iPad shows the MU2's voIume setting as an Endpoint in the lower right corner.

I switch inputs using my phone or iPad connected over the network to the MU2 via its easily determined URL.

Easy peasy.

Break-in takes forever, and it does sound terribly closed-in out of the box...

@mclinnguy I haven’t compared the pre section to a stand alone pre. Strangely, even thoguh I presently have several amps I slide in and out of my system, I don’t presently own a preamp.

One thing I haven’t seen is the gain structure specs on the MU2 volume control/preamp. Is it passive, is there a buffer, or is there active/positive gain and, if so, then how much?

I believe most internal DAC/volume controls are passive. The manufacturers want buyers to believe that having sufficient output voltage is enough for good sound.  Depending on the input impedance and sensitivity of the amplifiers, the cable length, and the owner’s sonic preferences, they may be right in some cases.  However, there is a reason some of the DAC manufacturers offer small drive units with either active circuitry or transformers, and that is mostly for impedance management of the cables.

Considering the high’ish voltage output of most of today’s digital gear, I have been happy with a unity-gain buffer between my source gear and my amplifiers.  Having the buffer interface with the amplifier restores the tonal richness and dynamics that some report missing when using purely passive volume controls, whether in a DAC or from a passive preamp.

@mitch2 

The MU2 employs a resistor based analog volume control. Thats the mild click that some hear as you increase/decrease the volume. Its a full function preamp for both digital sources and analog sources providing +8db of gain at full volume.