Grimm Audio MU1 and MU2 Music Players

[Ronnie112]

@PYP Can't share findings about grounding the MU1 or Tambaqui DAC. While comparing digital ethernet&AES cables I settled for the ones of Synergistic Research which also come with grounding plugs. And even on cables alone these made such a huge difference, that I do start to believe grounding may be the icing on the cake. The background was pitch black building a 3 dimensional atmosphere where every detail was so easy to follow at the same time. Even the way of plugging the grounding plugs (via power strip or direct in the wall outlet) made a distinct difference. Although I do believe the MU1 is rather well grounded by itself, especially the DAC (in my case Sonnet Pasithea) seems to like proper (additional) grounding. Planning to play around with this  https://www.synergisticresearch.com/isolation/ground-isolation/active-ground-block-se/ and will share my experience in that case.

 

Can you guide me how to create such a nice footer in your posts? Would like one myself and feel like becoming a proper member of this forum.

[krass]

38 minutes ago, Ronnie112 said:

@PYP ………

 

Can you guide me how to create such a nice footer in your posts? Would like one myself and feel like becoming a proper member of this forum.

 

click on your username, top right, reveals a drop-down menu

Then

- Account Settings

- Signature

 

[PYP]

1 hour ago, Ronnie112 said:

@PYP Can't share findings about grounding the MU1 or Tambaqui DAC. While comparing digital ethernet&AES cables I settled for the ones of Synergistic Research which also come with grounding plugs. And even on cables alone these made such a huge difference, that I do start to believe grounding may be the icing on the cake. The background was pitch black building a 3 dimensional atmosphere where every detail was so easy to follow at the same time. Even the way of plugging the grounding plugs (via power strip or direct in the wall outlet) made a distinct difference.

 

 

Perhaps they are doing something similar to the external boxes by draining noise away from the component.  Will be interested to read about your further experiments.  It seems to me that noise finds many routes into our setups and it is best to try to address as may as possible.   

[TheAttorney]

2 hours ago, PYP said:

@TheAttorneySince you like to experiment, have you tried an external grounding box with the MU1?

 

 

I haven't tried this, partly because another box and cable does nothing for my downsizing objectives 🙂.

 

A few years back, before MU1, I did try a DIY signal ground wire between the ground pin of DAVE's input AES XLR socket and an earth connector on my Audience power conditioner. A commercial version of this is Gutwire ground cables, at various price levels.

 

Anyway, I felt this signal ground wire gave a subtle improvement to SQ, but only when connected to the input AS socket. Connecting to the signal ground of any of DAVE's other input or output sockets gave no obvious improvement. I'm sure grounding in general can help most components, but so many options these day. I may revisit this rabbit hole after I've decided what to do about the MU2 when it comes out.

[PYP]

9 minutes ago, TheAttorney said:

I haven't tried this, partly because another box and cable does nothing for my downsizing objectives 🙂.

 

A few years back, before MU1, I did try a DIY signal ground wire between the ground pin of DAVE's input AES XLR socket and an earth connector on my Audience power conditioner. A commercial version of this is Gutwire ground cables, at various price levels.

 

Anyway, I felt this signal ground wire gave a subtle improvement to SQ, but only when connected to the input AS socket. Connecting to the signal ground of any of DAVE's other input or output sockets gave no obvious improvement. I'm sure grounding in general can help most components, but so many options these day. I may revisit this rabbit hole after I've decided what to do about the MU2 when it comes out.

some of these changes are much more subtle than the difference between 44.1/16 and 192/24 files.  The latter are sounding quite amazing on my current setup.  

 

Yet, for reasons of simplifying as much as possible, I have been reading about the LS1be with sub.  I can't understand what else I would want vs my current setup (musical engagement is very high), but the idea of three power cords total and simple ethernet wire interconnects has me intrigued.  Oh, that and some reviewers saying the MU1 + LS1be + sub is the most musical combination they have ever heard.  

[Ronnie112]

1 hour ago, krass said:

 

click on your username, top right, reveals a drop-down menu

Then

- Account Settings

- Signature

 

Much obliged!

[Low325]

12 hours ago, PYP said:

@TheAttorneySince you like to experiment, have you tried an external grounding box with the MU1?

 

I've been reading about two.  Computer Audio Design is based in your general geographic area:  https://www.computeraudiodesign.com/gc1-ground-control/   And Shunyata Research is in the US:  https://shunyata.com/products/grounding/altaira/     

 

The logic of these devices makes sense to me.  The two designers seem to agree on the sources of noise (signal ground and earth ground) and a similar way to address it.   Both companies seem to believe in in-home demos, which is a positive sign to me.   

 

Given my setup, I'm most interested in anyone who has tried these with both the MU1 and the Mola Mola Tambaqui   (perhaps @Low325  is interested in doing my work for me?)   Neither the MU1 nor the Tambaqui has grounding posts on the chassis, so one of the spare inputs would be the logical point of connection.  

 

I'm also curious about how these might be used with the LS1 since I've been reading more about their architecture.  

 

 

I’ve never ventured too much into grounding units but i do love tweaks.  Though ive read about ‘grounding’ spare rca inputs with non powered devices.  I’ll take a look see at these.

[Eelco Grimm]

On 2/18/2023 at 11:12 AM, pvanosta said:

I think I fixed it. In the MU1 settings, I activated 'second out' to LS1, by pressing the bronze knob twice. Music playing is restored.

 

Not sure why it needed that. Also not sure that setting was active before.

Anyway, playing DSD64 in native lossless as I type this... phew...

If you do not use the 'second out' option (for instance to switch between your LS1 and a headphone DAC), it's better to turn the option off to avoid the effect of 'double clicking' by mistake. 

 

Best regards,

Eelco Grimm

[pvanosta]

3 minutes ago, Eelco Grimm said:

If you do not use the 'second out' option (for instance to switch between your LS1 and a headphone DAC), it's better to turn the option off to avoid the effect of 'double clicking' by mistake. 

 

Best regards,

Eelco Grimm

Thanks Eelco, I just truned it off and music still plays. I have no idea what may have happened, but all is well again :)

[Nicholas Dong]

On 2023/2/18 at PM10点03分, Ronnie112 said:

下次我应该写得更快，不要让我们的信息交叉。谢谢律师，掸掉了一台旧平板电脑的灰尘，并找到了关闭歌词的设置。似乎扼杀了所有的歌词，但由于我反正没有使用它们，这不是损失。Sarah Neutkens现在正在拉琴弦，必须说，听起来很平静。

The mobile phone does not have the function of turning off the lyrics. After turning off the lyrics, the sound of the iPad is better than that controlled by the mobile phone. Is this true?

[Ronnie112]

I didn't notice a difference between iPad or phone and lyrics switched on or off to be honest.

[Nicholas Dong]

5分钟前，Ronnie112说：

老实说，我没有注意到iPad或手机与歌词打开或关闭之间的区别。

Thanks for sharing your experience

[Nicholas Dong]

Dear MU1 players, what power cable do you use for MU1?  In addition, I found that the sound of 4FS oversampling seems to intentionally increase the transparency and airiness of the high frequency, but unfortunately the thickness of the mid frequency seems to be weakened. Do you prefer to use 4FS or 2FS?

[Ronnie112]

10 minutes ago, Nicholas Dong said:

Dear MU1 players, what power cable do you use for MU1?  In addition, I found that the sound of 4FS oversampling seems to intentionally increase the transparency and airiness of the high frequency, but unfortunately the thickness of the mid frequency seems to be weakened. Do you prefer to use 4FS or 2FS?

Indeed 4FS increases transparency and airiness in the highs. That may seem like there is less mid, but in my view it doesn't weaken anything there, it is more of shifting your focus. After comparing I checked 4FS and didn't look back although I can imagine that for rock/metal 2FS might suit better.

After comparing lots of power cables I settled for Furutech Powerfux on the MU1, which gave me the best 'flow'. But power cords are so situation dependent, that my best advise is to listen for yourself and don't take my word for it. Not mentioning the other contenders for that same reason, because they actually might work for you in your situation.

[soupcon]

18 minutes ago, Nicholas Dong said:

Dear MU1 players, what power cable do you use for MU1?  In addition, I found that the sound of 4FS oversampling seems to intentionally increase the transparency and airiness of the high frequency, but unfortunately the thickness of the mid frequency seems to be weakened. Do you prefer to use 4FS or 2FS?

i recently added LessLoss C-Marc throughout my system. I started with just the MU1 and was mightily impressed with the increase in transparency and ease. 

[PYP]

14 minutes ago, Ronnie112 said:

Indeed 4FS increases transparency and airiness in the highs. That may seem like there is less mid, but in my view it doesn't weaken anything there, it is more of shifting your focus.

That is interesting.  I experience 4FS as a refinement across all frequencies.  Of course, all systems and ears/preferences are different...

[aangen]

For a power cable I use a Stealth Audio Dream V18SE.

 

 I didn’t see this in any other post and I know I am not alone in this as I have seen it on two different systems. After updating to 1.51 it is an option to go into Roon-Settings-Extensions and enable the Grimm Audio Extension. Everything seems to work fine without doing that, but on two different MU1 units I saw the message “waiting for extension” in the display (that I usually have off). Enabling it made that go away. If this is common knowledge, Aw shucks.

[Tihon]

On 2/20/2023 at 9:51 PM, soupcon said:

i recently added LessLoss C-Marc throughout my system. I started with just the MU1 and was mightily impressed with the increase in transparency and ease

Was it regular or "entropic" version?

[soupcon]

12 hours ago, Tihon said:

Was it regular or "entropic" version?

 

regular. i had to make a compromise because i ended up with 6 cables :P 

[Tihon]

Wow, you must have really liked the cable. What do you think, did the other 5 cables also have a strong effect, or the first cable give the most difference?

[soupcon]

On 3/5/2023 at 5:41 PM, Tihon said:

Wow, you must have really liked the cable. What do you think, did the other 5 cables also have a strong effect, or the first cable give the most difference?

The most objectionably colored one was the triode wire labs. The Lessloss to me sounds like there’s nothing in the way. 

[soupcon]

Anybody know when this new firmware with the new (non Roon) player will be offered? 

[PYP]

I had to power down the MU1 today (usually it is on 24/7).  When I rebooted, the sound was slightly richer.  I've experienced this previously, but this time it was very obvious.   After a few hours, the sound is truly exceptional.  

 

Anyone else heard this change after powering down?  I have read that some users of another streamer do regular reboots to maintain best sound.  

[fas42]

16 minutes ago, PYP said:

I had to power down the MU1 today (usually it is on 24/7).  When I rebooted, the sound was slightly richer.  I've experienced this previously, but this time it was very obvious.   After a few hours, the sound is truly exceptional.  

 

Anyone else heard this change after powering down?  I have read that some users of another streamer do regular reboots to maintain best sound.  

 

Interesting observation. I had this behaviour with my first CD player + power amp + speakers combo, decades ago. But in my case the effect was quite severe - chalk and cheese territory.

 

What's going on? I have never found a definitive answer, but my suspicions lie very strongly with some type of static buildup - somewhere in the chain. Causing an electrical operating point, somewhere, to be no longer at optimum. Powering down and then up again resets all the operating points - and the status of that key point in the component then very slowly starts to degrade, once again.

 

If I come across a system that sounds good at one time, but not so good at another time, that's one of the first things that I check ... does a power reset alter the SQ significantly? Experiment until a clear pattern of the behaviour is established - and then try to close in on the actual culprit.

 

[PYP]

43 minutes ago, fas42 said:

What's going on? I have never found a definitive answer, but my suspicions lie very strongly with some type of static buildup - somewhere in the chain.

 

 

Given the very dry climate here, static buildup is my assumption too.  Some folks point to network-related problems, instead.  But, like you, I've experienced it with a DAC too.