Grimm Audio MU2 "Major Dac"

[PYP]

The Mu2 is installed. Over the first 72 hrs it has flipped from good at one listen than not so engaging on the next. I’ve always waited a month to create a final opinion. Most every DAC and streamer Ive owned, required a lot play to fully develop and the Mu2 has the additional analog preamp to break in. At this junction, the Mu2 displays a more up front presentation with bit more texture than my Pulsar, PhoenixUSB, Weiss DAC 204, and Holo Audio Serene combo, but the image density is not as fleshed out or focused at least yet. Definitely there is potential here. I need to run in the Mu2 and work my different shelf and footer options to dial it in.

@Vangelis has the MU2 broken in to your satisfaction?

 

[GHasley]

@Vangelis has the MU2 broken in to your satisfaction?

I believe he presently has it listed for sale on Audiomart. In the ad he mentioned a dislike for the Roon interface/user experience.

 

[PYP]

I believe he presently has it listed for sale on Audiomart. In the ad he mentioned a dislike for the Roon interface/user experience.

@GHasley Thanks for the update.

It will be interesting to see what software besides Roon will be available for the MU1/MU2 once Grimm completes their software update. With a newly released MU2 and updated speakers, Grimm must be very busy, so who knows how long it will take. But Grimm usually takes their time and delivers innovative solutions.

 

[WLP3]

I have a unit that should be shipping this week from the Netherlands. I hope that his selling the unit was not due to SQ (of the unit itself not the platform). I'm sure that it will be >12 months before any major update of that ilk would be introduced. If we are lucky maybe before Munich next year.

 

[GHasley]

I have a unit that should be shipping this week from the Netherlands. I hope that his selling the unit was not due to SQ (of the unit itself not the platform). I'm sure that it will be >12 months before any major update of that ilk would be introduced. If we are lucky maybe before Munich next year.

Grimm Audio Mu2

This Grimm MU2 with 2tb internal storage store is just several weeks old. It sounds and appears fabulous, as it did right out from the factory packaging. I rated its condition is excellent. I tend to rate the condition of what I sell conservatively, but I cannot find a single blemish on it. No...

www.usaudiomart.com

In his ad, he praised the sound quality of the MU2 and expressed the Roon user interface wasn't a good fit for him/her. I guess we are all different...I have not seriously considered some really exceptional gear in the past, like Aurender for instance, due to it NOT utilizing Roon at the time. To be clear, I do not own a MU2 nor have I heard one. I have been a happy MU1 owner for over three years now. With that said, disparate people I deeply respect have been unanimous with their praise of the MU2.

 

[PYP]

I have a unit that should be shipping this week from the Netherlands. I hope that his selling the unit was not due to SQ (of the unit itself not the platform). I'm sure that it will be >12 months before any major update of that ilk would be introduced. If we are lucky maybe before Munich next year.

the software update has been planned for a while and was originally thought to be available about now. Let's hope it is a matter of months, not a year. But I'm just curious to hear other software. Roon sounds very good to me via an MU1 and I like the Roon features, therefore the software update isn't a priority for me.

 

[WLP3]

Grimm Audio Mu2

This Grimm MU2 with 2tb internal storage store is just several weeks old. It sounds and appears fabulous, as it did right out from the factory packaging. I rated its condition is excellent. I tend to rate the condition of what I sell conservatively, but I cannot find a single blemish on it. No...

www.usaudiomart.com

In his ad, he praised the sound quality of the MU2 and expressed the Roon user interface wasn't a good fit for him/her. I guess we are all different...I have not seriously considered some really exceptional gear in the past, like Aurender for instance, due to it NOT utilizing Roon at the time. To be clear, I do not own a MU2 nor have I heard one. I have been a happy MU1 owner for over three years now. With that said, disparate people I deeply respect have been unanimous with their praise of the MU2.

Thanks for this. This is the first relatively negative response I have heard on the MU2, all other accounts have been glowing. Roon can absolutely be frustrating for sure. I have had issues with skips and drops with Roon, which made me think twice about ordering the MU2. I have not had any issues with Roon since the last update...I certainly hope it continues. I will also be waiting for that Grimm software update with somewhat bated breath.

 

[GHasley]

Thanks for this. This is the first relatively negative response I have heard on the MU2, all other accounts have been glowing. Roon can absolutely be frustrating for sure. I have had issues with skips and drops with Roon, which made me think twice about ordering the MU2. I have not had any issues with Roon since the last update...I certainly hope it continues. I will also be waiting for that Grimm software update with somewhat bated breath.

Skips, etc are not in my opinion a Roon thing or a Grimm thing, they are a home networking thing. When I'm conducting a listening comparison, I use the Qobuz track and compare it to a local track of the same recording. I've not once experienced a skip or any issue with a local track.

 

[WLP3]

Skips, etc are not in my opinion a Roon thing or a Grimm thing, they are a home networking thing. When I'm conducting a listening comparison, I use the Qobuz track and compare it to a local track of the same recording. I've not once experienced a skip or any issue with a local track.

Only happened when playing through Roon. Roon suggested I change DNS, but I can't because Xfinity locks their DNS. I would have get another router to connect to it and change the DNS on that. Have not had any issues recently, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[GHasley]

Only happened when playing through Roon. Roon suggested I change DNS, but I can't because Xfinity locks their DNS. I would have get another router to connect to it and change the DNS on that. Have not had any issues recently, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Playing through Roon from a streaming service or playing through Roon from a file on the internal disk of the MU1? I've never had one hiccup when playing a locally stored file.

 

[WLP3]

Playing a streaming service through Roon. When I played the streaming service (Qobuz) through the app for my Gold Note DAC/Streamer I did not have an issue.

 

[Vangelis]

Thanks for this. This is the first relatively negative response I have heard on the MU2, all other accounts have been glowing. Roon can absolutely be frustrating for sure. I have had issues with skips and drops with Roon, which made me think twice about ordering the MU2. I have not had any issues with Roon since the last update...I certainly hope it continues. I will also be waiting for that Grimm software update with somewhat bated breath.

I have had only one Roon freeze up, in five weeks, where I simply rebooted my iPad and problem solved. My Mu2 is sounding more fleshed out and quite nice. I have it up for sale because I will never ever warm to Roon. Many audiophiles have used it exclusively for years and totally love it, me, not so much. This is my first experience with Roon, and clearly, it’s not for me. The Mu2 sounds very similar to my Pulsar. The trade off with the Innuos is that that I loose the one box solution the Mu2 provides, but I will have the Sense app I’m more comfortable navigating through. So, my Mu2 is up for sale. This is a nice opportunity for someone to save some money and a retain two year warranty, from date of original purchase that is transferable.

 

[WLP3]

I have had only one Roon freeze up, in five weeks, where I simply rebooted my iPad and problem solved. My Mu2 is sounding more fleshed out and quite nice. I have it up for sale because I will never ever warm to Roon. Many audiophiles have used it exclusively for years and totally love it, me, not so much. This is my first experience with Roon, and clearly, it’s not for me. The Mu2 sounds very similar to my Pulsar. The trade off with the Innuos is that that I loose the one box solution the Mu2 provides, but I will have the Sense app I’m more comfortable navigating through. So, my Mu2 is up for sale. This is a nice opportunity for someone to save some money and a retain two year warranty, from date of original purchase that is transferable.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[danfl75]

Does the Mu2 have a nice extended treble that sparkles on top? The upsampling and description of it sound as smooth worries me, as I prize detail above most things. I've never had Roon skip, but it does hang on my older backleveled OS mac mini running as display and core. Someday I'll have a real server.

 

[owen lawlor]

Does the Mu2 have a nice extended treble that sparkles on top? The upsampling and description of it sound as smooth worries me, as I prize detail above most things. I've never had Roon skip, but it does hang on my older backleveled OS mac mini running as display and core. Someday I'll have a real server.

Loaded question, but I'll stick my neck out here. A useful analogy here is to refer to Yin/Yang balance. Yang being incisive, detailed, fast and borderline aggressive dacs. Think ones like Chord DAVE, EMM, MSB Ref and Yin like Lampizator GA2, Pacific, etc. They all fall on that scale somewhere and the higher end Lampis are less yin than GG2, GA2. The MU2 is the first DAC I'd say is different and difficult to pinpoint, as it stands alone in its sonic signature in it's perfect balance between yin and yang. I'd say definitively that MU2 will not give you aggressive high end digital glaze, but will give you natural organic high end details and air like real instruments. Much of this is predicated on cabling. You use an IC like the Analysis Plus Golden Oval, or Front Row Audience which brings it out of that perfect balance and firmly into the yang sparkly camp and the TelluriumQ Black Diamond, which I've settled on, and which gives it a rich, warm, slightly dark yin flavoring just right. For reference, I think the sound is quite like vinyl in that way with current setup. Bottom line is that if you like analog all day sound you can listen into rather than being pushed at you, you'll love this DAC. If you like hard, digital aggressive then it may not be the one for you.

 

[coldbru]

T

Loaded question, but I'll stick my neck out here. A useful analogy here is to refer to Yin/Yang balance. Yang being incisive, detailed, fast and borderline aggressive dacs. Think ones like Chord DAVE, EMM, MSB Ref and Yin like Lampizator GA2, Pacific, etc. They all fall on that scale somewhere and the higher end Lampis are less yin than GG2, GA2. The MU2 is the first DAC I'd say is different and difficult to pinpoint, as it stands alone in its sonic signature in its perfect balance between yin and yang. I'd say definitively that MU2 will not give you aggressive high end digital glaze, but will give you natural organic high end details and air like real instruments. Much of this is predicated on cabling. You use an IC like the Analysis Plus Golden Oval, or Front Row Audience which brings it out of that perfect balance and firmly into the yang sparkly camp and the TelluriumQ Black Diamond, which I've settled on, and which gives it a rich, warm, slightly dark yin flavoring just right. For reference, I think the sound is quite like vinyl in that way with current setup. Bottom line is that if you like analog all day sound you can listen into rather than being pushed at you, you'll love this DAC. If you like hard, digital aggressive then it may not be the one for you.

Thanks for the listening notes, intriguing. Have you had a chance to compare against the Mola Mola Tambaqui (ideally driven by MU1)?

 

[Young Skywalker]

Being extremely content with my big rig in a dedicated listening room, I often contemplate a second system where maximising performance for a more “modest” financial outlay is a key factor. To this end, I wonder how a pair of Wilson Audio Sabrina X driven by VTL S-200 (a pairing that allegedly punched above its weight at Munich ‘24) fronted by a Grimm MU2 would perform, with meticulous setup of course. The less is more concept certainly holds some appeal.

 

[owen lawlor]

T

Thanks for the listening notes, intriguing. Have you had a chance to compare against the Mola Mola Tambaqui (ideally driven by MU1)?

You betcha! I've had the Tambaqui here two different times but under different systems so no direct head to head comparison. That is a formidable combination to be sure and if I had it don't know if I'd sell to move to an MU2. No idea which one I'd take out of the gate but I'd reckon the end result would be quite close with Tambaqui perhaps a bit more yang than the MU2. My own personal preferences at this point with my current system would have to give the nod to the MU2 for its organic presentation which is quite beguiling. When I had the Magico S7s the dynamics and big bass of the Tambaqui were a lot of fun with the electronic music I really enjoy like Dead Can Dance, Shpongle, Entheogenic, Flooting Grooves, Infected Mushroom, and Tipper.

 

[owen lawlor]

Being extremely content with my big rig in a dedicated listening room, I often contemplate a second system where maximising performance for a more “modest” financial outlay is a key factor. To this end, I wonder how a pair of Wilson Audio Sabrina X driven by VTL S-200 (a pairing that allegedly punched above its weight at Munich ‘24) fronted by a Grimm MU2 would perform, with meticulous setup of course. The less is more concept certainly holds some appeal.

Wilson and VTL are mighty good together! One of my favorite all-time systems was Wilson Maxx2 with VTL Reference 750s. I don't see how that particular combo wouldn't be a magic carpet ride to audiophile ecstasy!

 

[coldbru]

You betcha! I've had the Tambaqui here two different times but under different systems so no direct head to head comparison. That is a formidable combination to be sure and if I had it don't know if I'd sell to move to an MU2. No idea which one I'd take out of the gate but I'd reckon the end result would be quite close with Tambaqui perhaps a bit more yang than the MU2. My own personal preferences at this point with my current system would have to give the nod to the MU2 for its organic presentation which is quite beguiling. When I had the Magico S7s the dynamics and big bass of the Tambaqui were a lot of fun with the electronic music I really enjoy like Dead Can Dance, Shpongle, Entheogenic, Flooting Grooves, Infected Mushroom, and Tipper.

Great feedback, thanks. I’m considering adding the MU1 to my Tambaqui, but (all things being equal which they never are) I prefer fewer boxes, and I certainly prefer buying fewer statement level power cords and AES cables. Not to mention likely skipping the preamp.