Grimm MU1 vs Aurender N30SA vs Taiko Audio

[Audire]

We’ve been long time users of Aurender products (N30SA/ACS10). They have served us extremely well.

However, technology changes rapidly in the digital world. So, we decided to do some comparisons before we purchase a new streamer.

We’ve already had the Taiko Extreme in our system and it was revelational. Outstanding! We were very impressed with its build and SQ. More to follow on this later.

Now it’s time for the Grimm MU1 demo.

Associated Equipment: Vitus Masterpiece DAC, Line Stage, and Shunyata Omega/Sigma cabling. We use Tidal

/Tidal Masters and ripped files for streaming….

We temporarily removed our Vitus MP Transport and placed the Grimm MU1 in its place.

My impressions will follow in a coming post.

 

[Digital Buddha]

Have you tried the upsampling options with the Grimm?

 

[Audire]

Have you tried the upsampling options with the Grimm?

Yes! It’s very good. However, it still fails to deliver the punch I desire in soft rock. It’s too polite IMO - that is for my taste!

 

[Digital Buddha]

If I remember correctly you have had experience with the n20 aurender as well? if so would you put it above the Grimm from memory?

 

[Audire]

If I remember correctly you have had experience with the n20 aurender as well? if so would you put it above the Grimm from memory?

Actually, I own the N30SA. It’s a step up from the N20. I am preparing a report on that as well. However, I can already state it’s superior to the MU1.

 

[Audire]

Aurender N30SA -

The N30SA is a well built unit. However, IMO, Taiko takes the build quality to the next level. The N30SA is excellent. The SQ continues to please me. IMO it surpasses the Grimm MU1.

We’ve used an USB cable on our NA30SA for years. A friend brought over an 2m AES cable this afternoon. Wow what a difference! —- It moved us closer to the music. The sound stage and bass is extravagant. The N30 sounds better than ever.

This mere cable change closes the gap I heard the other day between the Taiko and the N30. The race between the two is now much closer. We are bringing in the Taiko for one more demo before our final decision. This time it will be with the Extreme Switch!

A report on the Taiko Audio Extreme is forthcoming, OH WOW!

 

[msimanyi]

Initial thoughts: Grimm MU1 -

Our dealer, Tony @ Ellington HiFi, was very gracious and brought us a demo of the Grimm MU1. Grimm is well built but IMO not on the same level of build quality as either the Taiko Extreme or Aurender N30/N20. Grimm doesn’t do USB. You’ll need an excellent AES and Ethernet cable for it to sound its best.

The sound of the MU1 is different. With the MU1 we heard less detail, less bass, and voices don’t sound as natural. By the word “less” I don’t mean it’s bad, just that the N30 and the Taiko are on a different level. With the Grimm I couldn’t make an emotional connection with the music. IMO it’s too polite. The MU1 sounds better on acoustical, female vocals, and classical music than it does soft rock and jazz. However, for the price Grimm would a a good streamer for many.

Later on our impressions of the Aurender N30SA.

Thanks for going to the effort to include it in your comparison. Out of curiosity, what interconnects and power cords did you use when listening to the MU1?

 

[Audire]

Thanks for going to the effort to include it in your comparison. Out of curiosity, what interconnects and power cords did you use when listening to the MU1?

I used three different ones: Shunyata Omega, Sigma, and Clarus Crimson. All sound great but I prefer the Clarus!

 

[msimanyi]

Just so I don't have to make any potentially incorrect assumptions: those are AES/EBU interconnects, power cords, or possibly both?

 

[Audire]

Just so I don't have to make any potentially incorrect assumptions: those are AES/EBU interconnects, power cords, or possibly both?

Yes Sigma PC, Crimson AES, and Omega IC. I’m back to our N30SA and running it with Sigma PC and Omega IC. We also tried it with Crimson IC, PC and AES.

I’m pretty sure now, but I’m probably going to purchase a complete loom of Clarus Crimson. We tried many of their cables and it’s really good. We are doing another demo of Clarus next week.

 

[Audire]

Aurender N30SA -

The N30SA is a well built unit. However, IMO Taiko takes the build quality to the next level. The N30SA is excellent. The SQ continues to please me. It surpasses the Grimm MU1.

We’ve used an USB cable on our NA30SA for years. A friend brought over an 2m AES cable. Wow what a difference! It moved us closer to the music. The sound stage and bass is extravagant. The N30 sounds better than ever.

This mere cable change closes the gap somewhat that I heard the other day between the Taiko and the N30. The race between the two is now much closer. We are bringing in the Taiko for one more demo before our final decision. This time it will be with the Extreme Switch!

 

[Skanda]

Aurender N30SA -

The N30SA is a well built unit. However, IMO Taiko takes the build quality to the next level. The N30SA is excellent. The SQ continues to please me. It surpasses the Grimm MU1.

We’ve used an USB cable on our NA30SA for years. A friend brought over an 2m AES cable. Wow what a difference! It moved us closer to the music. The sound stage and bass is extravagant. The N30 sounds better than ever.

This mere cable change closes the gap somewhat that I heard the other day between the Taiko and the N30. The race between the two is now much closer. We are bringing in the Taiko for one more demo before our final decision. This time it will be with the Extreme Switch!

super interesting as most of the taiko crowd use a usb and prefer it to aes. im eagerly awaiting your impressions on the n30sa vs taiko - i love my taiko in my system but for my second rig thinking of the aurender because its a bit simpler and seemingly easier to get a hold of at a good price these days.

correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like - based on your impressions - if one were to opt for a n30sa they would be best off going with aes vs usb? also does conductor play nice with tidal? in the past i remember it made accessing personal playlists really messy but that was years and years ago, just havent kept up.

 

[Audire]

super interesting as most of the taiko crowd use a usb and prefer it to aes. im eagerly awaiting your impressions on the n30sa vs taiko - i love my taiko in my system but for my second rig thinking of the aurender because its a bit simpler and seemingly easier to get a hold of at a good price these days.

correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like - based on your impressions - if one were to opt for a n30sa they would be best off going with aes vs usb? also does conductor play nice with tidal? in the past i remember it made accessing personal playlists really messy but that was years and years ago, just havent kept up.

We are going to retest the N30 next Tuesday. We will try it again with both cables - USB & AES. There will be more people here, so more opinions. So, I’ll let you know what the group says.

We’re going to retest the Grimm as well. This time it will be with a full loom of Clarus Crimson and a ful loom of Shunyata. Thus, I’ve removed my comments above on the Grimm as what I was hearing may have been caused by my cable selection. Though we had Crimson installed on the Grimm most of the remainder of the system had Shunyata. So, my mixing of cables may have effected the sound.

 

[Skanda]

oh super interesting. my main rig (with the taiko) is running a full loom of TQ silver diamond however this second rig is a full loom of clarus crimson including the clarus concerto. I'm liking it but i havent tried other cables in this rig. I generally dont mess around too much with cables - clarus was well priced and well reviewed so I went for it. @VerdantAudio helped me acquire the full loom and would highly rec working with Scott unless you have a local dealer carrying clarus

 

[Audire]

oh super interesting. my main rig (with the taiko) is running a full loom of TQ silver diamond however this second rig is a full loom of clarus crimson including the clarus concerto. I'm liking it but i havent tried other cables in this rig. I generally dont mess around too much with cables - clarus was well priced and well reviewed so I went for it. @VerdantAudio helped me acquire the full loom and would highly rec working with Scott unless you have a local dealer carrying clarus

Thanks for your comments. Glad I’m not the only one interested in Clarus. We’re going to try the Concerto as well. Thanks for the offer on the dealer, but our dealer sells it …

 

[Skanda]

Thanks for your comments. Glad I’m not the only one interested in Clarus. We’re going to try the Concerto as well. Thanks for the offer on the dealer, but our dealer sells it …

sounds good just a helpful rec as i had a great experience with them. local is best. my second home is in an area with barely any dealers for anything super high end. i believe wilson just set up a dealer here but otherwise i'm on an island so most stuff has to be imported. getting the romas down here was some work!

one thing i like about the concerto vs the torus i have is the smaller size. i'm not getting any powerline noise etc so whatever it's doing is working and its not a back breaker. however, erognomically i think the high current clarus cables could be better - namely they are a big stiff and the connectors are very heavy. everything sounds great and is plugged in well but it was a bit of a pain on set up. for what its worth TQ silver diamond sounded exceptional on my m2's so i can deff rec that pairing with magico

 

[Audire]

super interesting as most of the taiko crowd use a usb and prefer it to aes. im eagerly awaiting your impressions on the n30sa vs taiko - i love my taiko in my system but for my second rig thinking of the aurender because its a bit simpler and seemingly easier to get a hold of at a good price these days.

correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like - based on your impressions - if one were to opt for a n30sa they would be best off going with aes vs usb? also does conductor play nice with tidal? in the past i remember it made accessing personal playlists really messy but that was years and years ago, just havent kept up.

We are listening with Clarus Crimson cables now. Awesome sound so far. But for sure the USB sounds better to everyone here over the AES. More bass, soundstage larger, more detail…

 

[Skanda]

We are listening with Clarus Crimson cables now. Awesome sound so far. But for sure the USB sounds better to everyone here over the AES. More bass, soundstage larger, more detail…

thanks for the heads up, just to clarify, USB out from the n30sa sounds better than AES on clarus crimson (in that set up?). if so, i am curious what cables/chain had the AES sound better.

really curious what you think of the taiko in comparison. eagerly awaiting your impressions though my wallet is hoping for one out come over the other

 

[Audire]

thanks for the heads up, just to clarify, USB out from the n30sa sounds better than AES on clarus crimson (in that set up?). if so, i am curious what cables/chain had the AES sound better.

really curious what you think of the taiko in comparison. eagerly awaiting your impressions though my wallet is hoping for one out come over the other

Yes, in our setup with Clarus Crimson the USB sounds better than AES - no doubt. However, the AES sounded better with Audioquest Wel Signature AES - the rest of the system being Shunyata. The Clarus Crimson set up sounded better than the AQ one.

 

[Audire]

really curious what you think of the taiko in comparison. eagerly awaiting your impressions though my wallet is hoping for one out come over the other

To us the Extreme was preferred over the N30SA using our full Shunyata setup and Shunyata/Clarus setup. This is unquestionably excellent sound.

However, an entire Clarus Crimson loom has now been installed. As may be imagined it has changed our system‘s sound. They’re still breaking in, but these cables sound exceptionally nice. The music has a beautiful flow to it. A full robust sound. The soundstage is the best we’ve heard to date. They just seem to get out of the way and allow the music to flow. We still need more time with them, but they seem to do everything very well. Picture below (sorry for the mess).

Unfortunately, we can’t get the Taiko Extreme back into our system to test it with the Clarus Crimson loom (e.g. the Extreme was originally borrowed from a friend who is app 4 hours away …). So, sadly the Taiko/full Clarus loom test won’t be able to be done.

The second test for the Grimm MU1 is completed. The Grimm sounded better with a full Clarus loom. There was only one track where we preferred it by a hair (only in one chord) over the N30SA (Paul Hardcastle’s “Desire”). However, in comparing all the tracks back to back, we definitely preferred the sound of the N30SA overall.

The sound of the N30SA *** with the Crimson cables *** is beyond excellent. It is musical, organic, and natural sounding. The transparency and spacial imaging is extraordinary. The sound stage is huge. It’s a lush liquid sound. It’s very refined and relaxed. The detail it delivers is uncanny. The musical flow is top shelf. It’s takes us further into the music! So many layers. It’s spooky good. Sounds like our TT. This said, the Extreme may match or even exceed it with our present Crimson loom. But as it presently stands I don’t and won’t know.

The Aurender MC-10 (Time) isn’t available for demo yet - probably 3 months or so before that may happen. I’m not sure the N30SA needs the MC-10, but we can’t fully know until we hear it. The N30SA already has two OCXO clocks, so I’m not sure how much it may benefit from a Rubidium 10 MHz Master Clock.

I'm still deciding between the Taiko (from notes and memory) and the N30SA. They both have excellent attributes that I enjoy.