Digital Delight
Elegant design and control systems matched to groundbreaking digital replay delivers great usability and astonishing sonic results
About the MU1
The Grimm MU1 is a machine that goes about it's business simply and elegantly. Indeed, at first it is easy to underestimate it's capabilities. But the Company has a long history and great respect among other designers and DIY enthusiasts for their evolution of fundamental elements such as clocks, voltage regulation and so-on. They have now taken these skills into the core of digital design with the MU1.
"With the MU1, our goal was to set a new benchmark in music player design. The Linux-based computer system brings solid data integrity. Our in-house-designed FPGA interface board, which forms the heart of the MU1, offers breakthrough performance levels in format conversion and receives automatic updates whenever we have pushed the boundaries again. Needless to say, the MU1 features our trademark ultra-low jitter clock. This is a music player worthy of the name Grimm Audio."
All we can say is you can hear it. You can hear all of the history and all of the bespoke design in those core elements. It's one of those rare digital products that does actually get out of the way of itself, and lets the spirit of the music sail right through.
Tech Insight
Why do Grimm use a programmable FPGA? Well firstly, this device is a much more powerful 'calculator' than used in standard streamer technology, and secondly, Grimm can write their own software for it. Great, but still... why? Well Grimm say that there are lots of errors in standard conversion hardware when the streaming process needs to sample and convert data formats and create data streams – the core work of a streamer. They say that it's only by using the powerful FPGA that conversion errors, responsible for creating the 'digital sound', can be properly eliminated.
Specifications
Roon Server integrated (up till 100k tracks)
ultra high up and downsampling precision
ultra low clock jitter
seamless integration with LS1 series
excellent source for 3rd party DACs
all sample rates and formats supported
surround playback option with 6 digital output channels
AES, spdif and optical digital stereo inputs
web control of setup via any browser
infrared remote control
external USB and NAS storage, optional internal SSD
Tidal and Qobuz support
355 x 85 x 295mm (WxHxD)
5 year limited warranty
Matching & Setup
The MU1 is a very high quality streamer that requires a good DAC downstream, and good quality digital upstream. So the three elements; digital feed, streamer and DAC should be treated with equal audiophile quality requirements and setup standards.
And the MU1 is very transparent and revealing, strong and dynamic, so amplification and speakers need good control and headroom, with an open tonal balance and good transparency. It is vital to treat the Grimm products as true audiophile components rather than thinking of them as simple devices to stream playlists – approached correctly they will equal any source for a genuinely great replay experience.