Grimm Audio

When I recently finally managed to listen to the Grimm Audio MU2, I couldn’t believe my ears. The analog-digital dichotomy no longer has a reason to exist. Grimm is primarily a recording studio equipment manufacturer. The designer Eelco Grimm and his brilliant team managed to integrate into a single device a streamer, a converter, and an analog preamplifier. Nothing exceptional in itself at first glance, but when you understand the exceptional originality and complexity of the signal processing. There are indeed zeros and ones that are much more musical than others.

The MU2 is primarily a server with a real Roon Core and not just Roon Ready. Roon is the best application for managing local source albums or streaming from Tidal or Qobuz. The signal processing of the converter and preamplifier is so efficient that it surpasses all the combinations we have tried in recent years. Combining a streamer, playback software, converter, USB card, Network card, power supply, power cables, USB output, AES, optical, clock, switch, optical cable, etc., is no small feat, and the results are unpredictable. The MU2 achieves the perfect marriage between all these elements under the governance of an internal clock that, like a conductor, sets a tempo-pico pace for everyone. Honestly, I would have never expected such a giant leap in musicality. I know audiophiles who have invested much more than $24,000 CAD in their digital source and preamp for much, much less musicality. Grimm Audio, a spectacular discovery.