Polish reviewer Marek Dyba runs the well known English web magazine Hifi Knights and published a wonderful review of the MU2. First he put some effort in setting up his most revealing loudspeaker system and then soon he was captured by the music rendering of the MU2. His lively description of the sound quality he experienced is a must read. We copy part of it below but please read the full article. We enter the story where Marek listens to Tingvall Trio’s „Birds” album.
“What was so good about it? You name it! Resolution – excellent, transparency and clarity – impressive, space – huge and three-dimensional, imaging – almost tube-like, and the tonal/timbral rendition of the trio – impeccable! No matter which instrument took the lead, it sounded very natural and rich, and the flow of music was so smooth, so very analog-like that I (almost) didn’t miss my turntable. Those tiny elements, such as decay, or reverb, and those ‘larger’ ones, such as excellent tonal and dynamics differentiation, range extension on both ends, and richness and tunefulness of the midrange, all came together to offer a very compelling, and immersive experience.
The excellent resolution was necessary to excavate all the information, all the details and subtleties of this excellent recording which translated track after track into these natural and realistic renditions of the band, as the Grimm Audio MU-2 did not glorify the abundance as such, but rather used it to convey beautifully rich, complete, complex, yet coherent performance. I could easily follow both piano, double bass, or drums with all the intricate details of individual performances, almost seeing fingers hitting the keys, a bow moving across the strings or sticks hitting drums and cymbals with amazing speed and power, and yet the overall character of the presentation was not particularly analytical.
Unlike some other top digital sources, MU-2 did not reveal any tendency toward dissecting recordings or forcefully finding flaws in them. The ability to dive deeper into any recording seemed more of a by-product rather than an end-product or focus of what MU-2 did with it. Grimm Audio’s Music Player offered a truly refined, classy, highly resolving presentation, no doubt about it, but one that, at least that’s how I perceived it, focused on offering listeners a highly engaging, natural, hence pleasant, non-fatiguing-type experience that drew me into the music and made me want more and more. Let me add, that it’s not an easy feat in my case :).”
“I can’t even think of any other I experienced at home that could compete with it.”
Marek Dyba, Hifi Knights, Poland
