The Ear: MU1 receives ‘Editor’s Choice award’

Jason Kennedy of online high end magazine The Ear is the first UK Journalist to lay his hands on the MU1 and he shows great enthusiasm in his review: “This is the most exciting streamer I have heard for a long time“. We are delighted that he even granted us the “Editor’s Choice Award”, which is only given to the very top performing products. Wow! On the day of the review publication, Jason also featured in an online talk show of our new UK dealer Steve Helliker of Ultimate Stream. Guido Tent and Eelco Grimm also took part in the show and were interviewed via Zoom by Steve. Please enjoy the recording of this live stream. But first, let’s take pleasure in reading some quotes from Jason’s review: 

“This is one of those rare products that gets better as the density of the music increases, Frank Zappa’s Roxy by Proxy live album has some of his less than teenage easy listening numbers on it, tracks that even enthusiasts struggle with but the MU1 opens them up and lets you hear everything that’s going on, right down to the quietest details. And it does so with a degree of musical coherence that is out of the park. When you have a lot of musicians contributing different elements in a complex composition it doesn’t work unless everything is happening at precisely the right time, without any blurring of attack and decay or distortion being added. This is what you get with the Grimm and it’s addictive; I’m not sure how I’m going to adapt to real world digital sources when it’s gone.

Another example of this is the Grateful Dead’s ‘Cumberland Blues’ (Europe ’72) which can often be raucous on digital sources because it’s dense and seems crudely recorded. Here it has an analogue warmth and a presence that is reminiscent of good vinyl replay, and it boogies with a vengeance that is particularly inspiring. On the simpler and more ‘phile recording that is Fiona Boyes’ Professin’ the Blues the image is cavernous and dark with an extremely strong sense of presence. On Olivia Trummer’s ‘Sharing My Heart’ the voice is also very strong in the room and there’s oodles of detail to enjoy, layers of the stuff that reveals the decay on the piano notes and precise yet totally grainless leading edges. Another piano, Keith Jarrett’s on Testament is particularly alive and vivid, this live ECM recording is stunning but I never knew how much atmosphere was on it till now. It engages the senses like a great vinyl pressing and that doesn’t often happen with digital in my listening room.

I also tried a digital input by connecting the coax output of a Rega Saturn-R CD player to the DAC direct and then putting it through the Grimm. This was a real eye opener because the soundstage opened up to reveal what was going on to such an extent it was hard to believe that this was the same CD player. 

(…)

In summary the Grimm MU1 is a major contribution to road safety, no music lover who hears it will be able to leave the sweet spot unless it’s for a genuinely essential journey.”

Read about MU1 >

“This is the most exciting streamer I have heard for a long time.“

Jason Kennedy, The Ear
Jason Kennedy, Eelco Grimm and Guido Tent feature in Episode 1 of Steve Helliker’s new online talk show.
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