We paid Grimm Audio in Veldhoven a visit to learn more about the Grimm MU2 streamer / dac / pre-amp. Now your author always has a hard time controlling himself when he walks around there; it’s a fascinating company where technology leads the way. But now there was a bit of a deadline: an interview had to be recorded…!
Of course, we didn’t just sit on the couch and talk about the MU2. In fact, most of the time it was about technology in general. Even green energy and review methodology came up for discussion. Sometimes we had to laugh a little at how easily a topic was turned back to a technical discussion. ‘Nerds will be Nerds’ … and that’s meant positively. They really are a bunch of experts there in Veldhoven.
The digital part of the MU2
The Grimm Audio MU1 is a streaming bridge to which any d/a converter can be attached. The Grimm Audio MU2 not only adds a d/a converter. It also adds a complete analog preamp and headphone amplifier. And that’s quite a lot. Therefore, in part two we also discuss this – special! – preamplifier.
Now we have already talked about the d/a converter in the review of the Grimm MU2. But we still wanted to give you some extra insight, since not everything had been said about it yet. You will learn all the in’s and outs about this special converter in the video below. Eelco Grimm himself explains in this interview why they chose the 1.5-bit dac architecture ánd how they designed the noise-shaping process. He also explains the difference between a noise-shaper and a ‘normal’ output filter.
We tried not to make it too technical, but it just didn’t work out. Apologies for that. :-).
About the Grimm MU2 – Part 1 – The Digital Part
Listen to the interview
