What's unique about the brand
What reviewers are saying
We read all the reviews. Here's what reviewers feel most strongly about:
- The brand utilizes a custom-coded FPGA for precise digital filtering, which it believes outperforms standard DAC chip filters.
- Grimm Audio emphasizes clocking accuracy (low jitter) over achieving the highest possible PCM or DSD sample rates, incorporating a proprietary, ultra-stable clock design.
- The MU1 runs a custom Linux operating system and an optimized Roon Core Server implementation, moving away from standard libraries to exercise complete control over the code.
- They offer an end-to-end music system with a consistent design philosophy, from digital source to active loudspeakers, for an expertly-tuned audio chain.
Our favorite reviewer quotes:
- "The MU1 is simply the finest quality Roon playback I have heard bar none. The tone is a fluid, almost analog-like quality with powerful dynamics and extended highs." (https://singaporehifi.blogspot.com/2022/09/grimm-mu1-music-player.html)
- "The Grimm Audio MU2's transparency, its resolution, its ability to excavate and deliver all required detail from stream after stream was not simply a matter of lifting veils. What it did, in terms of transparency, resolution, and detail retrieval, figuratively speaking, was to completely remove a wall-sized, well-insulated, triple-paned window from an adjacent concert hall." (https://www.audiokeyreviews.com/the-reviews/grimm-audio-mu2)
- "All that said, the Grimm Audio MU1 sounds so alive in that it is so incredibly vibrant and joyful to listen to, so transparent with extremely high resolution, so tonally balanced, so fluid, so dynamic. And yet it does all this without any glare or harshness – it always sounds like music; music you can listen to for hours on end without fatigue." (https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/reviews/649-grimm-audio-mu1-digital-music-player)
- "The MU1 is not a slight improvement. It is – not kidding – the best streamer I have ever heard." (https://www.alpha-audio.net/review/review-grimm-audio-mu1-streamer)
- "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. With another disc, Terry Callier's Timepiece , it really brought out the vocal and revealed texture in the heavy bass, making the direct to DAC version sound flat by comparison." (https://the-ear.net/review-hardware/grimm-audio-mu1-digital-hub-network-streamer-server)
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
What's your approach to customer support?
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
What other products pair best with yours?
Products
Lineup comparison
We think it's helpful to understand how their products compare. To learn more about each, scroll to the section above to click through to individual product pages.
MU1
- Positioning: Positioned as the ultimate digital music source in Grimm Audio's lineup.
- Description: Features an in-house-designed FPGA interface board that ensures high-quality format conversion and ultra-low jitter. Compared to the MU2, focuses more on digital output and integration with systems like the LS1. Supports a wide range of digital inputs and outputs, making it compatible with various high-end audio systems, but lacks the analog preamp and DAC integration found in the MU2.
MU2
- Positioning: Serves as a versatile hub in Grimm Audio's lineup, combining a music streamer, DAC, and analog preamp.
- Description: Features integrated Major DAC and relay-based analog volume control, offering seamless handling of both digital and analog sources. Unlike the MU1, includes a high-performance DAC and analog preamp, making it suitable for users who want an all-in-one solution for both digital and analog audio.
Used
Grimm Audio
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About the brand
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
What's your approach to customer support?
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
What other products pair best with yours?
Featured products
About the brand
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
All Aurender models, even dating back to our very first "S10", cache songs to a built in NVMe/SSD prior to playback, for improve stability and to reduce noise from the HDD, even when local storage is installed.
All Aurender models come with either built in storage or empty trays for users to populate their own 2.5" SATA drives in capacities that suite their collection. You only have 200 CD's that are ripped? Purchase a 1TB drive. Have 20,000 album collection, you can install up to an 8TB drive in each available slot!
What's your approach to customer support?
Our support is one of the driving factors for our brand. One of the keystones of this is our remote support capabilities. By sending us an email using our Conductor V4 software (for Android and Apple phones and tablets), we can remotely access the unit and troubleshoot, reconfigure or fix errors that are giving you trouble...without even taking the unit out of your rack! This level of support comes from our hardware and software engineers based in South Korea. This is available for every Aurender customer, whether you just purchased our flagship streamer or you purchased an 8 year old Aurender N100 on the second-hand market. We give this level of service to everyone. I personally offer advice, consultations and troubleshooting assistance for North America, so you can get hands on assistance when Korea is unavailable due to the time difference.
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
I have a hard time offering test tracks because everyone's music tastes vary so much. My personal tastes are not considered "audiophile" music and often poorly recorded, such as Punk, Hardcore, Emo and Alternative Music. Now with that said, I thoroughly enjoy listening to all this music through my Aurender! Speakers also play a huge role in how palatable that style of music is presented. If you twisted my arm to pick a test track that resonates with a lot of people, I'd say: Sara Bareilles-"Once Upon Another Time". It's a very intimate recording with a candle wick crackling throughout. Subtle noises in the background and then the bass hits and you realize how big the venue actually is. Every time I play that track, people get a bit of the "Wow" factor.
What other products pair best with yours?
Brand pairings are often user preference and one of the best parts of the hobby, in my opinion. I hear that Aurender is often paired with Berkeley Audio Design, MSB, Audio Research, dCS, just to name a few. The best part of an Aurender is it really gets you all the detail out of your DAC, so you can hear what it is truly capable of.
Featured products
About the brand
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
What's your approach to customer support?
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
What other products pair best with yours?
Featured products
About the brand
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
What's your approach to customer support?
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
What other products pair best with yours?
Featured products
About the brand
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
What's your approach to customer support?
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
What other products pair best with yours?
Featured products
About the brand
Our interview with the brand
What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?
What's your approach to customer support?
What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?
What other products pair best with yours?





































































