Dog help me, tomorrow I will be placing my order for a Grimm MU2. It will replace an Innuos ZENith Ml3, an Airlens, a MK2 DAC (which is really terrific) and my BHK pre–signed in gold pen by BHK hisself–to say nothing of all the pricey SR and Wireworld cables and designer fuses that go along with the whole shebang…
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Seems like the right move. I assume 8Tb SSD?
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I prefer a NAS to an internal SSD. When you have a decent collection of music data, it deserves a NAS. This also makes it easy and fast to add or edit your music files.
A NAS doesn’t have to expensive, but chances are it will cost at least as much as an 8TB SSD.
When you have a NAS you can backup Roon to it. And when you switch to a new server, you can restore a Roon backup to a new Roon server. Since the library points to the NAS it is easy peasy.
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@weedeewop Nah, just 2TB as I only have about half that ripped and most of what I have ripped is available on Tidal and Qobuz. I have friends who have collections of dozens of TBs but, despite being well retired, I simply would never have the time to digest all that.
I will miss however, the ZENith’s built-in disk-ripper…
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I have had a few more thoughts about these special devices you are supposed to connect to your unused inputs. If I were to design a preamp, I would make it so the positive connection would be disconnected from the circuit when an input isn’t selected. Not using an input? No worry. Unless you think the input could be an antenna bringing in noise. If you think this, before you put one these devices into you device, switch to an unused input and turn the volume up gradually all the way to full. If you don’t hear anything, you don’t need one of these devices. If you do hear something, please share what you hear.
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Congrats!!! The MU2 is easily one of the best audio decisions I have made. A good preamp to go along with the MU2 is also one of the best audio decisions I have made. Others that have an MU2 are ok without a dedicated preamp but I find that I need one for me. Either way you go, congrats, the MU2 is fantastic!!
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The Ansuz sortz only require a connection to the signal ground of a component. It doesn’t matter whether the input is switched off. As I understand it, the interference should be on the ground, either from outside through RF interference, from the component itself or from other components that distribute noise in the system via the connecting cables. The sortz seem to have a similar effect to a groundbox. According to Ansuz, the Sortz are intended to provide improved grounding. The Sorz technique is intended to prevent noise from entering and eliminate noise generated by the component itself. All I can say is that there is a difference that is easy to hear. If I plug in a Sorz, the bass tone is tightened up, the stage becomes wider and musicians stand neatly in the room and are more clearly defined. Details and individual layers in the music become clearer. The effect is understandable on my Marantz Link 10n, Melco S100 Switch, LHY SW 6 Switch and modem. It’s worth testing in your own system.
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I’m going to pass.
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Is the choice between XLR, USB-A or B… indifferent? Or do you have to choose a specific connection for a Dac, a Streamer, a preamplifier, an amplifier?
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I would decide based on what is required or most universal to use in the system. If it is possible to test an entire test set in your own facility.
My next upgrade, after a year’s wait, is the Decware ZROCK3,(to replace the ZROCK2 in my main system) and I just got notice that it has shipped.
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You what? You passed! Well knock me over (gently). I wish I had your discipline. 
What an event; I will note it in my diary.
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So this goes between your DAC and pre?
I am not using a pre in this system as the Decware SEWE300B has a built in preamp stage, it’s truly an integrated amplifier. My signal path is from the DSD Mk II balanced output into the Decware ZBIT balanced to single-ended adjustable output transformer into the ZROCK2 (currently, ZROCK3 soon) and then into the amplifier.
Most owners use it between preamp and amplifier, though I know two or three who use it before the preamp (for example those who have a Decware preamplifier with their excellent headphone amplification)–that’s how I use it in my audio visual system, it truly improves headphone playback–I use Sennheiser HD800S with my Decware CSP3 preamp with all the Anniversary mods.
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Robert Harley tried and recommends a similar product from the Chord company : the Chord ground array. These Chord devices are now listed in his reference system in all his reviews.
In my system, they only made an improvement when plugged into my Innuos PhoenixNET. No improvement in the other components.
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I also looked at the chord ground array. I spoke to a dealer who has the Chord and the Ansuz. He said that the sortz are the most effective.
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I was told it doesn’t matter much which input or output the sortz is on as it affects the device ground. Someone else said it has different effects depending on the component where the sortz is plugged in. The sortz should have an effect on most components. There are only a few where the sortz has no effect. The best thing to do is to try it out. I’ll be able to test more soon as I’ll be getting more sortz.
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If I’m not mistaken and in other words, you conclude that playing from a nas (with HDDs (?) and a Roon server on it) over your MU2 is sonically equal to playing from a SSD and Roon on your MU2 directly.
Is that right?
Yes sir. My NAS has spinning hard drives, setup in Raid 6, which allows two drives to fail with no loss of data. I have one drive sitting in a box in case of a failure. I can hear no difference between it and the internal SSD. It makes living with Roon easier for me as I do switch Roon servers occasionally.
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I do pretty much the same thing with my NAS & Roon - its been a good system so far
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