The Grimm PW1 Sound
Contents
As we have already explained, this has been quite a journey. Vinyl has been more than just ‘spinning a record’ for your author. It has been a discovery. An additional deepening into the world of music. Not so much technology, which was also a positive thing.
Because that is what streaming audio has become a little bit; that is now more about discovering why things change when we change cables, power supplies and clocks. Real music listening is becoming more and more difficult…. professional deformation, shall we say.
Happy with ‘noob status’!
With vinyl, there is more mechanical and ‘basic’ electric things going on. And yes: there is a lot to tweak there too. But since your author simply has less understanding of it, that’s not at all interesting… yet…. If the basics are right, it’s fine…. Does that sound logical to you?
The bottom line is that if the record player is setup right and the phono pre-amp plays nicely, music can be played nicely, without things distracting from the music.
And the latter is what the Grimm PW1 does magisterially well! Nothing stands between the groove in the record and the music sliding into your ears. How quiet, fast and detail-rich this pre-amp is! The Primare R35 is already a beast of a pre-amp; especially considering the €1500 it costs. But the Grimm PW1 (4950 Euro) really goes a step further when it comes to openness and especially; smoothness and speed. Rhythmically this pre-amp is a beast.
Versatile
We tested primarily with the Technics SL1200 MK2 with Le Son LS10 MK2 element. This combination was simply delightful. The LS10 MK2 element is fast, very airy in character and brings a lot of detail. (Full review is here). It brings just that little bit more than the already fine high-output Le Son LS1.
The Thorens TD160 with MM AT VM95SE is definitely a fine table that brings a lot of pleasure. And you get a decent one for less than 500 Euros (second-hand), but the limitations of the VM95SE element are audible if we put it next to the other two record players. Rightly so: the LS10 MK2 costs almost 1000 Euro. The AT VM95SE costs less than 50 Euro. We hear just a little less openness, refinement, detail…. And yet even this sounds nice. But now that we have experienced the other two, there is no way back.
What we want to show with this is that the Grimm PW1 very clearly shows the differences; it is a very transparent pass-through. This phono pre-amp grows with you effortlessly. We will soon be testing a Rega P10 on the Grimm PW1. We are curious to see how that turns out. Because this certainly tastes like more!
Hi Jaap, thanks for the nice review and Peter van Willenswaard, I met him more than once on the A&T demo sessions in the past. As expected the Grimm PW1 beats the Primare R35 which is pricewise more than 3x cheaper. How would you compare it against the Moon 610 LP (6.7KEuro and even the 810 LP (12.5KEuro) which you tested September 14, 2021?
Another question, as asked earlier to Yung testing the Le Son LS10 MK2. You remarked on the Technics SL1200 MK2 sound with Le Son LS10 MK2 but not on the STD with Le Son LS1 MK2 combo although you mentioned that the LS10 brings just that little bit more than the already fine high-output Le Son LS1. Was that using the STD?
Last question. Would you say the PW1/SL1200-LS10MK2 combo betters a 8KEuro streamer-dac combo or will that be close call… Thanks in advance for any reply!
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