Silent Angel Munich MU

[MattyW]

Well, given my Soundaware D300REF has died for the second and final time in a rather spectacular fashion I have placed an order for a new Silent Angel Munich MU. Seems its so new there's not even any reviews out there on it though on the upside it is $600 less than the D300REF cost me so thats nice. One of the few Roon capable streamers with a clock input so that should make a nice difference. Sadly they do include a DAC in there which is unnecessary though it is a nice minimalistic affair with no unnecessary screens or anything and seems to have given some though to cooling which is more than could be said for my defunct Soundaware.

 

https://silentangel.com/mu/

 

I couldn't find it in stock with any Australian retailers so ordered it on Aliexpress I did. Mhhhhmm. 

 

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if it's all its meant to be. I reached out to Silent Angel and according to them its a better sounding unit than the Rhein Z1 which I remember as @evil c had one some time back. If only I'd popped on that then and I'd not have had to go through the pain of the Soundaware failures. Oh well, whats done is done.

 

Now to sit back and wait for it. I'll be feeding it into my MiniDSP DDRC-22D via AES/EBU and the same connection from there into my DAC.

 

If you've any recollections of the Rhein Z1 and what you replaced it with I'd love to hear about it Clive? 

[Guest]

I understand that for AES/EBU, the clock from the source determines the SQ.  The DDRC is still running its own clock and feeding your DAC.  Wouldn't the DDRC negate the use of a good clock on the streamer?

 

Also, hope you will also test the internal DAC and how it sounds.

 

[evil c]

@MattyW not sure why you'd want my opinion, I'm more of a trip and stumble kinda enthusiast!

You're more of a tech savvy guy, you thrive on complexity!

I enjoyed the time l had with the Rhein Z1, it was very good - but wanted to simpify from having to run so many parts. (NAS -> Rhein Z1 -> Lumin U1 mini-> DAC).

So ended up with the one box solution, (two if you count the DAC),of the Antipodes K50, and it really was worthwhile for the money.

I literally was running out room, and power outlets!

This new unit looks to address some of the shortcomings l found with the Z1.

Very difficult to find out much on it though, as you mentioned.

[MattyW]

34 minutes ago, Snoopy8 said:

I understand that for AES/EBU, the clock from the source determines the SQ.  The DDRC is still running its own clock and feeding your DAC.  Wouldn't the DDRC negate the use of a good clock on the streamer?

 

Also, hope you will also test the internal DAC and how it sounds.

 

 

True, though even so the difference is still audible in terms of potentially less loss getting to the DDRC itself. Whether thats why its audible or not I don't know but the difference can be heard. That's all it takes for me to decide things 

 

8 minutes ago, evil c said:

@MattyW not sure why you'd want my opinion, I'm more of a trip and stumble kinda enthusiast!

You're more of a tech savvy guy, you thrive on complexity!

I enjoyed the time l had with the Rhein Z1, it was very good - but wanted to simpify from having to run so many parts. (NAS -> Rhein Z1 -> Lumin U1 mini-> DAC).

So ended up with the one box solution, (two if you count the DAC),of the Antipodes K50, and it really was worthwhile for the money.

I literally was running out room, and power outlets!

This new unit looks to address some of the shortcomings l found with the Z1.

Very difficult to find out much on it though, as you mentioned.

 

It's alright, not so much about the tech side though your impressions of it's sonics are valued Clive..... That and it seems like ages since I've heard from ya 

[evil c]

16 minutes ago, MattyW said:

 

It's alright, not so much about the tech side though your impressions of it's sonics are valued Clive..... That and it seems like ages since I've heard from ya 

You're right, l definitely have less to say - reached a point where minimal goings on to see, although it could well be an iceberg kind of scenario!,

[MattyW]

16 minutes ago, evil c said:

You're right, l definitely have less to say - reached a point where minimal goings on to see, although it could well be an iceberg kind of scenario!,

 

Maybe.... So long as the system doesn't go pear shaped then all is well at evil springs 

 

I was happy till my streamer died..... Got it fixed and it died again. No more Soundaware for me. Time to change to Silent Angel. The hardware cases seems better designed to my eye anyway..... In terms of cooling at least. Silent Angel don't really go into the details of why their stuff sounds as it does so reliant on user experiences to keep me happy until it arrives. 

[MattyW]

Ok, took delivery of the Munich MU today. I'll set up tonight if I've a chance and see how it sounds out of the box. Be interesting to see if there's improvement with burn in. Probably not given it's a purely digital component though I guess I'll have to see.    

[MattyW]

Well, hooked it up and had some initial issues with a high pitched whine the moment my master clock was plugged in. Narrowed that down to placement.... A cable or something placed too close to another. Anyway, sorted now.
 

I also couldn’t select Roon natively s as it was saying it’s not Roon Certified . The Silent Angel rep on their Facebook page advised that Roon has given the end of March as the due date for certification so it’s coming.
 

Even forced to use AirPlay2  there are immediately hints of a deep vivid sound stage and incredible transparency. Very weighty and impactful.... Yes, nice but in no way even handed. I've had a running commentary with Silent Angel's support rep via their Facebook group and they've been quite helpful throughout. They've advised a minimum of 100 hours burn in for it to stabilize. So less than a week of running non stop. Very easily achieved.

 

Though so far it has hints of being better than the Soundaware D300REF in some areas yet doesn't currently match the coherence and sheer musicality of the fully burnt in D300REF though given what I can hear, I rather suspect it will end up noticeably better. I've the Forester F2 linear power supply and Light Orange umbilical coming also so that aught to improve things still further. I guess time will tell. Likewise things will certainly improve once I can use it as a native Roon end point.

Edited February 21, 2024 by MattyW

[MattyW]

I left it running overnight and I'd say even handicapped by Apple AirPlay performance is now on par with my aural memory of the Roon Ready Soundaware D300REF. That means it will likely end up ahead sonically just with burn in and leap still further ahead once Roon Ready certification is complete for the Munich MU. Very impressed at this point, especially given I haven't got the Forester F2 to hook up to it yet. It's just a superior product to the Soundaware. No two ways about it. It's cool to the touch also vs the very hot running D300REF and physically smaller. I'll hopefully hide the Forester F2 behind it somewhere. I don't need to see the LPS, it just needs to do its job. 

 

I must say that the Rhein Z1 is tempting now given some members have found it improves things even used as a remote server..... That said, it will be a shave to give up the automatic snapshot capability I've set up on my Synology NAS. Presently if I've messed up the Roon database or need to roll back to a prior version of Roon I just have to restore a snapshot. A fantastic ability to have. I guess it comes down to practicality vs sonics. You don't need to rollback very often but when you do its a godsend. It is way too easy to delete playlists in Roon. 

Edited February 22, 2024 by MattyW

[MattyW]

I must say that this is also the most fully featured streamer I’ve tried. I dare say many would be very happy loading their music directly onto it and using with their choice of streaming service. The interface is rather excellent controlled via an app on your phone:

 

Selecting what to show in the app:

 

General settings:

Device settings: 

 

Service accounts:

 

Home Screen:

 

Integrated DAC & Digital output settings:

 

 

Currently not “Roon Ready” certified. It’s coming though:

 

 

I may even try these built in streaming functions at some point. It’s not just great sounding but also full featured. That said the only feature I really require is it being a “Roon Ready” end point though this is welcome for others who don’t use Roon.

Edited February 22, 2024 by MattyW

[Guest]

Curious to know how you rate the internal DAC.

[MattyW]

I'm not that likely to try the internal DAC any time soon. I don't expect that much from it and don't know why the bothered including it rather than just focusing on the network streamer..... Still I get that some may use this.

[MattyW]

One issue I’ve had is with the Munich MU connected to the same master clock as my DAC I get an irritating high pitched whine through my speakers. It begins the instant either DAC, or streamer is connected.

 

I contacted Adrian at AfterDark and he suggested it may be current leakage from the new streamer. Likely given no other streamer or DDC has had this issue. He advised to return for a new unit…… Given it’s so new there’s no reviews yet I figured a design flaw so probably the same fault. Likewise I was curious as to whether the Forester F2 linear power supply might resolve the issue but not being able to wait plugged in one of my cheap $180 12V 3A Noratel linear power supplies. Eureeka! No more high pitched whine.

 

I’ve provided feedback to Silent Angel. They really do need to fix this as reviewers may not take a particularly kind view to this. Frankly absolutely it should not be necessary to run a external linear power supply just to run an external clock, but then again those running a master clock are likely to be chasing that last fraction of a percentage improvement anyway and will probably order the matching Forester 2 LPS. Interesting finding nonetheless.

 

I’ve suggested they do away with the built in DAC and instead implement a basic linear power supply. Purchase of a linear power supply shouldn’t be necessary just to use the clock input. That said, the SMPS certainly sounded better but then again these Noratel LPS are bottom of the barrel. I use them to power things like my NBN modem, Firewall/Router, TP-Link Deco wireless mesh system etc. They’re not really audio grade. 

Edited February 23, 2024 by MattyW

[MattyW]

Well, Roon pushed out an update yesterday and in that update came Roon Ready Certification for the Munich MU. So I disabled AirPlay 2 and created a new zone using RAAT, set normalisation to auto and changed the configuration  as supporting a max of 32bit 96k as thats the most my MiniDSP DI22D can handle and set all content to sample to 96k as opposed to native as I've found this tends to cause fewer issues when using a large playlist on shuffle.

 

Interestingly sonics were slightly smoother, no audio drop outs or stuttering which is great and most importantly the most responsive I've experienced with any playback software let alone Roon. Hit play, pause, skip to tap further ahead in the track and its instant. There is no split second delay before it does what it's told. Literally, instant.

 

To be fair responsiveness and sonics were already greatly improved since I went to a new ROCK (Topton FU02, Ryzen 7730U, 32GB RAM, 500GB ROCK/database NVME SSD, 4TB SATA SSD, 19v linear power supply) though now this is better responsiveness than I got with JRiver or Audirvana running directly off a PC running Windows back in the day so I find it seriously impressive.

 

So yes, there is now no area in which the Munich MU does not outperform my memory of my deceased Soundaware D300REF so the MU comes highly recommended from me.