Mytek new dac Brooklyn.

[OB Ron]

The German magazine HIFISTATEMENT reported loss of bass power and drive with the Sbooster in comparison to the Mytek PS.

 

Matt

Perhaps that indicates that the current supplied by the Sbooster, despite all Karen's theoretical explanations, may not be quite enough for the Brooklyn after all.

 

Hope to be able to test it for myself some day as I'm genuinely intrigued.

 

 

Changes in high frequency performance, such as clearer, more easily perceived high-frequency content, can change our perceptions of low frequency intensity and tonal balance. It's possible that "bass power and drive" are not weaker with the Sbooster. Perhaps just the ear-brain perceptions are altered because of improved high-frequency performance. Also, what someone is use to causes a bias that takes quite a bit of listening to overcome. Sometimes a tweak improves performance, but sounds worse because it is exposing a problem elsewhere in the system. It's not uncommon to choose a component or tweak because it ameliorates another problem without solving it. I've certainly found tweaks to no longer be beneficial after making improvements elsewhere in my system.

 

Hopefully, reality with live natural acoustic music can be our reference. When did you last get a reality check? It was Friday evening for me.

[matthias]

Humans are gifted by our creator with a highly sophisticated hearing system. In the end we judge all our gear by hearing and want to have equipment which is fun to listen to. So power supplies can be regarded as black boxes. We just listen to these black boxes and if it sounds better, it is better.

 

Matt

[mumsoft]

My last 'reality' check was last Sunday, at the opera.

My Brooklyn will be treated by the guy that I can hold responsible for making the internal Dac of my old Olive 4 sound the same as the Brooklyn Dac, sitting on the audio tile from the same person.

After that it will sound even much better, regarding 3D, soundstage, highs, lows, mids, and what have you. Oh, yes, dynamics.

I won't do the external power supply dance. No way.

 

Marc

 

PS. Anyone here living nearby is invited to check my rather bold statement about the internal dac of my Olive. Just send me a pm.

[Octavius]

Humans are gifted by our creator with a highly sophisticated hearing system. In the end we judge all our gear by hearing and want to have equipment which is fun to listen to. So power supplies can be regarded as black boxes. We just listen to these black boxes and if it sounds better, it is better.

 

Matt

 

Well despite having some curiosity on how these black boxes do work I agree with you that if it sounds better than it is better.

 

PS the last time I went to a live music event was last Friday. Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky and I really loved it!

[mytek]

Maybe a dumb question but will I be ok with Windows Server 2012 R2 ?

 

Regards

 

Randy

 

We guarantee it'll work with last 2 operating systems. Other systems especially recent will most likely work, but this has to be tried but the user. Regards, Michal

[ted_b]

I'll help you get it set up Randy. BTW, got your vm, glad the card worked. Got the ureter stent out todayl I think this personal health nightmare is just about over (6 weeks, argh!).

[OB Ron]

How does one switch polarity/phase on a Brooklyn DAC?

I've looked in the Owner's Manual Ver. 1.2 / March 2016 and found nothing about it.

 

For me, easy polarity/phase switching is a must have feature for my next DAC, preferably with a single button push on a remote control, which if necessary could be done with a macro programmed into a universal remote control, but I believe should be included with any respectable supplied remote control for a DAC. My current DAC has polarity/phase switching with a single button press, but no remote control. If the Brooklyn lacks remote polarity switching, it is a MAJOR disappointment. I believe all audiophiles should demand this capability on their equipment.

 

Playing music, or even movies and television, in correct absolute polarity is critical to me for enjoyable and accurate audio reproduction. I'm shocked at how inconsistent digital recordings and broadcasts are with respect to absolute polarity. It is one of the weak points of digital audio technology, and perhaps a key reason why so many people still prefer analog recordings, without knowing why. You may not think it is important if your speakers lack adequate phase coherency, or you are polarity deaf (if there is such a thing). I believe other system technical deficiencies could also make absolute polarity seem ambiguous or not important, such as excessive energy diffusion over time (which can exist with poor speaker design, poor cable design, poor electronic design, etc). With my phase coherent point source speakers, and lots of system tweaks to optimize overall system performance, correct absolute polarity has become clearly discernible with most recordings. I never want to go back to a system that makes correct polarity ambiguous or difficult to determine. Ability to hear, determine, and appreciate correct absolute polarity, to me, is a major hallmark of system accuracy. Natural instrumental and vocal quality, along with good spatial imaging, only occur with correct absolute polarity. Wrong polarity often sounds objectionable, fatiguing, and just weird to me now. If I could count on all recordings and broadcasts to be the same polarity, it wouldn't be a problem. I could set the polarity once and leave it. I was recently watching a movie on TV, switched to a different movie on another channel, and found that I had to switch polarity. The situation is that bad.

[occamsrazor]

Regarding the requirements of an external LPS, I think it would be useful if Mytek themselves could chime in with their recommendations and insights.....

[russelltsay]

We guarantee it'll work with last 2 operating systems. Other systems especially recent will most likely work, but this has to be tried but the user. Regards, Michal

Dear Michal,

There's some issues with my Brooklyn dac and cann't be fixed from your help center. I have mailed a RMA request to [email protected] as they told me( Ticket no.816812). But no reply up to date. Kindly look into it and thanks a lot.

Russell

[Karin]

I tried the Sbooster that is much cheaper. And yes somewhat more space and no loss of bass power. But something very weird happens with me. Soon after I play some music, no matter what, I feel a pressure in my right ear and soon after a beep. The first evening my right ear was almost deaf. Now I'm playing with the amps again and I feel good. No pressure no beep. So not for me this Sbooster.

 

Dear Kamsma,

 

Thank you for using our BOTW as an upgrade and we are very sorry to read that you are facing issues, when connecting the BOTW. With this post we inform you on the possible causes of the strange behavior of your audio system.

 

Firstly it could be that the BOTW is faulty unit. However, when a PSU is faulty, but still functioning, the output of the PSU becomes highly unstable. This results in a very poor over all sound quality, but not in pressure on one side and a beep. Therefore we do not think this is the case, but we have to check this with you to be sure.

 

The second and most likely cause could be is, that there is a grounding issue in your system, which leads to this strange behavior of your audio chain when using the BOTW PSU. With the internal SMPS, or SMPS in general, the output of the PSU is connected to the mains input of the PSU. When the internal SMPS of the Mytek is used there is a path present where the current of a possible ground loop can flow back to Earth and is shorted (in our whitepaper “SMPS can kill your audio equipment” we describe this in depth). The BOTW power supplies are galvanic isolated from the mains and there is no connection present between the AC mains and DC output of the PSU. So by using the BOTW there is no path where the ground current can be shorted to Earth.

 

A couple of weeks ago we had a “similar” situation with a customer that was also facing strange behavior (hum) of his external powered tube headphone amplifier, when swapping the SMPS to our BOTW. After a simple test we had identified the ground issue and with a small modification to the BOTW this issue was solved. We have sent you a PM and we invite you to investigate your issue with you further and to solve it.

 

Regards,

 

Karin

[RJ Kamsma]

Dear Kamsma,

 

Thank you for using our BOTW as an upgrade and we are very sorry to read that you are facing issues, when connecting the BOTW. With this post we inform you on the possible causes of the strange behavior of your audio system.

 

Firstly it could be that the BOTW is faulty unit. However, when a PSU is faulty, but still functioning, the output of the PSU becomes highly unstable. This results in a very poor over all sound quality, but not in pressure on one side and a beep. Therefore we do not think this is the case, but we have to check this with you to be sure.

 

The second and most likely cause could be is, that there is a grounding issue in your system, which leads to this strange behavior of your audio chain when using the BOTW PSU. With the internal SMPS, or SMPS in general, the output of the PSU is connected to the mains input of the PSU. When the internal SMPS of the Mytek is used there is a path present where the current of a possible ground loop can flow back to Earth and is shorted (in our whitepaper “SMPS can kill your audio equipment” we describe this in depth). The BOTW power supplies are galvanic isolated from the mains and there is no connection present between the AC mains and DC output of the PSU. So by using the BOTW there is no path where the ground current can be shorted to Earth.

 

A couple of weeks ago we had a “similar” situation with a customer that was also facing strange behavior (hum) of his external powered tube headphone amplifier, when swapping the SMPS to our BOTW. After a simple test we had identified the ground issue and with a small modification to the BOTW this issue was solved. We have sent you a PM and we invite you to investigate your issue with you further and to solve it.

 

Regards,

 

Karin

 

thank you. Well I changed the power cable and put it in a different receptacle. That strange pressure or tension on my ears is gone now. And no more ringing in my right ear. I start relaxing now.

 

Contrary to the review in Hifistatement I don't notice a loss of power in the bass. This weekend I will check the drive and space.

 

As my wife plays the violin professionally I hear a lot of real acoustic music in case anybody wonders about listening "qualification".

[drewtt]

I know it's still a new product but has anyone had a chance to compare this against the Oppo HA-1? Or anyone care to comment?

 

I am interested in this DAC for Tidal MQA once available. I would like to know how good the DAC and preamp sections are compared to the Oppo. Don't care about the HP amp. This is in a desktop setup with Kef LS50 speakers and Parasound A23 amp.

[mumsoft]

A cheap alternative with already activated MQA might be the Explorer2 usb dac. But I think you already know that.

 

Marc

[mytek]

A cheap alternative with already activated MQA might be the Explorer2 usb dac. But I think you already know that.

 

Marc

 

MQA Update: We have the MQA compliant firmware pretty much tested and ready to release - we are waiting to close few licensing formalities with MQA LTD and except to release the new firmware with MQA Decoder enabled sometimes next week.

 

Thank you for the patience Michal at Mytek New York

[Octavius]

MQA Update: We have the MQA compliant firmware pretty much tested and ready to release - we are waiting to close few licensing formalities with MQA LTD and except to release the new firmware with MQA Decoder enabled sometimes next week.

 

Thank you for the patience Michal at Mytek New York

 

That's great news Michal!

 

Thanks for the update.

[mumsoft]

This is realy a nice eastern egg.

 

 

 

Currently, my Brooklyn is a bit sad with having nothing to do. I always pet him on his head and try to comfort him, telling that Michael from Mytek said that MQA would come as soon as possible. And, when that happens, that he will be made the chief and most proud boss of the whole set. That always helped to cheer him up, but lately, he didn't believe me any more! I could do nothing else but leaving him with his sombre thoughts.

 

Marc

[Totsipaki]

Have you attached that TT to the Brooklyn? i HAVE mine! Permanently!..

[RYDMOTO]

Regarding the requirements of an external LPS, I think it would be useful if Mytek themselves could chime in with their recommendations and insights.....

 

+1

[RJ Kamsma]

As I wrote before I don't notice any difference in bass power compared to the smps. Also speed or drive are not deteriorated. The main advantage is a cleaner sound with a deeper and broader soundstage where there is a soundstage recorded.

Also there is less noise from my turntable (Townshend The Rock with Excalibur arm from 1987 with Shelter 201 mm cartridge).

 

What I wrote before about tension and pressure on my right ear and some tinnitus like ringing went away by reshuffling power cables.

 

In conclusion I'm not so sure about the value of this power supply. Sure there is improvement, but is it worth the expense (€ 250)?

 

Robert-Jan

[wolft]

This is realy a nice eastern egg.

 

 

 

Currently, my Brooklyn is a bit sad with having nothing to do. I always pet him on his head and try to comfort him, telling that Michael from Mytek said that MQA would come as soon as possible. And, when that happens, that he will be made the chief and most proud boss of the whole set. That always helped to cheer him up, but lately, he didn't believe me any more! I could do nothing else but leaving him with his sombre thoughts.

 

Marc

 

Why you are post every day about the *.mqa dilemma? Have you no *.flac or *.dsf music files you can play with the Brooklyn. I myself have abot 6000 albums as highres fLac or dsf and I love the Brooklyn's sound. Much better than the iFi iDSD micro or the Auralic Vega. I use foobar2000, JRiver mediacenter or the hqplayer. Tweaking Windows 10 and playing with the HQplayer I get the best results.

I play my music also with Linn LP12 and Rega RP8 using a Xono (a PassLabs clone) as PhonoPre. I love both methods. I have all digital music as Vinyl.

So why you whining about the late *.mqa support. which *.mqa music will play next week?

 

Wolft

 

 

Sry about my bad school english, it's 45 years ago I learned in school

[kennyb123]

Why you are post every day about the *.mqa dilemma? Have you no *.flac or *.dsf music files you can play with the Brooklyn.

 

(snip)

 

So why you whining about the late *.mqa support. which *.mqa music will play next week?

 

I have wondered this myself.

 

How much music is there presently that's MQA-encoded? Like less than a handful of songs? What are odds that someone's favorite music is amongst this?

 

And then what happens after they can play their single MQA-encoded track through the Brooklyn? Will we see endless posts about the lack of available MQA-encoded music? If it's a long wait, will these same people blame Mytek for getting their hopes up by releasing MQA support so early? LOL

[Totsipaki]

That is the real bet concerning MQA or anything like it that may occur in the future. Wide support from the music Industry as well as thousands of "MQA' ed" back catalogue recordings available.

 

No matter how good It may sound It won't make difference to anyone if only a small number of niche audiophile Labels support It.

That is where the future, or doom of MQA lies. The only thing that will make it have an Impact is a very wide selection of real music in this format primarily through affordable streaming accompanied by a wide hardware support by cellphone tablet and various -not only- hi end audio manufacturers.

 

I sincerely hope that all those frustrating delays point to that direction. In any case activating MQA on the Brooklyn will have no real impact except the brief joy of testing It by us who have already bought this dac.

 

I strongly believe that MQA has the potential to bring truly better audio quality in the minds and lips of literally everyone and not just us audio buffs and revitalize the interest in music as well as it's financing, improving support in truly great but not always blockbuster level commercial artists.

 

Just imagine where bands like pink floyd or artists like the late David Bowie (RIP) among others would end up if they began their careers in our time, that has to change..

[Totsipaki]

Finally one more comment concerning the relationship between MQA and Mytek.

Mytek's and It's founder's Michal Jurewicz deep and long lasting relationship with the world of music industry makes me think that the choice of implementing this new technology in his new dac was not just a calculated risk.

 

Without knowing anything for sure I strongly suspect that over there at Mytek they already have a picture of things concerning where the music Industry is heading not yet evident to us consumers which has led them to invest In the support of this technology based on strong knowledge of fact yet to be unveiled.

 

Is all that wishful thinking? Maybe so but think about the Launch of the Brooklyn's predecessor the 192 which implemented DSD a few years back something strongly debated back then which proved to be a very successful move based on knowledge of the music and audio industry Mytek Had, giving the 192 the edge for the next years to come which along with Its top class sound in it's category made It the success it became..

[BigGuy]

I have wondered this myself.

 

How much music is there presently that's MQA-encoded? Like less than a handful of songs? What are odds that someone's favorite music is amongst this?

 

And then what happens after they can play their single MQA-encoded track through the Brooklyn? Will we see endless posts about the lack of available MQA-encoded music? If it's a long wait, will these same people blame Mytek for getting their hopes up by releasing MQA support so early? LOL

 

Plus, unless someone knows that the provenance of the MQA-encoded track is the same as that of whatever it is being compared to, any discussion of relative sound quality is moot...and probably should be remain mute.

 

A source of MQA and pretty much all other formats for a variety of music for potential comparison is available at...

 

2L High Resolution Music .:. free TEST BENCH

 

As kennyb123 notes, while we are early in the MQA release process, what is the likelihood that any of these are or will be your faves? And even if your faves are released in MQA at some point, are you going to replace your current library with ANOTHER format? Not me!

 

I do see MQA as having potential value added for those who stream or who use portable audio.

[Totsipaki]

I do see MQA as having potential value added for those who stream or who use portable audio.

 

I believe that those consumers you mention are the ones mainly targeted by MQA and as you said the only ones who will truly benefit from such a transition.

 

Convincing people to rebuy their music collection in an age where owning music doesn't make that much sense on the wide public Is truly a dead end. Looking forward to a new age where pirating music will find true antagonist in affordable streaming as a better and even cheaper product (maintaining home was devices and purchasing gargantuan "sized" hard drives costs as much as years of a streaming service) and which could be implemented in portable devices as well as cars sounding better than CD I believe is a promising way of looking into things. Not only for the companies involved but also for the Music It self as an art commercial product.

 

Just look at how services like netflix are a success giving cheap accessibility to high quality content available literally on any device luring people away from illegal downloading and bringing profits to the makers of the content not by charging Much to a few but little to many.. That is the new way to look into things and for sure owning music is nice to that future.

 

People Just don't buy music (and home video) that much anymore and It is because It costs a lot and they don't have to even If that means the risk of a ticket from their vendor o a (highly improbable) lawsuit.

 

Technology has made accessing quality content so very easy in our time and accessing the public making a profit during this procedure has to find new clever and efficient ways of doing so.

 

Time will tell.. But if MQA fails I am quite convinced that something very much like it will succeed in the future and storing music In our homes is nowhere included in that future..