Finally...A basic DAC from Mytek

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@moriez the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital costs so much less than the Liberty you may still want to take the risk of a return or firmware issues, for the information display and other aspects of that very ambitious little product. Pro-Ject managers have been steadily working through their quality and support issues. But hopefully for the Liberty's price you do get what you pay for.

As for the sound, those are all very different DACs. I don't have a Bifrost or any multibit Schiit, but much prefer the sound of my AKM-based Schiit and NuPrime DACs over ESS-based DACs from Pro-Ject and others. The difference between DACs is often very subtle though, and doesn't jump out at you the way the sound of an amp would. It often takes weeks or months of listening before a conclusion surfaces, sometimes when you weren't specifically listening for it.

 

But as many of these DACs do come with built-in headphone amps I should also mention that I use my Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital only as a DAC, connected via the RCA outs for a warmer sound to a Schiit Magni 2U head amp / preamp and thence to NuPrime STA-9 speaker amp.

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11 hours ago, Kilauea50 said:

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Since receiving it, Mytek has released 2 firmware updates which they post on their site.  The S2 has real issues in that category.  I couldn’t get the Liberty to play back native DSD so I called Mytek and opened a ticket.  I then emailed Andrew at Small Green Computer to make sure I had the i7 settings correct and he then contacted Jesus’ at Sonore and they figured out what the issue was.  Andrew then contacted the person I was dealing with at Mytek.  That is the kind of stuff I have learned to appreciate.

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That is good to hear. Pro-Ject and their dealers simply aren't capable of that sort of response yet. It's been very frustrating, but the support manager has assured me they will be considering my reports and suggestions for a new approach. Meanwhile it's clear you get what you pay for with more expensive products from smaller companies. I'm also happy with SGC and Sonore, and I'm sure Mytek would be great too.

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@moriez I suspect the experience will be quite different. The Amethyst is an R2R-based DAC, the Brooklyn/Liberty and S2D are ESS Saber-based designs, and Schiit multibits are AD-based designs. When a headphone amp is built into a DAC, it is usually designed to produce and further emphasize the same sound signature. I'd describe ESS-based designs and the amps they're paired with as neutral-to-bright and highly resolving, with far too much treble for me. I prefer AKM-based DACs. But tastes aside, I think the reports you're getting here are quite consistent.