Mytek Stereo 192

[57gold]

At small bar/club that was a converted warehouse near UConn in CT.

 

PMG's tour supporting PMG white album and WR supporting Heavy Weather with their new bass player, Jaco and same band as album. Sat on the floor in front of Jaco...6 ft away. Mind blowing experience...didn't even know who WR was except for some Miles cats who electric jammed. Wayne Shorter's playing made the little hairs stand up!

 

Wish I could relive that musical experience.

 

Saw Jaco about 4 times, next at Poughkeepsie Civic Center (my roomate at college was from there)...drove up and crashed at his folks house, just to see Jaco and WR. My roomate, based upon Heavy Weather and previous album with a few Jaco tracks, adored Jaco. We waited outside, like groupies, Jaco invited us back to the hotel and we did vokda shots...downed a couple of bottles of Stoly with him and others in band. My high school daughter would call this foreshadowing.

 

A great loss of a true innovator that changed the way his instrument is played...the Jimi of the electric bass.

 

[twluke]

Hi Harald,

 

I'm new to here but would like to say that I'm experiencing the same problem of channel swap when playing native DSD files by Audirvana Plus on my Mac (FW connection to the Mytek DAC). I thought this must be a software bug but was informed that a similar problem had been noticed in another DSD-able Mac application, Pure Music from Channel D. So, this must be a problem of Mytek 192-DSD DAC.

 

As you wrote, this swap problem only occurs on native DSD playback. For temporary solution, I changed the setting of AudioMIDI application so that the L and R sepaker positions can be reversed. I've already mailed this problem to Mytek support and am waiting for reply.

 

Regards,

 

twluke, Tokyo

 

[ted_b]

of it as per my heads-up a few weeks ago, and have fixed it in firmware 1.3.2.

 

[twluke]

the new firmware will solve this inconvenience. The real problem is there is no new firmware version in Mytek's download library, at least as of this writing...

 

twluke, Tokyo

 

[svizzari]

Just got mine yesterday, after only a week of waiting. From Poland thru Germany to Rome, Italy.

 

Firmware shipped is v.1.3.1.

 

PM looks cumbersome and slow but A+ works like a charm.

Amazing sound, both DSD (+++!) and PCM sources are fantastic.

 

 

[Synfreak]

@ twluke:

 

I've got an email response from Michal that they are planning on releasing a new firmware on thursday (6th December).

 

The problem of the reversed DSD channels will be solved with the new FW.

 

Never had a company react as fast as Mytek does (to my mails I've sent them)!

 

Cheers

Harald

 

[twluke]

Hi Harald,

 

Thank you for this info on the new firmware coming on Dec 6th.

 

> Never had a company react as fast as Mytek does

 

Certainly. I remember Michal's quick response to a hardware problem of my then-newly-bought Stereo96 DAC, which he instructed me to send back to the Mytek in NYC and returned to me in Tokyo after perfect repair with no extra charge other than postage: all done within less than two weeks.

 

Regards,

 

twluke

 

[blaine78]

In the opinion of the owners of Mytek, would the Mytek playingback standard PCM, be comparable to say an Ayre, forgetting about price and brands, I know they would have different sound signature. The design of the Ayre is a good few years older than the Mytek, so my thinking is maybe with the new technology in the Mytek, the 2 units would be more on par? how would you describe the Mytek sound signature? I'm unable to borrow the Mytek for evaluation, so thoughts on sound quality are much appreciated.

 

one more thing, what's the unbalanced lineout voltage from the RCA's in direct (no attenuation) mode? my amp wont like over 2.5v

 

[mytek]

Hello All

 

I'm back happy to continue participating in discussions. We are currently testing new firmware rev which amongst others addresses DSD channel swap. I hope to post this on the website very soon. For more QQ regarding this ppls email me directly at main Mytek email.

 

Best Regards, Michal, Mytek New York

 

 

 

[pacwin]

>>I'm back happy to continue participating in discussions

 

On the 1st of November 2011 Michal wrote:

 

"As for our ASIO, we are testing its DSD support and addressing the compatibility- the support is there already but few things need to be repackaged- this make take few weeks. FWIW initially only USB driver will be able to do ASIO DSD."

 

Could you please update us on the status and availability of the ASIO over USB driver. Those of us who want to use ASIO with ASIO enabled products have either been unable to do so or have used HQDesktop in dCS mode instead, and for some people who have had their device for a few months, the HQDesktop trial has expired or they have had to invest additionally/temporarily in that product in order to playback DSD natively and use their Mytek device.

 

 

 

[willshaw]

Hi, Ted,

 

Have you compared the preamp performance of Mytek with Zodiac gold or any other your preamp? I'd appreciate your comments on Mytek's analog output section. Another DAC with very good preamp section I have in mind is a quite expensive AMR dp-777. Thanks.

 

[pjomaestro]

Hi Ted,

 

Please give me a guide for dummies to setup Pure Music with Mytek.

One of my friends cannot play DSD, and he does not write and read English, so I am helpiing him.

 

Best

 

[yverof]

If your friend speaks French, I can help him. I struggled with PM/Mytek but with the help of Michal and PM support, everything is fine now. Yves

 

[pjomaestro]

Dear Yves, Thanks but he does not speak French.

Please send private message to me the instruction in English if you would.

Merci

 

[yverof]

Will do

 

[ted_b]

In PM, you simply go to the top menu and pick "add DSD". A small window will open; and drag DSD files (DSF or DIFF) from anywhere on you computer network into the DSD window and let PM create bookmarks that are then populated automatically in iTunes. That's it. The pluses here is that you can continue to use Apple Remote app to peruse your iTunes library (PM plays, not iTunes, of course)...and you can edit the bookmarks for tags, as you would any iTunes song or album. The only downside is the wait time while PM creates the bookmarks (do this while no song is playing).

 

For pure DSD playback request the V183D5 version from Rob at Channel D. Then, from the preferences menu, go to "audio setup". Make sure one of the Mytek drivers is chosen in the pull down box (USB is usually called "Mytek Digital STEREO192-DSD DAC" and firewire is called "Mytek_FireWire"). Make sure to invoke hog mode (checkbox). In version D5 of PM then choose the checkbox for DSD playback. Then restart PM by hitting "click to apply changes" at the bottom of the PM screen.

 

 

 

[ted_b]

I initially tried the Mytek in direct-to-amp mode (or preamp mode, more appropriately) via the RCA outs. Why RCA? Because my 6 meter preamp to monoblocks are currently Furutech Ref III RCA's (had them converted from XLR when I got the single-ended only Concert Fidelity mega-preamp). As I've stated here before, my Antelope Gold DAC sounds great going direct-to-amp, something that blew my mind since 1)I had demo'd many other DACS direct only to find them washed out and 2 dimensional, a 2) I'm comparing to a very hi-end CF-080 preamp..

 

The Mytek ended up somewhat in the washed out and 2 dimensional category. However, that is not nearly the end of the story. Over the past month I have discovered 2 major data points that make my initial direct-to-amp eval likely moot. One, the Mytek has opened up and changed significantly during this break-in period (my Antelope took 800 hours, so no real surprise, but the level of improvement in the Mytek is not subtle), and 2) at least in my unit, and in my system....using my Bent TAP TVC preamp, the XLR outputs are significantly better sounding than the RCA's. This could be a Bent TAP issue, but I doubt it, since I know that preamp backwards and forwards, and since via XLR I am doing an XLR-to-RCA conversion in the preamp (remember, my pre-to-amp umbilicals are RCA) that i don't have to do with RCA. And the cables are almost identical Livelines.

 

Sooo, net/net..I love the sound of the Mytek via XLR into my TAP. Period. It has surpassed my expectations and I'm keeping the DAC. Will I try direct again? Maybe, but only when I get around to pulling the 6 meter cables and have Scot (Furutech US ditrib) re-reterminate them. In the meantime I have no itch to do that. The preamp in the system gives me more flexibility and the obvious addtl inputs. And the music is wonderful.

 

[orgel]

Thanks for the DSD setup instructions. They'll be invaluable when my Mytek shows up. You are the proverbial man.

 

--David

 

[yverof]

I have attached a PDF files with screen capture of configuration of Pure Music and Mytek on a Mac. Don't hesitate to add or comment.

Yverof

 

[orgel]

Awesome! Saved to my work computer and my phone.

 

Comments will be delayed until Vintage King ships my unit.

 

--David

 

[ted_b]

you won't have to type in the name of the driver on the DSD PM setup screen. Just a checkmark. It's a big deal cuz that small text window is actually larger/longer than it looks, and may contain characters you typed earlier, or carriage returns, etc. It caught me early as I was first trying the Mytek...I didn't realize the text box extended to the left of the viewing area. Soo...if you do have to type, first make sure that everything is gone from that window...hit delete several times to make sure it's clean...then type the driver name EXACTLY...it is case-sensitive (hence Rob's reason for making it easier via a checkbox in the later D5 version). Don't hit enter, just use the close button (or the "restart" button if you haven't chosen hog mode previously).

 

[pjomaestro]

Dear Yves and Ted,

 

Thanks for the detailed guide on pm. I will translate these for him.

 

Best

 

Pjo

 

[KarolG]

Hi,

 

I think of C.A.P.S. 2.0 as a music server for the Mytek. In the CAPS thread it is suggested that I could skip the SOtM tX-USB card ($339) and use $8 SYBA SD-VIA-FW1E1H PCI FireWire card instead.

The price difference is huge and is justified by extra tX-USB features: "own power line noise filter, individual ultra low noise regulators to power up to two attached USB devices, onboard ultra low jitter clock, onboard PCI host controller, and separate power connector".

 

In some previous posts it was suggested that USB and FireWire interfaces in the DAC don't really differ and should perform equally.

The question is if the above statement is still valid if I use cheap FireWire card in my server without all of this filtering implemented in the tx-USB?

 

Do USB and FireWire interfaces at Mytek differ in terms of noise/jitter resistance?

 

[blaine78]

Does anyone know what the output voltage is on the unbalanced RCAs in direct output, no attenuation mode?

i can't find any information on this.

Thanks

 

 

[audiozorro]

I wonder if the CAPS 2 has enough horsepower to run the HQPlayer software for playing DSD64 and DSD128 files on the Mytek DSD DAC. Perhaps the Audiogate software is not as taxing.