Mytek Stereo 192

[kennyb123]

Yes, the USB 1.1 input is not asynchronous, it is old style interface for backwards compatibility in cases where USB 2.0 cannot be used. The USB 2.0 input is asynchronous.

 

Here's the post where I was told the opposite by Eloise.

[STC]

Kenny, I think Miska discussed about this somewhere in 2012 in this thread. Interestingly, in the Manhattan DAC, the word asynchronous is nowhere to be seen for USB.

[kennyb123]

I have been using the USB 1 input the last couple of weeks because the Auralic Aries doesn't play nicely with USB 2. I did not hear a drop in sound quality with sample rates of 96k and below, so I'm inclined to believe what Eloise told me. But Miska is usually right about such things, so I thought it worth double-checking with him.

[Audio_ELF]

I have been using the USB 1 input the last couple of weeks because the Auralic Aries doesn't play nicely with USB 2. I did not hear a drop in sound quality with sample rates of 96k and below, so I'm inclined to believe what Eloise told me. But Miska is usually right about such things, so I thought it worth double-checking with him.

kenny ... I'm not actually sure ...

 

USB 1 certainly can be async, but it depends what Mytek have implemented.

 

I'm sorry if I led you astray in the past.

[STC]

I have been using the USB 1 input the last couple of weeks because the Auralic Aries doesn't play nicely with USB 2. I did not hear a drop in sound quality with sample rates of 96k and below, so I'm inclined to believe what Eloise told me. But Miska is usually right about such things, so I thought it worth double-checking with him.

 

Neither did I. The only reason I went back to USB2.0 was due to the intermittent clicks with USB1.0.

[stinart]

My findings till now with mytek. System : Desktop PC (xeon x5650 - gigabyte x58A UD5) running Win7x64 , Foobar , Jriver

 

1)With cheap generic cables : usb2>FW>usb 1.1 Also usb cables with ferrites , sound seriously muffled compared to others.

 

2)With Supra usb 2 and Oyaide FW cables : Same findings but with even greater USB 2 superiority compared to FW.

Over USB 1.1 sonics are dead flat , don't know why ...

 

My findings are contrary to many official reviews out there which even recommend using usb 1.1 because usb 2.0 sounds worse... I can understand the FW>USB 2.0 thing (different implementations) , but USB 1.1 ?? Please...not even close

 

Also somewhere i read a review which strongly states that on the fly dsd to pcm conversion occasionally sounded better than DSD direct streaming. Tested several dsd files and guess what....even red book versions of these tracks , sound easily better than dsd to pcm real time conversion...

[kennyb123]

The image displayed here on the Mytek page indicates that USB 1 is "sync, driverless" where as USB 2 is "async":

 

https://mytekdigital.com/hifi/products/stereo-192dsd-dac/

 

I'm guessing that "sync" was meant to be "async". Otherwise it would have been "adaptive", wouldn't it?

 

No mention of asynchronous or adaptive in the Stereo 192's manual. No warning either of higher jitter or worse sound with USB 1, only that it is slower and doesn't support >96k and DSD.

 

Since USB 1.1 can support asynchronous, I can't imagine Mytek not providing support for this over USB 1.

[kennyb123]

Over USB 1.1 sonics are dead flat , don't know why ...

 

My findings are contrary to many official reviews out there which even recommend using usb 1.1 because usb 2.0 sounds worse... I can understand the FW>USB 2.0 thing (different implementations) , but USB 1.1 ?? Please...not even close

 

I switched to USB 1 input few weeks ago and heard no difference from USB 2. Subsequent to that I swapped to an Audience USB cable from a Lightspeed USB. Big improvement. Then at the start of the week I substituted a linear supply for the SMPS powering the REGEN. Another big improvement. I'm hearing the best sound I've yet heard from the Mytek and in a few respects the best sound I've heard from just about any system. So USB 1 is capable of amazing sound. This weekend I will switch back to USB 2 and see if it gets any better.

 

Also somewhere i read a review which strongly states that on the fly dsd to pcm conversion occasionally sounded better than DSD direct streaming. Tested several dsd files and guess what....even red book versions of these tracks , sound easily better than dsd to pcm real time conversion...

 

Definitely a loss converting DSD to PCM on the fly to 96K. The more appropriate sample rate would be 176.4, but that's too high for USB 1.

[Miska]

Definitely a loss converting DSD to PCM on the fly to 96K. The more appropriate sample rate would be 176.4, but that's too high for USB 1.

 

How about converting all PCM to DSD128?

[kennyb123]

How about converting all PCM to DSD128?

 

I don't presently have that ability.

[stinart]

Definitely a loss converting DSD to PCM on the fly to 96K. The more appropriate sample rate would be 176.4, but that's too high for USB 1.

 

I am talking about 176.4k real time conversion using jriver or foobar over USB2. Testing with DSD album (Dead can Dance)Spiritchaser- Devorzhum track , and Gerrard's voice sonics are clearly affected by the conversion. Its not a dsd>pcm thing , but a foobar/ jriver conversion result which at current state seems barely acceptable... With a good mastering software conversion , i doubt you could hear major differences between dsd- 176k , assuming the dac not altering results with filtrers.

[Nico]

I am new with Toslink and not very technical - it works fine but as soon there is no music running the Mytek get's unlocked after a few seconds. This is annoying because of the blinking display and because it may also cut some music at the next start until locked.

Is there an additional or an other configuration to do? Thanks

[hertz]

Question regarding firmware update for mytek stereo 192.

 

The manual says that the update can only be done via firewire. I have a 2015 mac mini. I need to buy a thunder bolt to firewire adapter and firewire cable etc..now.

 

What do people who only have windows laptop do when they have to do a firmware update ? I never see firewire output ports on windows laptops.

Am I missing something ?

[57gold]

I don't presently have that ability.

 

If you have a Mytek DSD 192 and HQ Player and a decent computer, with a FW cable...you should be able to convert PCM to DSD128 with -2 filters.

 

Music will sound more like music with this approach.

[firedog]

Question regarding firmware update for mytek stereo 192.

 

The manual says that the update can only be done via firewire. I have a 2015 mac mini. I need to buy a thunder bolt to firewire adapter and firewire cable etc..now.

 

What do people who only have windows laptop do when they have to do a firmware update ? I never see firewire output ports on windows laptops.

Am I missing something ?

You need an external FW card

[petecare]

My universal remote, used for the Mytek, costs 8,99€, has the backlight, all the buttons and functions

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2152[/ATTACH]

 

Hello Esprit, I had used during a few years. Great product, but today the function down vol. is out

Sorry to the dead post find in the thread

[MPA1]

Hi all fellow mytekians, long time lurker here.

First of all thanks for all the wisdom shared by you all.

 

Last Wednesday my unit was delivered, had a great deal on a B stock unit that i couldn't resist..(last thing i needed was a new dac ;p )

 

The only thing i don't get: my unit only puts out 24bit, no 16bit. (i.e. if i play a 16 44.1 file, audirvana puts out 24 44.1)

This is probably some setting i overlooked and have tried the search function and google, but couldn't come up with answers.

 

cheers Koen

 

P.S. firmware 1.8.3, firewire connection, osx 10.11, audirvana 2.2.3

[MPA1]

is it true that with 16 bit the other 8 are unused? and audirvana displays 24 bit, like in the picture?

i am a bit confused with this behavior, because my resonessence labs dac does show 16 when 16 bit is being played.

furthermore i don't seem to be able to change the bit rate in audio midi configuration with the mytek as i could do with the RL dac. see picture please

 

is this normal behavior?

 

cheers koen

[Miska]

is it true that with 16 bit the other 8 are unused? and audirvana displays 24 bit, like in the picture?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23135[/ATTACH]

i am a bit confused with this behavior, because my resonessence labs dac does show 16 when 16 bit is being played.

furthermore i don't seem to be able to change the bit rate in audio midi configuration with the mytek as i could do with the RL dac. see picture please

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23136[/ATTACH]

 

is this normal behavior?

 

It is normal and no need to worry. Both DACs have actually 32-bit chip (ESS Sabre). Some DACs advertise also 16-bit formats, but they just end up zero-padding the samples to 32-bit at DAC side. In this Mytek case, the zero-padding is performed at player side in computer.

[MPA1]

It is normal and no need to worry. Both DACs have actually 32-bit chip (ESS Sabre). Some DACs advertise also 16-bit formats, but they just end up zero-padding the samples to 32-bit at DAC side. In this Mytek case, the zero-padding is performed at player side in computer.

 

Thank you for the clarification, Miska.

[daneinspain]

MQA on Mytek 192 Stereo?

Have been doing a little brushing up on MQA. Lots of buzz, maybe/maybe not the future of computeraudio. In his recent post, Michael Lavorgna, Audiostream says:

While it is possible to MQA-enable existing DACs through a hardware or firmware upgrade, there is no way to know if your DAC will be one of them without hearing from the manufacturer

Any idea if Mytek (being a first-adopter in their new Brooklyn-DAC) would offer this? Even if it meant hardware-upgrade (at a reasonable price, including manufacture-profit), it could add huge value to a huge number of (happy?) costumers' DACs.

 

Just a thought...

[btomi9]

Hi folks,

 

Just a quick check-in to share an interesting and unfortunate experience with my Mytek 192 and Skylake using Firewire interface.

 

Long story short, I ordered a DIY audio PC, and since I want it to use as a HTPC as well, I opted for Intel Skylake generation. i7 6700T, passive cooling, Gigabyte H170N-WIFI mobo. It is designed as a dual boot, 1st op.system Server 2012 with Audiophile Optimizer in core mode, and 2nd is Windows 8.1 (or maybe 10 later on) for everything else.

 

I already had an AudioQuest Diamond top-grade firewire cable, so I decided to stay with firewire. Opted for a Lindy 3-port-firewire-800-400-combo-pcie-card and here comes the annoying part: Server 2012 cannot detect Mytek 192 via firewire. Via USB it works, no problem. In Windows 8.1 no problem either.

 

Then after some googling I found this thread where pepole say the problem is related to firewire 400 interface, but things can work with fw 800. My PCIe card has both sockets and the AQ cable has one side the fw 400 6 pin connector, this one goes to Mytek, and the other side is fw 800 with the 9 pins.

 

Is it possible that Mytek 192 has firewire 400 on his part as the interface, and hence it is impossible to use it with firewire on Skylake platform and Server 2012?

 

I will sell my AQ Diamond cable and the Firewire card, and go to USB.

[anamesa]

Hi folks,

 

Three days ago, I bought a Mytek Digital Stereo 192 DSD-DAC, after a recent price drop. I have used it for a couple of days. It works ok in Linux (ubuntu & Fedora flavors), via USB 1.1 connection. I΄m using Audacious as player of flac files. I have couple of questions.

 

1. I have a choice of defining Mytek in Linux, in a stereo system, either as default / sysdefault USB audio default audio device or as a hardware device with all software conversions. Only in the latter case does it show the correct sampling freguency of the file played (44.1, 96 etc). In the case it is defined as default device, it sticks to 48 kHz, whatever the source flac may be. I΄ve perceived a very slight softening when played as hardware device with all software conversions. What does ¨software conversions¨mean here? Is the sound degraded in this case?

 

2. I΄ve read in the thread that a driver for linux supporting USB 2.0 has been developed, but when I downloaded the files to compile, it said in the ISSUES doc that the driver ¨does not work on kernel 3.12.x and up¨, but a workaround has been added. Anybody knows if it works on latest kernels (4.4.x) in case it compiles?

[lljames]

I have Mytek works find with my old MacMini, playing DSD fine using Audirvana 1/2 years ago. I remember it was fine no any issue.

Later, my Mac Mini was dead, so I stop using any PC and move on to Sony Z1ES to play DSD files.

Recently, I have this streaming bug again, and would like to try JRiver so I can streaming SACD ISO from NAS. I know use Macbook Pro new model, which is more powerful than my older Mac Mini.

To my surprise, Mytek DAC made lots of audio dropouts now...upgraded firmware to 1.8.3, instead of JRiver, I tried Audirvana too which worked well, also got lots of dropout. I have no idea what's going on, new OS is the problem? Or the DAC is going to die?

Any one got any tricks to try? Thanks a lot.

[twluke]

-snip-

To my surprise, Mytek DAC made lots of audio dropouts now...upgraded firmware to 1.8.3, instead of JRiver, I tried Audirvana too which worked well, also got lots of dropout. I have no idea what's going on, new OS is the problem? Or the DAC is going to die?

Any one got any tricks to try? Thanks a lot.

 

How about the Audio MIDI on your Mac? Was it correctly set?