Mytek Stereo 192

[Synfreak]

Hi Mikel!

 

You might consider using a XLR (Mytek side) to Chinch/RCA (Violectric side) cable.

These are usually made to use only the "positive" output (and ground) of the XLR outputs, so 6dB lower level, but you still will use the (maybe better sounding) XLR outs instead of the (maybe lower grade) RCAs.

 

As example:

pro snake TPA 1003 FR

 

Happy listening!

Cheers,

Harald

[firedog]

Unlike Ted and some others, I don't find the RCA inferior to the XLR. I guess it depends on your specific equipment. If the level of the RCA is better for you just use it. Harald's suggestion will also work, though, if you want to try it.

[ted_b]

Yes, Haralds suggestion is an interesting one. And as firedog says I personally have found the XLR's to sound slightly better, but nothing close to the tradeoff you are describing..meaning, it's much better to have good gain match than worry about xlr vs rca sound differences.

 

Also, please remember that the Mytek needs 600 hours before it sounds it's best (that's good news, since you like it already ).

[mikel]

Hi

@ Harald

I had cables of this brand from Thoman when I bought the Violectric and I also used the same ones when I reactivated the Violectric.

Over the Snake Cables, the base alway sounded overrated and the frequency response just not quite right.

I never was a believer in cable sound, especially not for XLR. Just to rule out a cable problem, I got a pair of Sommer Calbe Epilogue XLR to connect the RME Adi-2 to the Violectric. I was shocked that the Snake calbles really seemed have to distorted the frequency response somewhat because the Sommer Cables sounded neutral as I expect a cable to perform. For this reason, I have become very careful with my original opinion that cables do not really matter, but that is probably a different discussion. My conclusion is that Snake is probably not the quality I am looking for in a cable. Your idea is good, I will investigate if there are high quality cables with XLR/RCA connectors available.

 

 

@ted_b

Thanks for your opinion here. The root question is really what is worse:

Some potential loss in sound quality RCA vs XLR or to have the potentiometer at lower (sub-optimal) setting.

You seem to favor the RCA solution then.

Regarding Burn-in:

Wow, 600 hours..... the Mytek is currently running 24/7..... so still 25 days to go

And yeah.... so far I really like it.

It is really hard to imagine that from this quality there is still upward potential..

 

Cheers Mikel

[Synfreak]

Your idea is good, I will investigate if there are high quality cables with XLR/RCA connectors available.

 

Hi Mikel!

 

Sure, the link was only meant as example to point you in the right direction.

 

I'm pretty sure you could bet the Epilogue's terminated that way, too.

 

 

P.S.:

Have you set the gain-settings on the Violectric to the lowest gain already?

[mikel]

Hi Mikel!

 

Sure, the link was only meant as example to point you in the right direction.

 

I'm pretty sure you could bet the Epilogue's terminated that way, too.

 

 

P.S.:

Have you set the gain-settings on the Violectric to the lowest gain already?

 

 

Hi Harald

 

Yes it is already set to -12 dB. I guess I have already done what is possible from the hardware side.

 

By the way, your avatar reminds me of the Gaithein RL 901 monitors I owned up to 3 years ago.

I sold them due to space requirements in our house (kids).

ME Gaitheins are imo probably some of the finest monitors out there.

 

Cheers, Mikel

[Synfreak]

Yes it is already set to -12 dB. I guess I have already done what is possible from the hardware side.

 

OK, so the "last chance" to get the level even lower - without manipulating the hardware - is to use the different cabling.

 

By the way, your avatar reminds me of the Gaithein RL 901 monitors I owned up to 3 years ago.

I sold them due to space requirements in our house (kids).

ME Gaitheins are imo probably some of the finest monitors out there.

 

Right, almost at least.

See my signature ...

 

Cheers

Harald

[lau2001hk]

Dear All,

 

Is it already have a last version (MYTEK DIGITAL 192 DSD DAC ) ? Motherboard will it change again ?

 

Thx

Kelvin

[barrows]

I would highly recommend anyone with the Mytek use it by balanced connections if at all possible. The ESS DAC chip used in the Mytek has a balanced output, and the the Mytek's following analog stage appears to be balanced as well. That the single ended output is 6 dB lower in level than the balanced indicates that the single ended output is created by just tapping the top half of the balanced signal from the DAC (I do not know for sure that this is the case, but it is highly likely). Because the single ended stage uses only half of the DAC chip's balanced output, one will not get the advantage of having a balanced DAC at all from the single ended outputs: the balanced outputs will be lower in distortion and noise because of common mode rejection. One is really only getting "half" of the potential perfromance of the ESS DAC by using the Mytek single ended.

[mikel]

Thanks for that technical detail regarding the ESS DAC.

For the time being, I will stick with the setup I have.

 

Once I have the new headphone, I will reiterate.

 

Cheers, Mikel

[firedog]

Does anyone know the pinout setup of the XLR outs on the Mytek? I want to get a pair of XLR to RCA cables made, and need to kow the pinout setup. (I did do some searches, and couldn't find it).

 

Thanks

[Miska]

Does anyone know the pinout setup of the XLR outs on the Mytek?

 

Should be the standard one...

[ted_b]

Yes, standard audio pinout, with pin 3 "cold" (or we'd all have to get new XLR's).

[lau2001hk]

I am so confuse mytek digital 192 dsd dac , is it a async usb 2.0 ??????

[jamesg11]

I would highly recommend anyone with the Mytek use it by balanced connections if at all possible.

Does xlr to rca cable get around this, & to what extent? ie. downside is?

[barrows]

Does xlr to rca cable get around this, & to what extent? ie. downside is?

 

No. A XLR to RCA cable or adapter just shorts the inverted leg (pin 3) to ground. Using a true balanced DAC like the Mytek single ended is just not getting all of the performance it is capable of; this does not mean that it will sound "bad" single ended, it just will not sound its best.

[valenroy]

I was doing a bit of reading into the Firewire interface and realised that the signal lines utilises differential signalling as well. Could this be the reason for the reported performance advantage over usb that some of the fellow owners here reported before?

[mikel]

Hi

I have a question that might not be related to the Mytek but then it might.

When playing back DSD files on the Mytek using Audirvana Plus, I get drop-outs if my Mac system is doing something else in the background that only uses little CPU.

Downloading a file in the background might already me enough.

Playing SACD iso files is almost impossible, I get heavy dropouts until the whole track is preloaded, since preloading is using CPU time.

 

This only happens with DSD format, all other highres format play fine (even 24/192), no problems there with dropouts.

 

So I would like to ask if other usesrs here experience similar problems with DSD sources.

Once I extract the Isos to dff-files, the play fine since hardly any CPU time is required by Audirvana for the dff files.

 

Before I start looking into problems with my system, I would like to understand if this is a potentially a problem with my system or something else related to DSD or Audirvana.

 

Cheers, Mikel

[Synfreak]

Mikel,

 

thios may be related to DST encoded ISOs (DST is a compression format for DSD files).

DST "decoding" needs a lot of cpu, so this might explain your issues.

Once a ISO is decoded into *.dsf or *.dff files, the DST files are "unpacked" and will need much less cpu time for playback (be it direct as DSD or converted to PCM).

 

Most SACDs which contain 2.0 and 5.1 (or derivates) layers are DST encoded, to save disc-space.

You might try to find a stereo-only ISO, which may (most are) not DST encoded and do some further testing.

 

Cheers

Harald

[mikel]

Hello Harald

 

I can confirm that Stereo only ISOs play usually without dropouts.

But generally it takes very little background activity to cause these dropouts, even when playing dff files.

For this reason I started extrating the Isos I have to dff.

However, since the problems are much reduced in comparision to ISO playback, they are still happening with very little background activity.

 

My gut feeling is that the communication between the Mac and the Mytek seems somehow more fragile when playing DSD since I have no problems at all with PCM files.

 

Cheers, Mikel

[Julf]

I was doing a bit of reading into the Firewire interface and realised that the signal lines utilises differential signalling as well. Could this be the reason for the reported performance advantage over usb that some of the fellow owners here reported before?

 

USB uses differential signalling too.

[Miska]

My gut feeling is that the communication between the Mac and the Mytek seems somehow more fragile when playing DSD since I have no problems at all with PCM files.

 

Is this with Firewire or USB?

 

Since Mac needs to use PCM packing (DoP) for DSD data, the data stream itself looks exactly same as for the transport layer as 176.4/24 PCM stream would. So from that perspective dropouts should be equally likely with such hires PCM.

 

From the DAC side, since DSD is more direct through the converter itself than PCM, the converter side is a bit more sensitive with DSD. (this combined with Firewire clocking system's sensitivity may make some difference PCM vs DSD)

[Esprit]

We are [semiOT] but I ask again

 

Do you prefer listen to ISO files or DSF/DFF files (or it is "musically" indifferent)?

[valenroy]

USB uses differential signalling too.

 

I think I might have mixed up a true stereo balanced topology with the fact that firewire implements 2 pairs of differential signal lines instead of the one pair found on usb. Sorry!

[mikel]

Is this with Firewire or USB?

 

Since Mac needs to use PCM packing (DoP) for DSD data, the data stream itself looks exactly same as for the transport layer as 176.4/24 PCM stream would. So from that perspective dropouts should be equally likely with such hires PCM.

 

From the DAC side, since DSD is more direct through the converter itself than PCM, the converter side is a bit more sensitive with DSD. (this combined with Firewire clocking system's sensitivity may make some difference PCM vs DSD)

 

Hello Miska

So far I only used Firewire because it seems to be the superior solution in comparision to USB.

Sorry for not including that info in my original post.

 

Cheers, Mikel