Mytek Brooklyn - Anybody have one?

sbaradaran

sbaradaran

Active Member
Hi All,

The next step in my audio quest is to upgrade my DAC. I currently own a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic. This puppy served me well and still sounds good to my ears, but I've got the bug! I've been reading up quite a bit on new DACs and I've basically come down to two options:
  • Mytek Brooklyn
  • Benchmark DAC2
These two units have universal acclaim and the Brooklyn has the added benefit of a good sounding phone input as well. I'd love to reduce the number of boxes on my rack so I'm leaning towards the Brooklyn.

The question is have any AKers purchased one? What are your thoughts compared to other DACs? What do you think of the Phono input?

Thanks in advance!
 
sbaradaran said:
Hi All,

The next step in my audio quest is to upgrade my DAC. I currently own a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic. This puppy served me well and still sounds good to my ears, but I've got the bug! I've been reading up quite a bit on new DACs and I've basically come down to two options:
  • Mytek Brooklyn
  • Benchmark DAC2
These two units have universal acclaim and the Brooklyn has the added benefit of a good sounding phone input as well. I'd love to reduce the number of boxes on my rack so I'm leaning towards the Brooklyn.

The question is have any AKers purchased one? What are your thoughts compared to other DACs? What do you think of the Phono input?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You can look at Lynx Hilo http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=59
It has A/D function if you decide to digitize analog records too.
 
Last edited:
I don't really have any interest in digitizing my vinyl collection. Just would be using it as a phono preamp.
 
From your list if you are looking for the better DAC then look at the just released Benchmark DAC3 for the same basic price as the DAC2. If you feel the need to roll a basic phono stage into your DAC then the Brooklyn with the older DAC chip is what you need to buy. Not really sure why they threw a phono stage into a DAC that they advertised as being MQA compatible when that was a "hot" topic months ago.
 
seminole54 said:
From your list if you are looking for the better DAC then look at the just released Benchmark DAC3 for the same basic price as the DAC2. If you feel the need to roll a basic phono stage into your DAC then the Brooklyn with the older DAC chip is what you need to buy. Not really sure why they threw a phono stage into a DAC that they advertised as being MQA compatible when that was a "hot" topic months ago.
Click to expand...

From the review I've read it's a pretty darn good sounding Phono stage. I think it's just another reason to get the Mytek since it packs so much value for the money. The DAC3 does have the updated chip, but I'd want the one with the headphone amp as well (HGC model) so that pushes the price to $2200.

Anybody with hands experience with the Mytek? I'm not looking to make any quick decisions here so hopefully someone from the community gets one soon :).
 
Just curious - are you considering the Mytek because of the MQA support?
Mytek it's a well know manufacturer, never heard personally one of their products, so I can't say anything about it besides what I read in the reviews (except that is an expensive "gift").

Personally I got "cured" a long time ago of delta-sigma and DSD syndrome. Cost me time and money but now I am happy with pure PCM files played trough an multibit DAC, like it was meant to be.
If I had $2K buring in my pocket I would not even think twice: http://schiit.com/products/gungnir (multibit version of course)
If you don't own yet a headphone amp, this is good enough: http://schiit.com/products/magni-2
 
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I'm not concerned with MQA in the least bit. Most of my music collection is 16/44 FLAC with the occasional higher res album.

The Gungnir multibit is a unit I have been looking at for sure. I really like Schiit's products, though I've yet to own any yet. The only knock against it is the fewer digital inputs compared to both the Benchmark and Mytek. I need a minimum of 3 digital inputs (not USB). Do you own one?

A very good suggestion though. I will definitely keep my eyes open to it if I can sacrifice one digital input.
 
Have a look at Lampizator. I am extremely happy with my Atlantic which is the best digital I have ever heard. And they have the Amber II which competes with the others you mention price-wise.
 
crooner said:
Have a look at Lampizator. I am extremely happy with my Atlantic which is the best digital I have ever heard. And they have the Amber II which competes with the others you mention price-wise.
Click to expand...

Lampizator has strange ideas about circuit design. If small brand is of interest, I would rather take Audio-gd. His engineering ideas seems to be rock solid.
 
sbaradaran said:
A very good suggestion though. I will definitely keep my eyes open to it if I can sacrifice one digital input.
Click to expand...
I don't have the Schiit multibit because I have a very good old school multibit - with PCM63K DAC.
As for inputs, you are right sometimes it can be a challenge. You can find on Amazon SPDIF switches (usually optical, 3x1 or 4x1) fairly cheap.

Also, I am right now trying out the Chromecast Audio (optical output) and makes the integration of my server and DAC very smooth over a WiFi connection (5GHz band in my case) - using any Android phone as a "conduit" of data between them.
 
Mike Moffat, the Schiiit digital guru, has said the PCM63 is his favorite DAC chip. He can't use them today because they are discontinued. So it stands to reason that an older DAC with said chip, properly implemented, will sound better than Schiit current multibit offerings...A smart buyer can scoop up an older EAD DSD7000III for instance, and have a superb sounding DAC for not much outlay...

I got a Chromecast audio for Christmas and it sounds really nice using the BubbleUnP app streaming FLAC files and connected via Optical to my Lampizator Atlantic.
Amazing value at the price. Better than ten year old Squeezebox!
 
The CCA is not bad, it just needs some jitter cleaning on that optical out, especially if you attempt to send 88.2-96kHz signals via it.
 
It's surprisingly good, at least with my Lampizator DAC. Using Foobar2000 configured to downsample DSD and 192 kHz material to 96 kHz, it streams without a hiccup and the optical output is decent enough. Considering the price of a Squeezebox Duet or Touch a few years back, it's a breakthrough. I don't have to deal with a bloated Logitech Media Server either....
 
crooner said:
Have a look at Lampizator. I am extremely happy with my Atlantic which is the best digital I have ever heard. And they have the Amber II which competes with the others you mention price-wise.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation. I don't see any optical inputs on the DACs. Are they only digital coax?

crooner said:
It's surprisingly good, at least with my Lampizator DAC. Using Foobar2000 configured to downsample DSD and 192 kHz material to 96 kHz, it streams without a hiccup and the optical output is decent enough. Considering the price of a Squeezebox Duet or Touch a few years back, it's a breakthrough. I don't have to deal with a bloated Logitech Media Server either....
Click to expand...

I use a CCA with optical into my current DAC as well. Mainly for casual listening. But I have to say it it does sound pretty good. I can notice a small difference when I plug my ibasso dx90 with optical output to my DAC, especially with high res files. But it's not a huge jump.
 
crooner said:
It's surprisingly good, at least with my Lampizator DAC. Using Foobar2000 configured to downsample DSD and 192 kHz material to 96 kHz, it streams without a hiccup and the optical output is decent enough. Considering the price of a Squeezebox Duet or Touch a few years back, it's a breakthrough. I don't have to deal with a bloated Logitech Media Server either....
Click to expand...

Actually LMS has very simple design. And if you want three units (library, player, controller) solution is the simplest software for that purpose.
 
Gibsonian said:
Someone please buy the Brooklyn
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about it, just because I've been having so much fun with Tidal and I'd like to take full advantage of the MQA files. But having the DAC only solves one problem. Currently, I'd have to stream from a computer, and that would mean having to get up every time I wanted to change albums or whatever. Maybe I could figure out a way to control my MacBook Air from my IPad?
 
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