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OB Ron

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  1. How does one switch polarity/phase on a Brooklyn DAC? I've looked in the Owner's Manual Ver. 1.2 / March 2016 and found nothing about it. For me, easy polarity/phase switching is a must have feature for my next DAC, preferably with a single button push on a remote control, which if necessary could be done with a macro programmed into a universal remote control, but I believe should be included with any respectable supplied remote control for a DAC. My current DAC has polarity/phase switching with a single button press, but no remote control. If the Brooklyn lacks remote polarity switching, it is a MAJOR disappointment. I believe all audiophiles should demand this capability on their equipment. Playing music, or even movies and television, in correct absolute polarity is critical to me for enjoyable and accurate audio reproduction. I'm shocked at how inconsistent digital recordings and broadcasts are with respect to absolute polarity. It is one of the weak points of digital audio technology, and perhaps a key reason why so many people still prefer analog recordings, without knowing why. You may not think it is important if your speakers lack adequate phase coherency, or you are polarity deaf (if there is such a thing). I believe other system technical deficiencies could also make absolute polarity seem ambiguous or not important, such as excessive energy diffusion over time (which can exist with poor speaker design, poor cable design, poor electronic design, etc). With my phase coherent point source speakers, and lots of system tweaks to optimize overall system performance, correct absolute polarity has become clearly discernible with most recordings. I never want to go back to a system that makes correct polarity ambiguous or difficult to determine. Ability to hear, determine, and appreciate correct absolute polarity, to me, is a major hallmark of system accuracy. Natural instrumental and vocal quality, along with good spatial imaging, only occur with correct absolute polarity. Wrong polarity often sounds objectionable, fatiguing, and just weird to me now. If I could count on all recordings and broadcasts to be the same polarity, it wouldn't be a problem. I could set the polarity once and leave it. I was recently watching a movie on TV, switched to a different movie on another channel, and found that I had to switch polarity. The situation is that bad.
  2. Changes in high frequency performance, such as clearer, more easily perceived high-frequency content, can change our perceptions of low frequency intensity and tonal balance. It's possible that "bass power and drive" are not weaker with the Sbooster. Perhaps just the ear-brain perceptions are altered because of improved high-frequency performance. Also, what someone is use to causes a bias that takes quite a bit of listening to overcome. Sometimes a tweak improves performance, but sounds worse because it is exposing a problem elsewhere in the system. It's not uncommon to choose a component or tweak because it ameliorates another problem without solving it. I've certainly found tweaks to no longer be beneficial after making improvements elsewhere in my system. Hopefully, reality with live natural acoustic music can be our reference. When did you last get a reality check? It was Friday evening for me.
  3. To summarize and extend my comments of what I wrote about in post #655 & post #737 of factors that can influence how an external PSU may affect musicality of DAC and whole audio system: 1) There can be a significant benefit from getting an AC power supply out of the innards of a DAC and removing the AC line input, both of which may be injecting EMI/RFI noise into the internal environment of the DAC case thus affecting performance of DAC circuitry. Physical vibration from an internal PSU is also possible and detrimental. 2) Potentially lower power supply noise level and/or better noise spectrum characteristics, including suppression of RF frequencies can be beneficial. 3) Potentially better power supply response characteristics (system response) to load current variations may mate better with the needs of the equipment. Note: Theoretically ideal PSU step response and impulse response is not necessarily best for a particular component or the overall system performance and musicality. Fast is not necessarily better. Also, the external PSU needs to complement the Brooklyn's internal energy storage, power conversion, distribution, and regulation system, working together as a whole system to provide best results. It's possible the Brooklyn is designed well to work with a relatively slow battery power source. If the external DC power input on the Brooklyn is primarily an energy source for charging internal energy storage, it is possible that keeping the voltage highly regulated and stable is not ideal. Doing so may serve to amplify noise and inject EMI into the system by rapidly varying the current while trying to keep voltage stable. We shouldn't isolate optimal PSU design from the overall component and system design, and expect to get best results. It is important that we actually listen to music, experiment, and tweak the PSU design for optimal overall performance, not just design to a specification that can't possibly represent the reality of a complex system. Without MQA functioning yet, it's impossible to do the best evaluation and tweaking of an external PSU for the Brooklyn. If someone claims to now have an external PSU designed specifically for the Brooklyn DAC without having MQA functioning and adequate MQA source material, don't believe them. I suggest not auditioning and comparing external PSUs for the Brooklyn until you have MQA functioning and the requisite MQA recordings. 4) Potentially better ground quality -- system ground topology and quality can significantly affect overall system performance. Power connections are often involved. 5) Potentially better isolation from AC power line disturbances, noise and power factor issues may improve PSU performance and musicality. 6) Potentially less noise added to AC line from audiophile external PSU thus providing cleaner power to other devices connected to the AC line. Adverse interaction between power supplies attached to the same AC line might be a significant factor in overall audio system performance. Note: I believe it is best to isolate power supplies as well as possible, thus multiple output power supplies that feed multiple loads may be ill-advised for audiophile purposes. My system is relatively simple, a computer, a DAC, and two active speakers. The computer has its own AC power circuit and power conditioning. For the DAC and two active speakers, I have a single ground point, but the DAC and each speaker have their own power supplies and power cords, and between the DAC and speakers there is separate AC power conditioning, separate AC power outlets and outlet boxes (with metal covers to shield from RF), separate house wiring, and separate circuit breakers in my home power distribution panel. Even with all this, there are still good power days, and bad power days, which is one reason I'd like to power my DAC from battery (perhaps a battery feeding a power supply that is optimized to the needs of the DAC) so that it can be completely disconnected from the influence of bad AC power. A very good AC power supply, though, may provide satisfactory isolation without the hassles of using battery power. 7) Separate PSU stages in separate housings (such as the dual-rail Sbooster with a slow stage and a fast stage) with close proximity of final regulator stage to load -- minimizing effects from a long DC power cable and further isolating the final stage from AC power interferences and rectifier/regulator switching noise -- may help a PSU with this kind of design perform better than one that tries to do it all in one box. The DC power cable influences the power system response characteristic and noise characteristics, so actual results will depend on what the load device likes, with regard to what length and type of cable is best, but usually shorter is better. Note: Don't get caught up in the false believe that "linear" PSUs are inherently good and switching PSUs are inherently bad for audio purposes. The Brooklyn DAC may use switching power converters internally even when you use an external PSU. Nearly all "linear" PSUs are not truly linear. The regulators may be linear, but typical "linear" PSUs have rectifiers that switch power on and off at a pathetic frequency of 120Hz (for full-wave rectification), causing substantial switching noise and power surges in the audio frequency spectrum that need to be isolated from the output. A well designed switching PSU may actually be superior in ways other than just the well known energy efficiency, size, weight, and cost. What matters is the attention to details of how the PSU is designed and built for high-end audio needs and specific applications, where it is physically located in the system, and how well the output characteristics optimize the performance of the connected device. I'd like to see Sbooster make an audiophile PSU with the first stage being a switching PSU. I believe we should all be concerned about energy efficiency because of our abuse of fossil fuels and its effects on our planet.
  4. The 3 amp rating at 12V for the Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO 12V - 13.2V comes from the "maximum continuous output rating of 36W", so this is a 3 amp average rating for the Sbooster PSU. Unfortunately, Sbooster doesn't specify an ambient temperature limit for this rating or a peak transient current capacity, nor does Mytek say whether their recommendation for 4 amp or more rating is continuous or peak, or just a specification suggestion to assure compatibility. Sbooster believes from their tests that the Brooklyn will stay well within their "maximum continuous output rating of 36W". They apparently believe it can handle the peak transient current needs fine, too. They state: "We have checked the power consumption for 10 – 15 minutes. The power consumption of the Mytek Brooklyn is 10 - 12W (44.1 – DSD) without headphone usage." The 3 amp rating of the Sbooster PSU might be fine for the Brooklyn. I wouldn't dismiss it just because it has a 3 amp rating, and Mytek suggests 4 amp or higher. Tweek Geek has a money back trial offer that I imagine applies to the Sbooster PSU. Perhaps, the Sbooster might not be a good match if the Brooklyn is driving low impedance, low efficiency headphones. It's doubtful, though, that power demands would increase enough to be a problem. I'd like to hear from Mytek if they really think the Sbooster PSU is inadequate for the Brooklyn, and why. PSU specifications aren't the whole story for current capacity. Where a power supply is located and situated for cooling, and ambient temperatures, can be important factors in continuous power handling capacity. Overheating is a major enemy for power supplies and lots of other electronics. The greatest benefit of using an external PSU with the Brooklyn may come mostly from just getting the PSU out of the case of the DAC. There are also potential issues for how grounding is handled. AC power grounds can be very poor. An AC line can bring a lot of noise inside a case, and PSUs themselves usually generate lots of electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI). Both combined, if not highly shielded and isolated, can increase clock jitter, and interfere with DAC electronics. A PSU can also generate physical vibration that may reduce DAC performance. I think it was a design mistake to even put an AC power supply inside the case of the Brooklyn. It's pretty clear from owner reports that an external PSU is essential for achieving the Brooklyn's potential goodness. My guess is that even if Mytek put the identical switching PSU in a separate box outside the case, there could be a substantial performance improvement. As I implied before, there are many other factors than current capacity of a PSU that can determine sonic goodness in audio applications. Since the DC power input jack on the Brooklyn is labeled 7V-14V, it's possible that tight voltage regulation is not important -- that a battery may work well. Tight voltage regulation, though, indicates low effective output impedance and low noise, which are usually good. Other than benefits received from just not using the internal PSU, minimizing noise input through the DC power input, including radio frequencies, might be the most important factor for external PSU quality for enhancing Brooklyn performance. A battery may or may not be good in this regard depending on how it is shielded and connected, as well as how much noise it generates itself. At least, a battery has a major advantage of completely separating the DAC from interactions with the AC power line and other equipment attached to it. It may be a situational thing, which configuration is going to be best with any particular environment and system. Beside the PSU, DAC electronics produce EMI/RFI that interfere with other circuits in the DAC. My own experiments with EMI/RFI reduction inside the cases of two DACs has proven very audibly beneficial to performance. One had an internal PSU, and another an external PSU. I believe most audio electronic engineers don't give adequate consideration to EMI/RFI issues that can dramatically affect sonic results. I call upon Mytek with the v2 generation of the Brooklyn, that will probably use the recently announced new generation ESS Sabre DAC chips (after they get a new edition of the Manhattan completed), to remove the PSU from inside the case of the Brooklyn. Another factor with using typical AC power in our homes is AC line filtering and surge suppression, and the power cords between the AC outlet and our audio devices. In my system, a pair of Shunyata Venom Defender parallel line filters and a few Shunyata power cords have provided a wonderful improvement. The benefit to the DAC indicates my existing DAC PSU doesn't isolate well from AC line disturbances or is creating noise of it's own that the power cord and Venom Defender are suppressing. AC power tweaks in my system have been critical to achieving enjoyable results. I have two separate dedicated AC power lines with their own circuit breakers for my audio system, one for the DAC, and one for the active speakers. The amazing large 3D acoustic space and imaging with warm smooth natural detailed focused instruments and voices just doesn't happen if I remove various tweaks. What AC power filtration are you Brooklyn DAC owners using with it, or with your external PSU? Does it help? Does something like a Shunyata Venom Defender provide an improvement? Does upgrading the power cord matter much? Experimentation with a variety of PSUs, power cords, and AC line conditioning may be enlightening.
  5. Has anyone tried, or is anyone considering trying, Sbooster's power supply as an external PSU with a Mytek Brooklyn DAC? The Brooklyn is now on Sbooster's compatibility list: https://www.sbooster.com/images/productdownloads/Compatibility%20list%20February%202016.pdf. Sbooster has a news post about their power test with a Brooklyn, including advise in their conclusion that disagrees with Mytek's external PSU recommendations. See: https://www.sbooster.com/mytek-brooklyn-dac-power-test/ I'm an electronics engineer, and generally agree with Sbooster's statements in their news post. In addition to current capacity (that has been excessively focused on in this forum thread), there are many important audio power supply design and selection factors: voltage regulation and current response characteristics, noise characteristics, isolation from AC power line interference and spike/surge (including minimizing injection of interference generated by the PSU into the AC power line possibly affecting other gear attached to the AC power line), environmental EMI/RFI rejection and production characteristics, efficiency, cooling, reliability, protection from failure modes, load sensing and/or proximity of the final regulation and filtering stage to the load, size, cost effectiveness, plus more. Good power supply design is very complex. For current capacity, the PSU only need to have adequate continuous or average current capacity to not overheat or significantly reduce its reliability and life, plus adequate transient current capacity to handle the load without diminishing its quality of voltage regulation or reliability. Very high current capacity should not be a factor in PSU selection for a DAC. A battery may have very high current capacity, but probably does not have ideal response characteristics for best audio performance. Each kind of battery will have a sonic signature dependent on the chemical and physical nature of the battery. Even if you bypass the battery with a capacitor, you will have a response signature that is some strange combination of the capacitor's signature and the battery's signature. Sbooster product page: https://www.sbooster.com/botw-pp-eco-12v-132v/mytek-brooklyn-dac- Sold in the USA by Tweek Geek: Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO 12V - 13.2V | SBooster Ultra External Power Supplies I don't know if the Sbooster PSU is a good choice for the Brooklyn DAC, but I like its basic design, especially with the separate filtering and regulation stage highly separated from the AC power side of things, and in close proximity to the load. If I were designing a PSU for a DAC, this is an architecture that I would try. I hope someone tries the Sbooster PSU with their Brooklyn DAC and reports on it's performance, especially if a comparison with another external PSU is made. Hope this helps, OB Ron
  6. I have a DacMagic Plus with which I was initially very disappointed. It's performance was much worse than my Benchmark DAC1 -- completely failing to come alive and with a very poor sound stage. It was harsh with a poor perceived frequency balance. I was using asynchronous USB from a battery powered notebook computer running Foobar 2000 with the Cambridge Audo driver. The DAC is connected via balanced outputs directly to my power amp. I thought something must be seriously wrong. It took me quite awhile to figure out what was holding it back. As an experiment, I tried removing the ferrite-filter attached to the power cable coming from the switching power supply. Wah-Lah! The sound came to life, smoothed out, much sweeter and better frequency balance, plus the sound stage opened up. My power line is 120V 60Hz. To somewhat compensate for the removal of the ferrite filter, I twisted the power lead to make it into a twisted pair to help reject some EMI/RFI. My conjecture is that the ferrite-filter interferes with the correct operation of the switching power supply. I imagine the ferrite-filter was added-on after product design to help pass EMI/RFI interference tests. When I wrote Cambridge Audio about the power supply problem, a representative responded: "We have not experienced any significant issues with the DacMagic PSU but the bulk of our testing is done on 220v circuits so it is possible that there are issues to be reviewed on 110v." With the ferrite-filter gone, I am hearing some music magic at times, but the system performance has been very inconsistent, with tremendous dependence on the quality of AC power in my house, and what's coming from the power company -- early morning usually providing best sound quality. Plus, for best sound I have to unplug my DVR, microwave, portable phone system, wireless computer network router, and desktop computer UPS. And, this is with the DacMagic Plus PSU being plugged into a PS Audio AC line filter, and having a separate noise filter plugged in parallel with the PSU, and all this is fed from it's own dedicated AC line with its own house circuit breaker. The power amp also has it's own separate dedicated line and circuit breaker. I may need to upgrade the power line coming to my house. My DacMagic Plus PSU might be defective, but I'm suspicious that other owners and reviewers have been experiencing similar problems. Some of the descriptions of performance for those who have rejected and returned a DacMagic Plus, or have found it deficient, sound similar to my experience. I think Cambridge Audio has some troubleshooting to do. If you have a DacMagic Plus, I strongly suggest you try removing the ferrite-filter. It's very easy to remove once you figure out how to unlock the clasp that holds it together. There are multiple loops of the cable inside the ferrite-filter that must be unwound. Acquiring or building an alternative PSU, maybe even a battery supplied PSU, might be a revelation for this unit. I hope this helps, OB Ron
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