arcman Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 I was hoping Mytek would release a stripped down DAC. Not everyone needs analog preamp and phono preamp functions. https://mytekdigital.com/hifi/products/liberty-dac/ Link to comment
botrytis Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 It is still 1000 USD. Not far off the price of their other DAC's. tmtomh 1 Current: Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590 Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects Link to comment
One and a half Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Are the TRS 1/4in? Can Mytek supply that detail, something that's forgotten in the spec sheet? For the 12V DC connector, what's the plug size that fits? Right, what's the chip in the DAC in use. Is the AC power supply linear or SMPS? AS Profile Equipment List Say NO to MQA Link to comment
exdmd Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 AFAIK TRS is standard 1/4". The 12 V DC input uses same 5.5mm/2.5mm male as Brooklyn. Chip is ESS Sabre 9018K2M. AC power supply is definitely internal switching PSU hence provision for an external LPS. Link to comment
One and a half Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 The first hack if, it's a separable part is to remove the SMPS, why feedback to parts that are not needed. The external 12V supply needs to be a minimum of 150W, (5-10 times 30W) wow. Are the pulsed currents so severe that only such a high powered device will work. That's minimum, mind, 12.5A, LPS-x to be shown the door. It's a small enclosure to dissipate that heat, another warm DAC, like the ifi gear, small compact and hot. AS Profile Equipment List Say NO to MQA Link to comment
firedog Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 7 hours ago, botrytis said: It is still 1000 USD. Not far off the price of their other DAC's. Yeah only about 45% of the price of their next cheapest DAC, at $2195. That's the current lineup. Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
Miska Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 10 hours ago, arcman said: I was hoping Mytek would release a stripped down DAC. Not everyone needs analog preamp and phono preamp functions. https://mytekdigital.com/hifi/products/liberty-dac/ It is not basic DAC, it has MQA decoder, but doesn't give access to DAC chip's filter settings. So probably it is running all PCM all the time through the poor MQA filter? Well, running it with DSD input all the time avoids that, but still... tmtomh 1 Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers Link to comment
mordante Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 It still hase a headphone amp. So not a basic DAC. tmtomh 1 [br] Link to comment
jtwrace Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Yeah, I'll be steering very clear away from Mytek after my last no customer support experience. W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
PunkRiot Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 6 hours ago, Miska said: So probably it is running all PCM all the time through the poor MQA filter? Or maybe they chose one of the 7 built in ESS filter for PCM and just use that one by default and switches to MQA filter only when MQA content is playing? Otherwise the PCM will sound like crap. This is still Mytek, I doubt they would compromise quality by using MQA filter for all PCM content. Link to comment
exdmd Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 10 hours ago, One and a half said: The first hack if, it's a separable part is to remove the SMPS, why feedback to parts that are not needed. The external 12V supply needs to be a minimum of 150W, (5-10 times 30W) wow. Are the pulsed currents so severe that only such a high powered device will work. That's minimum, mind, 12.5A, LPS-x to be shown the door. It's a small enclosure to dissipate that heat, another warm DAC, like the ifi gear, small compact and hot. Mytek is recommending Sbooster for Liberty on product page same as for Brooklyn DAC+. They probably should update the product page as the listed requirements for an external LPS are not realistic. This has already been discussed in reviews of Sbooster with DAC+. There are no hands on reviews of the Liberty yet I can find. Owners could probably justify an Sbooster at $380. I use an Sbooster with my DAC+ works fine. Other Brooklyn DAC+ owners swear by the JS-2 LPS. I preferred to economize with the Sbooster and use the savings for amplification. Link to comment
One and a half Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 1 hour ago, exdmd said: Mytek is recommending Sbooster for Liberty on product page same as for Brooklyn DAC+. They probably should update the product page as the listed requirements for an external LPS are not realistic. This has already been discussed in reviews of Sbooster with DAC+. There are no hands on reviews of the Liberty yet I can find. Owners could probably justify an Sbooster at $380. I use an Sbooster with my DAC+ works fine. Other Brooklyn DAC+ owners swear by the JS-2 LPS. I preferred to economize with the Sbooster and use the savings for amplification. The higher spec psu is more beneficial for the HP amp, if this is not used, then a 30W would be ok. AS Profile Equipment List Say NO to MQA Link to comment
Miska Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 3 hours ago, PunkRiot said: Or maybe they chose one of the 7 built in ESS filter for PCM and just use that one by default and switches to MQA filter only when MQA content is playing? Otherwise the PCM will sound like crap. This is still Mytek, I doubt they would compromise quality by using MQA filter for all PCM content. That has some delay challenges when MQA content starts playing, which is why some manufacturers opt for the MQA filter. And Brooklyn uses the MQA filter always when MQA support is enabled... asdf1000 1 Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers Link to comment
Ralf11 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 is the SQ better than a Sonica? if so, is it $400 better? tmtomh 1 Link to comment
exdmd Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 It would be nice to read a review of the Mytek Liberty if one pops up please link; not the promos you can find now without a true hands on review from an experienced listener preferably in comparison to the Brooklyn DAC+ . Link to comment
beerandmusic Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 On 2/13/2018 at 2:38 PM, exdmd said: It would be nice to read a review of the Mytek Liberty if one pops up please link; not the promos you can find now without a true hands on review from an experienced listener preferably in comparison to the Brooklyn DAC+ . not much of a review, but a little more perspective... https://darko.audio/2018/02/freedom-mytek-announce-us995-liberty-dac/ I would "think" it would have the same SQ as the brooklyn....which does get pretty darn good reviews. Link to comment
beerandmusic Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 here is another http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/mytek-shipping-the-affordable-high-performance-full-featured-liberty-dac-with-mqa/ Link to comment
beerandmusic Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 you can get a used altair for about the same price and it has network port, femto clocks and LPS Link to comment
occamsrazor Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 For similar money the RME ADI-2 DAC would be worth considering. You lose MQA but gain 768khz higher rate as well as DSP functions. Mac Mini > RME ADI-2 DAC > Hypex Ncore monoblocks > ATC SCM-11 speakers & C1 subwoofer Link to comment
Panelhead Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 On 2/14/2018 at 6:14 PM, beerandmusic said: you can get a used altair for about the same price and it has network port, femto clocks and LPS The Altair looks great for the money. Does it use the same ESS chips as the Liberty? 2012 Mac Mini, i5 - 2.5 GHz, 16 GB RAM. SSD, PM/PV software, Focusrite Clarett 4Pre 4 channel interface. Daysequerra M4.0X Broadcast monitor., My_Ref Evolution rev a , Klipsch La Scala II, Blue Sky Sub 12 Clarett used as ADC for vinyl rips. Corning Optical Thunderbolt cable used to connect computer to 4Pre. Dac fed by iFi iPower and Noise Trapper isolation transformer. Link to comment
exdmd Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 10 hours ago, Panelhead said: The Altair looks great for the money. Does it use the same ESS chips as the Liberty? Mytek Liberty uses ESS Sabre 9018K2M DAC chip while Altair uses a Quad-Core Coretex-A9 processor running at 1GHz. Different markets: Liberty is attractive to someone who wants MQA under $1000. Altair does not do MQA and looks to be marketed to someone who wants a Roon ready wireless streaming D/A processor with LPS built in. Liberty uses switching power supply so you would need to buy an external LPS like Sbooster. There have still been no listening reviews of the Liberty online yet all the links posted are just promos. tmtomh 1 Link to comment
trl Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 For a 9018K2M DAC chip sounds a bit expensive to me, however...still waiting for some inside pictures. I wonder if the internals are better in any way than the 299 USD BURSON Play which is using a similar DAC. Link to comment
Aboulfad Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Part of my search for a MQA DAC sub $1000, this one came up, but no details from 3rd party reviewers. Any update ? Link to comment
plissken Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Amir at Audiosciencereview.com just benched the Topping D50. From an empirical data standpoint it's stunning. Then you throw in the $249 price tag (PSU extra $). tmtomh 1 Link to comment
Aboulfad Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 8 minutes ago, plissken said: Amir at Audiosciencereview.com just benched the Topping D50. From an empirical data standpoint it's stunning. Then you throw in the $249 price tag (PSU extra $). Thank you for the link. Not sure if this was in response to my post, but everyday I am learning of yet another make for DACs... Unsure if the D50 support MQA as the Mytek liberty which is one differentiator in the sub $1k.All other mini DACs mentioned in this thread do not. Link to comment
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