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a few questions to Mytek 192-dsd dac users

81.202.47.219
Posted on May 17, 2015 at 23:28:35
paco
Audiophile

Posts: 1520
Joined: April 26, 2000
 hi there,

i'm considering to get one, mostly because i want to experiment with DSD files,
to use balanced outputs for my Focal cms 65 active speakers, to try a firewire connexion,
and last, but not least, to enjoy a remote; with these features in mind i've got a few
questions for people already experienced with this unit:

- what about the Mytek treble? a few reviewers told us about a dry, or very dry treble,
and some described it as coarse and even harsh, producing some listening fatigue; this
concerns me, as i spend a lot of time listening to chamber music, very especially to string quartets

- what about using it as a preamp? is the analogue volume control a high quality one,
or is it rather degradating the music? any comparison between using it versus bypassing?

- since i can easily use an adapter from my iMac thunderbolt output to a firewire cable,
that would allow me to stop using my present USB dual, very expensive cable, together
with the external PS i need to plug the current leg of that cable, and the dedicated power
cord feeding that PS; so, did you compare the Mytek firewire input with the USB one? with
what results? is there a clear winner here?

- also, i'd like to avoid messing with drivers, if possible, so did you compare the USB1 input
with the USB2? do you really get better sound through USB2?

i'd appreciate clear answers to my questions, since now there are a few Mytek dacs for sell
as used or B-stock in Europe, so now there is a clear opportunity to get one fore less

best, paco

 

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RE: a few questions to Mytek 192-dsd dac users, posted on May 18, 2015 at 07:34:32
oldmkvi
Audiophile

Posts: 10581
Joined: April 12, 2002
 My Mytek only works with Firewire with Thunderbolt adapter, on my IMac, 10.9.5.
USB breaks up on DSD. I use the Firewire driver.
Also, the output is 5 Volts or more, way more than consumer gear.
It gets loud very quickly. There are Jumpers that lower it to around 2.5V, but even that
is a little hot for me, the treble can get aggressive before the mids really develop.
So I got a Marantz PM 15S 2 that has Volume Trim, and I use it at Max, -9db, the Mytek with no Jumpers, and it works fine. But without the Vol Trim, I wouldn't be as happy with the Mytek.
I can turn it up to a pleasing volume, and the treble doesn't overpower the mids, I've been happy with it that way.
Also, on the Marantz, the volume goes up very gradually.
2 other amps got loud by 9 O'Clock on the Volume control, was too aggresive for small room system.
I wish the output wasn't so high on the Mytek.
I don't know what would be better at the Price Point for DSD.

I use Audirvana + and JRiver MC 20 for Mac with it.

 

RE: a few questions to Mytek 192-dsd dac users, posted on May 18, 2015 at 08:24:23
Tony Lauck
Audiophile

Posts: 13629
Location: Vermont
Joined: November 12, 2007
 I use the Mytek 192-dsd (preamp version) with a pair of Focal Twin 6-BE's and sub6. It took some time to get the system to sound good in my small room, mostly related to adjusting the various cross-over controls on the speakers. In the "flat" setting, the Twin's were very bright, listening 1 meter from the tweeters. This was easily fixed by turning down the tweeter control about half-way, which amounted to a -3.5 dB shelf at 10 Khz. In this setting nearly all my recordings sound natural and pleasant and I can listen for hours without fatigue, so long as I keep the volume levels reasonable. (With 1150 watts into drivers one meter from my ears, the speakers will play cleanly at volume levels that are louder than a symphony concert in row 10, and come with a safety warning.)

The Focals are set for the low sensitivity setting and the Mytek has the jumpers engaged and the volume trim at -14 dB. I listen to most (decent) recordings with the volume setting around -20 dB. I use the preamp function to monitor a cassette deck when doing analog to digital transfers, otherwise my system just plays digital from the computer. The analog volume control is satisfactory, but I prefer the digital volume control. As set up, playing a silent 24 bit track I can not hear anything out of the speakers except a very slight hiss when my ear is 1/2 inch from the tweeter. I conclude that the gain is well balanced as I've set things up.

I normally use HQPlayer to upsample Redbook to 176.4 or to DSD128. Both of these sound slightly better than sending the 44.1 directly to the Mytek.

I use USB 2.0 to connect the Mytek to my computer, but it also works at all its sample rates over Firewire (including DSD128). The sound is much better on USB 2.0 than USB 1.1. I didn't notice much difference with between Firewire and USB 2.0, but I haven't done a serious comparison.

I have not messed with expensive USB and Firewire cables. Incidentally, running the Mytek in DSD128 it is considerably less sensitive to any noise from the computer than it is in the PCM modes. I can hear some differences between playing WAV and FLAC files in real time when sending PCM to the Mytek, but not when sending DSD128 to the Mytek.

One thing you do not want to do is to power the Mytek on or off with the speakers powered on. This will create a scarey thump, but I've not seen any damage from this. The Mytek doesn't have a muting circuit.

The Mytek assumes the user has enough engineering knowledge to be able to read and understand the manual. This reflects its pro-audio background. I didn't find it too hard to set up, but it did take a couple of hours.




Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

 

thanks so much! i'll think about that... (nt), posted on May 20, 2015 at 12:09:24
paco
Audiophile

Posts: 1520
Joined: April 26, 2000
 .

 

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