[486930]

So I got the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday. Listening to Roon now via WIFI. That part works with no hiccups so far.

I'm a bit apprehensive about the sound though. It's a bit veiled and the bass is woolly. I'm waiting for burn-in to take effect. I'm hoping the most drastic changes from burn-in comes within the first 24-48 hours. Can someone with the Dac+ chime in here?

I'm using it with balanced outputs into a Parasound A23 that I borrowed at the store to test it. It all goes back monday morning so I hope the burn-in can be done by then?


Thanks

 

[486930]

Oh, and the headphone output sounded great with my HD 58X. But I only have a DragonFly Red to compare it with, so....

 

[Emmanuel Palmer]

I just received my sbooster mk2 for my dac + and all i can say is yes! Easily noticeable sound improvement. Now my question is which voltage switch should i choose for best sound 12, 13,or 13.5v?

 

[captblaze]

I just received my sbooster mk2 for my dac + and all i can say is yes! Easily noticeable sound improvement. Now my question is which voltage switch should i choose for best sound 12, 13,or 13.5v?

which ever one you prefer. all power the unit

 

[grigorianvlad]

So I got the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday. Listening to Roon now via WIFI. That part works with no hiccups so far.

I'm a bit apprehensive about the sound though. It's a bit veiled and the bass is woolly. I'm waiting for burn-in to take effect. I'm hoping the most drastic changes from burn-in comes within the first 24-48 hours. Can someone with the Dac+ chime in here?

I'm using it with balanced outputs into a Parasound A23 that I borrowed at the store to test it. It all goes back monday morning so I hope the burn-in can be done by then?


Thanks

The burn in time for me was around 70% within the first 2 days and the remaining 30% slowly over the following 2 weeks. Some people say the DAC+ is good straight out of he box, others expect a month or two for the clock and the analog section to completely settle. Of course, 2 months is a ridiculous burn in time for a DAC. For speakers - may be.
But you wrote that you run the Bridge as a preamp, directly to the Parasound power amp. If you are comparing this chain: DAC+preamp+poweramp to this chain: DAC+poweramp I am afraid the direct connected DAC+ will indeed sound veiled and stage/imaging will be collapsed and no amount of burn in time will alleviate the problem. You see, a good preamp between the DAC+ and the power amp will add details, resolution, the bass will be taught and well defined, the sound stage and imaging will be much better. There are purists that subscribe to the notion that there should be an absolute minimum of gear in your signal path. They prefer a pair of powered monitors connected directly to the DAC+, with nothing else in between. They wouldn't trade that minimalist set up for anything else. You give them an expensive preamp like the $24,000 DartZeel NHB-18NS or the $65,000 Soulution 711 and they will throw them out in disgust just not to contaminate the signal path. I've tried that and the results were exactly as you described. That is why I have a processor with room correction in between. I can easily recreate the direct connection without having to disconnect anything by pressing the PURE DIRECT mode on the remote. Then it sounds like I forgot to take out ear plugs out after a good night rest. But to each his own. Others swear by direct mode. For some companies like BMC it is a major selling point.
I have never heard the Bridge, but I can guarantee that its network capability has absolutely nothing to do with what you are describing. Perhaps, if you explained what you are comparing the Bridge performance, that would help. What were you listening to before?

 

[captblaze]

The burn in time for me was around 70% within the first 2 days and the remaining 30% slowly over the following 2 weeks. Some people say the DAC+ is good straight out of he box, others expect a month or two for the clock and the analog section to completely settle. Of course, 2 months is a ridiculous burn in time for a DAC. For speakers - may be.
But you wrote that you run the Bridge as a preamp, directly to the Parasound power amp. If you are comparing this chain: DAC+preamp+poweramp to this chain: DAC+poweramp I am afraid the direct connected DAC+ will indeed sound veiled and stage/imaging will be collapsed and no amount of burn in time will alleviate the problem. You see, a good preamp between the DAC+ and the power amp will add details, resolution, the bass will be taught and well defined, the sound stage and imaging will be much better

I agree with most of what you are saying, but....

you left out the speaker. I connect direct (via balanced output) to a decent quality Class D amp and then to a set of KEF LS50 and they are by no means veiled sounding although I will admit to a small decrease in imaging. I believe every link in the chain plays an important role. any mismatch will degrade the eventual sound output. and with all things audio what I perceive could be close to your perception, but it is doubtful they are identical

 

[grigorianvlad]

... and they are by no means veiled sounding

Catblaze, there are no sweeping generalities when it comes to audio. I didn't mean to write that direct path is always veiled to everyone under any circumstances.
I meant it sounds veiled to me. We are all different. What I find a reference sound others will describe as too bright, almost screechy, with sub-par imaging and stereo channel separation (and rightfully so, even I know that). What they define as a reference sound I, on the other hand, find veiled and poorly resolved, but to them it is heaven. There are no absolutes in audio.
That is why some people are dumbfounded when they expect some divine sound from the likes of the MBL Reference line up (half a mil $$!) and it all sounds to them like some $200 white van variety.



We all have an idea of a reference sound, a deeply personal one. Some time in the past we have heard a sound that made us gulp. Miss a heart beat. Now we are chasing the same first high. But the idea of this perfect sound is as different and personal as our first love. Forgive me for being so corny, but I can't think of a better analogy. Granted, all the women (or men) we fell in love with ages ago all had more or less the same physical characteristics. They all had two legs, two arms and at least half a brain. But these women (or men) couldn't be more different.
For me that reference sound moment was back in the 80s, when I heard an Akai cassette deck with a power amp and a pair of S-90 speakers. I couldn't move, that is how shocked I was. You see, up to that point all I have heard was your equivalent of a boombox. That sound seared into my memory and even though almost 40 years had passed, consciously or not, I keep comparing every piece of gear to how that set up sounded, even though I am sure if I heard it today it would have sounded simply atrocious.
What you consider reference may be different because your first audio revelation was in a different set up from mine. Not with treble and bass set to 11 on a mid fi system to conceal its limitations, but instead on a much better system that doesnt thump and screech - it shines in other more important factors like imaging, sound stage and naturalness. Does that make your reference sound you have heard lets say in a high definition $150,000 Audio Research system with a pair of Sonus Faber Aidas better than my Akai $1,500 set up? It absolutely does. I know that for sure. But will I enjoy that system as much as the POS Akai-like sound? No, it is too late, my taste in music is already defined by that experience.
Anyway, all I was trying to tell the Mallmbac is he may want to try to insert a good preamp into the set up, otherwise he may not experience the full potential of the Mytek. I may be wrong and after a week of burn in time it will all be peaches.

 

[captblaze]

Catblaze, there are no sweeping generalities when it comes to audio. I didn't mean to write that direct path is always veiled to everyone under any circumstances.
I meant it sounds veiled to me. We are all different. What I find a reference sound others will describe as too bright, almost screechy, with sub-par imaging and stereo channel separation (and rightfully so, even I know that). What they define as a reference sound I, on the other hand, find veiled and poorly resolved, but to them it is heaven. There are no absolutes in audio.
That is why some people are dumbfounded when they expect some divine sound from the likes of the MBL Reference line up (half a mil $$!) and it all sounds to them like some $200 white van variety.

and I do agree with you... I just added my standard caveat.

my quest to make the hair raise up on my arms has a 40 year history. most purchases I made were based on tech specs and other peoples descriptions. that never seemed to take me to that level of enjoyment. it wasn't until I stopped listening to others and trusting my ears that I made better choices. now that isn't always possible (especially where budget becomes an issue), but thankfully I have found a dealer who understands that an honest audition with the ability to return without hassle goes a long way to future sales.

Mytek has provided me with over a year of audio enjoyment (a modern day record for me). I never took a chance on the Manhattan II. it is way more DAC than I would ever need. Even the Brooklyn+ has features I never used. so I have gone as minimalistic as I can and got lucky that I found a bit more of what I want to hear from my music collection.

 

[grigorianvlad]

Mytek has provided me with over a year of audio enjoyment (a modern day record for me).

You are not going to believe this, but it was Mytek that made me try vinyl. Not because the DAC+ was bad and I decided to go the LP route instead. On the contrary - precisely because it was so good, just like you wrote. You see, a DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) is supposed to make digital files sound just like they are being played on a turntable, as an analogue record. The better the DAC, the more natural it will sound. The better the DAC, the better turntable it will sound like. The more I thought of that, the more I wanted to try vinyl. Cut out the middle man. Go straight to the source, so to speak. Don't convert, I thought. Play it.
Here is the thing. it doesnt have to be too expensive on the turntable end. I mean you can upgrade the Brooklyn a hundred times, up to a four chassi $110,000 dCS Vivaldi with its FPGA instead of a particular DAC chip, and that digital system will still be lagging (as a source) behind a $2,000 turntable with a decent cartridge. Naturally, after I got the Brooklyn I went the vinyl route to try what the DAC actually tried to impersonate (convert). God works in mysterious ways.
That little excursion into a pure analogue territory lasted a couple of months and then stopped. I ended up with a little LP collection (around 600) that is only 10% heard. Why did I stop? After all, it should have sounded like a $100,000 dCS or better, rigth? Well, it did. For only 6-10 LPs. The rest sounded identical or worse. Plus there was that small matter of getting up and and flip the record every 20 minutes. But for those 6-10 LPs (mostly Sheffield Lab and Stockfisch Records) the Mytek only came close to the turntable sound. If there was a way to calculate it in percentages, the Mytek had only reached 75% of how good they sound. I know there are people who say vinyl is king and the other kind that think LPs are obsolete and stupid. It depends. Which LP? Through what gear? As compared to what?
But still, the Mytek came as close to even those few records as I have ever heard. The other DACs - granted my experience with them is limited - didnt sound even remotely analogue like. With them it was just a different degree of digital. Rough, noisy (I mean the jitter, not the actual audible noise) and not engaging. When I spoke with the Mytek folks, they said they decided to concentrate on the analogue section while designing the DAC+, instead of jumping up to the latest Sabre chip that was already available at the time. That was a smart decision. That shows. The chip version by itself is only a small part of the equation. There are more important thing in analogue conversion.

Here is the analogue set up, BTW:

 

[Kerwin515]

I just received my sbooster mk2 for my dac + and all i can say is yes! Easily noticeable sound improvement. Now my question is which voltage switch should i choose for best sound 12, 13,or 13.5v?

I e-mailed sbooster about this and they thought that 13 was best, but yes, any voltage works. It's your preference.

 

[Bart77]

I have been using Brooklyn DAC+ since few weeks and I must confess that this DAC beats others which I have already tested in my system. I have listened to Chord Qutest, Audiobyte Black Dragon, Heed Abacus ( which in my opinion is the best solution up to the budget of 1000 USD) and nothing sounds like this Mytek. The only one poor side is phono stage - again Hungarian Company Heed and their model Questar is the best solution for my vintage turntable Kenwood KD 990 with Denon 103R.
Maybe this is not the final solution, as we all are always looking for something better, but Mytek will stay with me for a while

 

[vintinfinity]

So I got the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday. Listening to Roon now via WIFI. That part works with no hiccups so far.

I'm a bit apprehensive about the sound though. It's a bit veiled and the bass is woolly. I'm waiting for burn-in to take effect. I'm hoping the most drastic changes from burn-in comes within the first 24-48 hours. Can someone with the Dac+ chime in here?

I'm using it with balanced outputs into a Parasound A23 that I borrowed at the store to test it. It all goes back monday morning so I hope the burn-in can be done by then?


Thanks

Have you tried the analog volume control setting instead of the digital volume control? Michal (the designer) had said in an interview that the 32bit digital volume control on an older Sabre based DAC he also designed is very transparent but can lose something slight leading when getting to around -30dB or greater attenuation.

I use my DAC+ without a separate preamp via balanced XLR to my power amp. I think it sounds better than the vintage single ended standalone preamp and CDP and other DACs I had before it. The phono stage was also a step up from the one built into the 1980s Yamaha preamp. Not that I have a lot of experience with other phono stages.

When I first got the DAC+ I thought it sounded a little dry when I first fired it up. But soon after my brain/ears adjusted to it I was very pleased with the system.

Hope you end up liking it. It has many filters to tailor the sound to your taste too. I enjoy the apodizing version of the linear phase fast roll off. You have to turn off the MQA setting when listening to regular PCM content or else the MQA filter takes over. Just an FYI.

 

[tunes]

I have been using Brooklyn DAC+ since few weeks and I must confess that this DAC beats others which I have already tested in my system. I have listened to Chord Qutest, Audiobyte Black Dragon, Heed Abacus ( which in my opinion is the best solution up to the budget of 1000 USD) and nothing sounds like this Mytek. The only one poor side is phono stage - again Hungarian Company Heed and their model Questar is the best solution for my vintage turntable Kenwood KD 990 with Denon 103R.
Maybe this is not the final solution, as we all are always looking for something better, but Mytek will stay with me for a while

Curious if you also compared it to the DAVE plus or minus the Chord Mscaler? Do you know if any comparisons to this?

 

[Bart77]

Curious if you also compared it to the DAVE plus or minus the Chord Mscaler? Do you know if any comparisons to this?

Unfortunately not....Both are out of my budget

 

[Dobrescu George]

I made a little video about the mighty Brooklyn DAC+