• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Mytek AMP+ Review (Stereo Amplifier)

57gold

Active Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
100
Likes
84
It's got a very pretty case.

Goes nice with the $10K each mono 500 watt GAN amps, also Empire series.

These folks used to be 100% pro audio, rack mount and 1/2 rack ADCs and DACs, all plain designs. After success with their DSD192 DAC, which was based upon studio gear, they learned what audiophiles will pay for "audio bling" products in fancy boxes. Used the same designer as another company who had nice carved faceplates and industrial designs (can't remember name). Marketing to folks who don't care what stuff costs. Lots of those in NYC area, their home base.

I like my Brooklyn + that I traded in a DSD192 for with great terms. B+ sounds great, no need for preamp. Predates many of the very cost effective Asian import DACs that measure better here.
 

Billy Budapest

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2019
Messages
1,810
Likes
2,674
$20K streamer? Good grief....
They make some *heady* claims on their website, albeit replete with grammatical errors. Maybe you could reach out to them to test a sample?

(My apologies about the bold typeface below—that’s how it copied from the page.)

https://mytek.audio/shop/empire-streamer-dac-1#attr=9

Empire Streamer DAC is the best DAC Mytek ever made and most likely the best DAC ever made. Empire uses two ES9038PRO 8 channel chipsets, one chip per channel in dual mono fully balanced configuration. ES9038PRO is the world highest performance DAC chipset with 140dB Dynamic Range performance in balanced mono mode. No other DAC on the market today, including FPGA based DAC, achieves the 140dB Dynamic Range performance the Empire DAC. This extraordinary resolution combined with ultra transparent balanced analog stage originally designed for mastering engineers, reveals everything in the recording with unparalleled fidelity. Empire DAC easily challenges all top DAC contenders in $XX thousand price range on the market today.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,072
Likes
16,605
Location
Central Fl
Empire DAC easily challenges all top DAC contenders in $XX thousand price range on the market today.
Ah, but can it challenge a $XXX hundred dollar Topping DAC ???
 

vkvedam

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 12, 2019
Messages
583
Likes
807
Location
Coventry, UK

anphex

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
May 14, 2021
Messages
662
Likes
870
Location
Berlin, Germany
They make some *heady* claims on their website, albeit replete with grammatical errors. Maybe you could reach out to them to test a sample?

(My apologies about the bold typeface below—that’s how it copied from the page.)

https://mytek.audio/shop/empire-streamer-dac-1#attr=9

Empire Streamer DAC is the best DAC Mytek ever made and most likely the best DAC ever made. Empire uses two ES9038PRO 8 channel chipsets, one chip per channel in dual mono fully balanced configuration. ES9038PRO is the world highest performance DAC chipset with 140dB Dynamic Range performance in balanced mono mode. No other DAC on the market today, including FPGA based DAC, achieves the 140dB Dynamic Range performance the Empire DAC. This extraordinary resolution combined with ultra transparent balanced analog stage originally designed for mastering engineers, reveals everything in the recording with unparalleled fidelity. Empire DAC easily challenges all top DAC contenders in $XX thousand price range on the market today.


"People always ask me about DAC, It's fantastic. Let me tell you about DAC. I do very well with DAC. I love DAC. No one loves DAC more than me, BELIEVE ME. DAC loves me. We're going to have so many DAC you are going to get sick of DAC. The DAC just got 10 feet higher. I have the best DAC."

Give us cold data or stfu dear manufacturers.

giphy-downsized (1).gif
 

vkvedam

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 12, 2019
Messages
583
Likes
807
Location
Coventry, UK
Maybe you could reach out to them to test a sample?
Not worth the effort and hassle I suppose. People who can afford this stuff won't be on forums browsing anyway. Quoting the DAC chip spec is a bit silly though :confused:
 

mhardy6647

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 12, 2019
Messages
11,216
Likes
24,177
1628591426581.png

To quote "Hawkeye" Pierce's comment when he was doing emergency surgery on "Radar" O'Reilly's pet rabbit on the Amurrican sitcom version of M*A*S*H
So round, so firm, so fully packed.

Dr. Pierce was quoting a cigarette ad of approximately the same era (the '50s, that is, not the '70s). :)

1628590822660.png


Mytek broke with their assembly house and redesigned the entire line. New models to replace the old ones are slowly coming out.
Apparently the old assembly house is continuing to produce the old models, so if you want to buy, make sure you are buying an actual Mytek.

Ooh, I hate it when that happens. :(

The top at least was at room temperature during my testing. Heat may be dissipated on the bottom. I forgot to check that.

But yes, if you don't need an amp to be small, there is no reason to get one with everything stuffed in a little box.
Wait... don't tell me that you don't have a thermal imaging camera?!? Or at least an IR thermometer?
Do we need to take up a collection? :cool:;)

1628591327279.png

1628591386628.png

both borrowed images, of different components :)
 
Last edited:

Bruce Morgen

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 3, 2019
Messages
864
Likes
1,238
To quote "Hawkeye" Pierce's comment when he was doing emergency surgery on "Radar" O'Reilly's pet rabbit on the Amurrican sitcom version of M*A*S*H


Dr. Pierce was quoting a cigarette ad of approximately the same era (the '50s, that is, not the '70s). :)

View attachment 146644



Ooh, I hate it when that happens. :(

I used to smoke those back in the 1960s, when the packs had the red circle but they were white instead of the pre-WW2 green. Fortunately, I quit cold turkey when I was 21 circa '68-'69 -- but I sure enjoyed my half-pack/day habit until I did. Memories....
 

PeteL

Major Contributor
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
Messages
3,303
Likes
3,838
Not worth the effort and hassle I suppose. People who can afford this stuff won't be on forums browsing anyway. Quoting the DAC chip spec is a bit silly though :confused:
Well the 140 dB have been used twice, once for the spec of the chip, but the second sentence is quite bold: "No other DAC on the market today, including FPGA based DAC, achieves the 140dB Dynamic Range performance the Empire DAC." That is rigorously true, about the others, now we will see about theirs, if they can meet this promise it is Indeed heck of an achievement. however (un)useful this is.
 

Billy Budapest

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2019
Messages
1,810
Likes
2,674
Well the 140 dB have been used twice, once for the spec of the chip, but the second sentence is quite bold: "No other DAC on the market today, including FPGA based DAC, achieves the 140dB Dynamic Range performance the Empire DAC." That is rigorously true, about the others, now we will see about theirs, if they can meet this promise it is Indeed heck of an achievement. however (un)useful this is.
That’s why I think Amir should reach out to them and obtain one to test.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,386
Location
Seattle Area
Maybe you could reach out to them to test a sample?
Well, we are not exactly on speaking terms. One of the first ever DACs I tested was from Mytek. It did very poorly. The message got to Gearsluz forum and exploded there. Next thing I know the designer sending me a nastygram saying a) I am not running standard tests and I should read the Audio Precision manual and b) the reason they did poorly is because the MQA data path is being used for all playback formats and it was overflowing at 0 dB. So it wasn't their fault.

I wrote back saying they should not have run non-MQA samples through MQA data path and that if I am reading something wrong in the AP manual, they should tell me. No answer came back and that was that.

Here is the review: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-and-measurements-of-mytek-brooklyn-dac.1828/

And their response per above:

An update. I received a message from Michal Jurewicz (member alias mehow), the designer of Mytek Brooklyn, with some remarks on my measurements. I wish I still had the Mytek to verify what he is saying but I am going to go ahead and provide his data regardless.

On the clipping, he confirms that it is the MQA decoder that causes the clipping. Disabling MQA decoder, eliminates the problem (graph in red):


The question I sent him which unfortunately he has not responded to, is why enabling MQA decoding impacts non-MQA content which I used for my testing.

It seems that they have a new dsp pipeline that includes MQA decoding and it is that new pipeline that now clips on non-MQA content. So to fix that, also means to give up on MQA decoding just the same!

That's not good. They should go back and properly integrate MQA into their decoding pipeline so that it doesn't impact non-MQA content. A simple check of the content flag for MQA should enable them to do this without a user switch to turn MQA on and off.

Of course it would be unfortunate if it overflows on MQA content but at least let's get the 99% answer right (i.e. non-MQA content).

On the second harmonic clipping, he says this is due to the attenuator (volume control) circuit which was intended to have a "warm" sound. Shutting off the volume control makes most of the second harmonic distortion to go away (graph in blue):

BrooklynDAC_S_FFT_6.7k.png

I guess this is their attempt to create the "tube" sound with those high levels of second harmonic distortions and at any rate, cater to subjective audiophile needs this way. Not my cup of tea. I want my volume control to be fully transparent and not inject gobs of second harmonic distortion into the path. If I want to distort it, I will do it elsewhere, thank you very much.

Above all, they should document all of this. People may for example choose to not use their volume control if they knew it acted as we have discovered.

Anyway, I appreciate the reach out and more information. My conclusion now is that the DAC is of higher quality the original stated within the constraints that these modified settings provide.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,072
Likes
16,605
Location
Central Fl
Well, we are not exactly on speaking terms. One of the first ever DACs I tested was from Mytek. It did very poorly. The message got to Gearsluz forum and exploded there.
Maybe they would relish the chance to show the world how much of an improvement they have made since then.
Or maybe not. :facepalm:
 

57gold

Active Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
100
Likes
84
Missed the Mytek drama here.

Very much enjoyed the DSD192 I bought in 2011. Firewired from a Mac Mini with Audirvana or Pure Music, balanced out to a McCormack DNA-500 driving Aerial 10Ts, it sounded pretty fantastic for @$1,300 from a pro audio shop. Believe I first heard it play DSD up converts with early HQPlayer, also very cool.

The B+ with a Keces LPS is smoother, deeper without losing detail. Never heard an MQA file. With a generous trade in value am very happy with the sonics and economics.

At its roots, Mytek was a no BS pro audio company that introduced the DSD192 with an extensive feature set, great sonics and exceptional value versus the audiophile competition back in 2010. Don't believe there was an inexpensive path to DSD at that time, just Mytek. It was reviewed here eight years later, and not unfavorably from a sonic performance perspective.

I also believe that Mytek stimulated or were the subject of a lot of reverse engineering in the Far East for very cost effective DAC products that now exist. If your iPhone, MacBook...were made in US or Europe, they would cost 50-75% more, similar economics at work in many of the DACs reviewed here. Good news for music lovers that these very high value, well engineered products are available, not such good news for US and European audio companies that have local production capabilities.

Now, with Empire line and the Manhattan II, they are addressing the "I don't care what it costs" and "it better impress my friends with its looks" crowd, not the folks who hang here.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom