Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Streamer Review

[Toni Mas]

Well... poor engineering, poor marketing
as expected..

Imho their marketing is perfectly adequate for prospects dealing with 5k as pocket money... The name of this business...

 

[GaryY]

Imho their marketing is perfectly adequate for prospects dealing with 5k as pocket money... The name of this business...

I strongly disagree, This has one of worst readability and the cheapest looking presentation.

 

[voodooless]

I strongly disagree, This has one of worst readability and the cheapest looking presentation.

Clearly they’ve checked out too many AliExpress product images

They also can’t calculate. From the product page:

4TB of internal SSD (approx 625 CDs). Internal storage is part of the system SSD on the main CPU board and it is fixed and not user upgradable. Internal storage is accessed by the user as a network drive.

In reality, 625 CDs is at best a bit more than 400 GB (no compression), so it’s about a factor of 10 off

 

[Golf]

I strongly disagree, This has one of worst readability and the cheapest looking presentation.

So true. The sensitive kind would have been alarmed already when setting eyes on the »aesthetical« design of this image

 

[GaryY]

Clearly they’ve checked out too many AliExpress product images

They also can’t calculate. From the product page:

In reality, 625 CDs is at best a bit more than 400 GB (no compression), so it’s about a factor of 10 off

They didn't even give effort to draw dimension line in parallel to front panel!! haha (This is almost annoying.)

 

[Toni Mas]

I strongly disagree, This has one of worst readability and the cheapest looking presentation.

Naaa.... The problem is that you are not part of their target...

https://cloud.mytek.audio/apps/sharingpath/mytek.audio/header.mp4

 

[Joffy1780]

Well... poor engineering, poor marketing
as expected..

Mytek Brooklyn Bridge ll with Roon…is it ever shipping?

Well, Henry, please don’t put words in my mouth. And you are wrong. Michal has certainly been deceitful by lying point blank on multiple occasions. And since he has been using my money for nearly 2 years without any real transparency into what is going on or when he will fulfill his...

community.roonlabs.com

View attachment 352306

Avoid like the plague, I'd say. Imagine waiting 18 months after paying in full and the unit ships with no remote, screen not working, no manual, no web control etc

 

[amirm]

Now we are quoting Stereophile unscientific listening tests and "WiFi hash"? Seriously? Amir, please.

There is nothing unscientific about hearing noises when WiFi is used and music is not playing. Pay attention to what is quoted. It is not what you think.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I give up, you won...

I’m not sure what you think I’ve won. I rated the Mytek as “not terrible” for the reasons I explained further up the thread. I’m not sure where you would have rated it or frankly what you are disagreeing with.

 

[Toni Mas]

I’m not sure what you think I’ve won. I rated the Mytek as “not terrible” for the reasons I explained further up the thread. I’m not sure where you would have rated it or frankly what you are disagreeing with.

Rated fine for the all in one features that the targeted buyers might apreciate, absolute performance being probably secondary for them...

 

[AudioSceptic]

I've not seen HFN lately, but I have a small number of donated copies from 2010 up to a couple of years ago and all of them are full of mostly overpriced flash looking goodies at telephone number prices that nobody's ever heard of (apart from 'The Select Few' of course) and with a daft percent score similar to the numerical score Colloms used to offer as his view of 'quality.' Maybe it's changed but I somehow doubt it. Kessler was the worst, as he said one thing in the rag itself and often all but the opposite in a trade paper we used to get. Got to say that when I do read the reviews, I totally ignore everything except the measurements these days.

I'm going from memory. The latest I've got are also a few years old and I haven't looked recently.

 

[MediumRare]

There is nothing unscientific about hearing noises when WiFi is used and music is not playing. Pay attention to what is quoted. It is not what you think.

To be fair, I had not bothered to read it. I am not expressing any conclusions about whether the assignment of blame for "WiFi hash" and hum through unbalanced outputs is scientific or not, but for you all to consider, here are the relevant passages, my emphasis added.

"Downstairs, with my desktop system, I noticed some low-level noise and hash, the kind that can sometimes leak through a computer soundcard, and also some hum. The hash was not audible from the balanced or headphone outputs—only the unbalanced. At normal listening levels, with no music playing, the hash was audible but low in level. Further investigation, including consultations with JA1 and JCA, revealed the hash source: RFI from my Linksys Mesh Wi-Fi network leaking into the audio, likely through the BBII's Wi-Fi receiver. When I navigated through the Network menu, disconnected from my Wi-Fi network, and connected via hard-wired Ethernet, the hash disappeared. The hum remained, however. Footnote 7: Note, on the one hand, that Tom has never heard such hash before in his systems with any other component. On the other hand, when JA1 and I tried the BBII in our own systems, neither of us heard it, and Mytek says they've had no reports about this in the field. A bit of research leads to the conclusion that mesh router systems may be at fault, especially at close range. So, this noise is probably rare—chances are you won't hear it—but apparently, something about the BBII's design or execution makes it susceptible."

Also: "The sound? I'd call it a bit laid-back. The low end was present and accounted for, but some albums sounded a little washed-out compared to, eg, my Little Labs Monotor. I don't think Mytek did any "warm voicing" or the like on its headphone amp; its sound is straightforward, the background quiet. One could use it to make music-production decisions with professional headphones like the Neumann NDH 30."

Also: "the BBII sounds damn good. Its character was uncolored and revealing, as I would expect from a pro-grade Mytek DAC. It was not a sacrifice to listen to hours of music through the BBII; indeed, it was a joy."

Also: "the BBII is a fine DAC, in the top tier of its price range, even ignoring all its other features."

Also: "The BBII is among the best I've heard in its price range..."

Link to the full article: https://www.stereophile.com/content/mytek-digital-brooklyn-bridge-ii-roon-core-preamplifier

I think I'll bow out of further comments, at this point.

 

[Golf]

It's designed in New York but built in Poland. Not saying they don't deserve a good working wage as well.


View attachment 351915

The one thing »Made in Poland« I would gladly purchase is Krakauer sausages. At a more reasonable price, that is.

 

[JDS]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Roon Core, streamer, phono stage and analog preamplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4999.
View attachment 351805
I really like the industrial design of the Mytek. It elevates the standard form factor of desktop DACs with that tasteful texturing on front and top. The box is quite heavy for its size. It houses an Intel i5 CPU based single board computer running Roon Core image. I think I read it uses linear power supply which would explain its weight. There are no fans which is very nice when so much functionality is stuffed in this little box. Back panel shows surprisingly complete functionality which even includes a phono preamplifier:
View attachment 351807
The labels are a bit hard to read but not a big deal. Connectors as you see are very good quality.

Back to the front, the touchscreen is reasonably responsible as to not be annoying but don't mistake it for your smartphone. The navigation is a bit hard given the narrow display but doable.

I was very disappointed to see that the controlling app is only available for iphone/ipad and not Android. I also didn't see a remote included which adds to the annoyance to someone in Android ecosystem.

Let's measure it and see how it peforms.

Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Measurements
I connected the Bridge II using USB and adjusted the volume control to get nominal 4 volts output from XLR outputs:
View attachment 351808
Wow, that is one messy FFT spectrum. So much power supply and other spurious tones. Nothing other than the main 1 kHz spike should be there ideally and we are far from it. Combined energy of all those spikes shrinks the SINAD down to just "fair" category:
View attachment 351810
View attachment 351811

I disconnected the USB cable and tested just with Ethernet, hoping to see the noise and distortion go away but it did not (assuming it had leaked from my host PC):
View attachment 351812
Strangely, the gain is different from network interface to USB. They are both bit exact digital streams so why is the level varying?

Setting the volume control to max, we see that performance is what we measured up to max level:
View attachment 351813
In other words, we barely clear the bar for 16 bit content as far as distortion and noise.

Dynamic range is not great for class:
View attachment 351820

IMD test shows the impact of noise being too high:
View attachment 351814

There is a hint of ESS IMD hump in there which would have been more visible if noise were lower.

Jitter test shows same spurious tones and then some:
View attachment 351815

Multitone test performance is better if we ignore the constant spikes:
View attachment 351816

For compatibility with sterephile measurements, I ran their 50 Hz test:
View attachment 351817
Results are almost identical to what they measured which in our book, is poor. See for comparison our top of the line (near $1000) DAC:

That is whopping 40 dB of difference!!!

Linearity was poor due to interfering power supply noise at 180 Hz (test frequency is 200 Hz):
View attachment 351818
Back to stereophile review, their measurements noted that the filter setting would NOT change no matter what you did in the menu. The same thing was true in my sample:
View attachment 351819
That review was in September of last year. I checked my sample and firmware was up to date yet this bug remains.

Predictably, the poor filter impacts the high frequency wideband measurements of the DAC:
View attachment 351821

But notice how the performance is still not great (green) when I run at 192 kHz which removes the effect of the DAC.

At this point, I didn't feel motivated to run more tests.

Conclusions
I love the functionality of the Brooklyn Bridge II. It also comes in a compact and attractive packages. Sadly objective performance is not remotely where it needs to be with considerable number of $100 DACs beating its measurements. Seeing how they are not responsive enough to fix the filtering bug which they have known about for some 5 months, I would be super concerned about putting my trust in them to keep this product up to date (a requirement for a streamer). They seem to have gone after a marketing story of "high-end" audio than delivering on the promise.

I can't recommend the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

This right here is why I have lost faith not just in the Stereophile/Absolute Sound-style reviews of high-end audio, but in the whole high-end audio ecosystem.

Mytek isn't some obscure, tweako garage shop that could be forgiven for screwing up the basics. If you can't count on basic competence from a pedigreed company like Mytek, which legacy audiophile brand can you trust?

 

[dzerig]

I loved the idea of nyc named gear, but looking at MyTek it looked like spruced up average gear. I didn't see why it commanded a high price. I'm sure it sounds fine, the sinad is high enough no one will hear distortion or noise. But you can do equally well for far less.

 

[JDS]

I don't get it either.
For me, fanless computer (or MacMini. I have it and never hear its fan) with a tablet (best screen at your fingertips) is the best streamer.

This. I bought a sub-$1k Cirrus 7 fanless to run Roon, which includes HDMI output for multichannel, which this very expensive box does not.

I see the integration of so many functions in one box as a bug, not a feature -- even if you ignore the performance hit. Separates make upgrades and repairs less painful.

 

[formdissolve]

My $40 Raspberry Pi running Roon Bridge is looking mighty nice right about now

 

[192kbps]

I want to know how 18 bits are calculated? According to the chart, it doesn't seem to have reached 18 bits.

 

[JSmith]

I want to know how 18 bits are calculated? According to the chart, it doesn't seem to have reached 18 bits.

1 bit = circa 6 dB (6.02)

Deriving the 1 bit = 6 dB rule of thumb

This week, a more mathematical topic. Sometime ago, we—friends and I—were discussing the fidelity of various signals, and how many bits were needed for an optimal digitization of the si…

hbfs.wordpress.com

JSmith

 

[192kbps]

1 bit = circa 6 dB (6.02)

Deriving the 1 bit = 6 dB rule of thumb

This week, a more mathematical topic. Sometime ago, we—friends and I—were discussing the fidelity of various signals, and how many bits were needed for an optimal digitization of the si…

hbfs.wordpress.com

JSmith

I know * 6, but does the chart show 108?