Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Streamer Review

[voodooless]

In the ESS-based DACs by RME the user has full access to the distortion trim registers and can dial in large enough amounts that are actually audible ;-)

It's rather disturbing that Mytek tries to re-market this as their own Harmonic Audio Tuning ™. The trademark thing seems very important, too, just look at the post over at Roon Labs .

 

[KSTR]

The only audio equipment that should have intentional distortion is guitar amps.

No. The end user is the final arbiter. If it sounds better it "is" better.

 

[KSTR]

It's rather disturbing that Mytek tries to re-market this as their own Harmonic Audio Tuning ™. The trademark thing seems very important, too, just look at the post over at Roon Labs .

Marketing is definitely very important for Mytek, actually it seems to dominate all decisions.
There is no love going into their engineering, so to say.

 

[flor]

Only in 2024 are three question marks deemed aggressive. Compared to the number of ad homonyms at @amirm and the ASR community from Michal, I'd say these three question marks are a very mild response.

To quote the great poet Jay-Z:

A wise man told me don't argue with fools. Cause people from a distance can't tell who is who.

 

[Mnyb]

In the ESS-based DACs by RME the user has full access to the distortion trim registers and can dial in large enough amounts that are actually audible ;-)

As it should be .

If you dable into to "sound effects" it should be settings . There is no " makes everything sound better all the time for all people on all program material " setting you could design .
It's another ticket to upgrade merry go round because you bought some deeply flawed but interesting/different sounding component that you now get irritated about and then jumps on the next hype bandwagon ..add infinitum .

besides the thing has ROON who offers a very flexible EQ we see amir uses all the time ? so it's already very flexible ?

 

[AdrianusG]

View attachment 353258

" And they do!, someone up this thread says “BB2 sounds darn good”. This is what matters to our customers and to us"

Ah, i see, the uhm, scientific approach

 

[DSJR]

I think multiple question marks were justified based on the amount of BS that guy from Mytek was shoveling.

He expresses surprise that the Apple dongle is deemed *better* or *as good as* an exalted dac costing thousands (or words to that effect), yet output level and zero facilities aside, that damned Apple thing DOES sound good to the subjectivists ears and if your sound system has enough gain, I reckon it's all you need from a computer or suitable Apple phone... I suspect much of it is knee-jerk really, but to suggest Amir knows nothing about 'audio?' Beggars belief frankly.

These people who only trust their ears - I'm deeply envious of their self confidence, bearing in mind how that style of decision making varies with the wind, listener's age, weather, health, mood and a combination of all of these things and more. I for one no longer have that luxury and even when I felt I did, I had to change my mind on old vibes regarding certain items of gear when assessed again. [edit] I'd love to go back and re-evaluate some things I liked and didn't in the 70's for example and also study long lost technically based test reports with the better understanding I now feel I have...

 

[Geert]

Can this be turned off and the filter also set to something useful ? Then it the product could be remeasured I think . Such functions as HAT should really be investigated before measuring , just saying ?

I had a look at the manual I found on their website, version 2023-12-12 https://cloud.mytek.audio/apps/shar...Bridge_II_Quick_Start+Manual_V.2023-12-12.pdf, and it doesn't mention this feature.

I only see it mentioned on their product page: "Also the BB2 DAC has a newly invented HAT(tm) Harmonic Audio Tuning feature which allows for "warm" sound setting where the even 2nd and 4th harmonics of the DAC can be increased for subjective sound improvement".

The same page where we find this beautiful statement: "because of the 90W toroid linear power supply and linear regulators, subjectively, the sound of BB2 is roughly 20% better than the original Brooklyn Bridge which used the linear power supply".

 

[BDWoody]

Unfortunately, a mod there got nervous and asked them to tone it down. Amir was not saying anything out of line of course, but the Mytek guy was throwing out a bunch of subjective BS and "sounded" angry.

That kind of discussion makes moderators everywhere nervous to be honest.

You have a 'third party' forum where a Big Shot forum owner (Amir) and a Big Shot manufacturer decide to have at it.

Trying to walk that fine line of encouraging dialog while discouraging the less helpful parts is not always so simple.

There is a lot at stake for these companies, and as a small business owner myself I understand how impactful a review like this can be. It looks like they've had significant issues with actually fulfilling orders in the recent past, with many unhappy customers, so this kind of review added on top of that might tend to bring out the worst.

Gotta be good fun for that moderator.

 

[Mnyb]

I had a look at the manual I found on their website, version 2023-12-12 https://cloud.mytek.audio/apps/shar...Bridge_II_Quick_Start+Manual_V.2023-12-12.pdf, and it doesn't mention this feature.

I only see it mentioned on their product page: "Also the BB2 DAC has a newly invented HAT(tm) Harmonic Audio Tuning feature which allows for "warm" sound setting where the even 2nd and 4th harmonics of the DAC can be increased for subjective sound improvement".

The same page where we find this beautiful statement: "because of the 90W toroid linear power supply and linear regulators, subjectively, the sound of BB2 is roughly 20% better than the original Brooklyn Bridge which used the linear power supply".

 

[holdingpants01]

They have a rather long history of shipping flawed products even in the studio equipment era, I had their two DAC96 units and both had scratchy volume pot, it didn't sound like a pot problem but rather a design flaw. Their 8x192 had a problem with fan being touched by a small piece of isolation material making it noisy. Their solution was to disconnect the fan. It was a mid tier no bells and whistles brand then, rather inexpensive regarding the competition, but I guess it's just easier to sell flaws as features in the hifi market

 

[AdrianusG]

Interesting indeed, how did they "subjectively" measure it's 20% better, and not say 30 or 10 or 25%?
they measured with their ears, so they must have very finely tuned hearing i guess.

 

[AudioSceptic]

He expresses surprise that the Apple dongle is deemed *better* or *as good as* an exalted dac costing thousands (or words to that effect), yet output level and zero facilities aside, that damned Apple thing DOES sound good to the subjectivists ears and if your sound system has enough gain, I reckon it's all you need from a computer or suitable Apple phone... I suspect much of it is knee-jerk really, but to suggest Amir knows nothing about 'audio?' Beggars belief frankly.

These people who only trust their ears - I'm deeply envious of their self confidence, bearing in mind how that style of decision making varies with the wind, listener's age, weather, health, mood and a combination of all of these things and more. I for one no longer have that luxury and even when I felt I did, I had to change my mind on old vibes regarding certain items of gear when assessed again. [edit] I'd love to go back and re-evaluate some things I liked and didn't in the 70's for example and also study long lost technically based test reports with the better understanding I now feel I have...

Occasionally I connect my iPhone directly to the Klout with the Apple adapter, just as a sort of "reality check". Even given that music on my iPhone is only 192kb/s (so I can take *all* of it with me, anywhere), it does sound very good.

I used to believe in "trust your ears" but I find that my impressions change so much, even with everything known to be the same, that they can't be trusted.

 

[DSJR]

Occasionally I connect my iPhone directly to the Klout with the Apple adapter, just as a sort of "reality check". Even given that music on my iPhone is only 192kb/s (so I can take *all* of it with me, anywhere), it does sound very good.

I used to believe in "trust your ears" but I find that my impressions change so much, even with everything known to be the same, that they can't be trusted.

I still have in the 'stash' a Linn LK1 and LK280/Spark, the latter from which the Klout was developed... The preamp especially was highly band limited and not that 'clean' in terms of distortion (more than a Quad or even Naim alternative), yet we didn't know or care overmuch.. Listening today, the preamp makes a fine (and cheap for me) MC phono stage run from the tape record output and this power amp doesn't sound 'grainy' or 'squeezed out' as my late 80s new original did when used with a neutral source.. I know it's subjective folks, but some gear back then did seem to have a generic kind of 'character' that pervaded through with different speakers, rooms and sources and I grew to loathe the LK280 and related Intek/Powertek/LK100 models. By the time I'd come back to Linn ten years later, they'd improved a lot I thought.

The reason I mention the above and back on topic is that we and our descendant 'newbies' to the audio fraternity (designers as well as newbies) don't seem to have learned or progressed at all and still accept inappropriately designed gear as long as it's judged 'good enough or 'sounds nice.' Foot tapping my a*se!!! I read very recently that there's still substantial resistance to active speakers and especially those with built in optimised amp packs as dealers can't then choose amps to sell to the client - and I honestly though most people were moving away from audio 'shrines' with multiple boxes and cables so often displayed proudly between the speakers...

I'll crawl back under my stone now...

 

[lordhumungous]

Interesting indeed, how did they "subjectively" measure it's 20% better, and not say 30 or 10 or 25%?
they measured with their ears, so they must have very finely tuned hearing i guess.

I can hear a field mouse fart from a 1/4 mile away !!

 

[AdrianusG]

I can hear a field mouse fart from a 1/4 mile away !!

Perhaps they have job offers (for you)

 

[Timmeon]

The only audio equipment that should have intentional distortion is guitar amps.

Or put more generally, the art is the music, not the reproduction. Reproduce the art faithfully and you've done the work justice. Imagine going to a fine dining restaurant and obsessing over the plateware, I am puzzled and amused by marketing and consumer behaviors, and how easily consumers are wooed by absolute nonsense.

Brilliant response by @amirm on the forum which only prompted more childish nonsense and reaching by the Mytek founder. I will never buy any product from such a manufacturer, which I had considered recently. Glad I went with the Benchmark

 

[lordhumungous]

Perhaps they have job offers (for you)

Lol

 

[nagster]

It would be nice to see validation of

"it looks like the HAT tm function which increases DAC 2nd and 4th harmonic content (2nd by about 12 dB) is on. (HAT makes DAC sound warmer by increasing even harmonics in the DAC current source output stage- the effect is same resolution and sound stage but groovier sound). This setting alone would have lowered SINAD the measurement by at least several dBs".

(Not that it would explain the power supply noise, unless they also provide that as a feature ).

The 4th order hardly changes, but it may be a function like this.

Review and Measurements of Okto DAC8 8Ch DAC & Amp

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[lordhumungous]

It looks like the Brooklyn Bridge has fallen !