My take on the Mytek

[flez007]

My preamp is at the tech store for a fine tuning (it is a custom made unit) so I have no other choice right now (I hope once it is back in the system this behaviour vanishes completly)

 

[mep]

My preamp is at the tech store for a fine tuning (it is a custom made unit) so I have no other choice right now

Gotcha. Wait until it comes back and see if the ringing is still there. Maybe the Mytek is showing you that something in your system isn't stopping quick enough including your room?

 

[puroagave]

my 192 DSD dac arrived today. its cooking for the time being untill I do some serious listening later this week but with the first few discs i played it hangs with the BADA. talk about overacheiver this thing is so feature laden, lots of customization options for the user. more to come....

 

[puroagave]

I am having some difficulties to tame some midrange ringing on some tracks, it doesn't matter from what source it looks that the Mytek overloads some time in the mid-hi section and rings...I tried with unbalanced cables and got almost the same issue.

mine overloaded the Electrocompaniets linestage due to a similar ringing. fortunately the EC has a gain switch to drop it 6db and the problem was solved. There are internal jumpers in the Mytek to pad the outputs 6db, its not mentioned anywhere in the manual that i could find but it was written about in mike lavorgna's review. Im gonna experiment with dropping the gain of my unit to improve the volume range of my amp.

 

[opus111]

How curious they apply the sanding wheel to their analog chips but not the digital ones. I figure they must be using some pretty embarrassing opamps...

 

[puroagave]

for the price they get, im sure they're pretty ordinary. i used to pooh pooh anything that didnt use discrete parts in its analog stage, i think opamps have come along since then.

 

[opus111]

As with everything else, its not so much what opamp you use rather the way that you use them. Plenty of half-baked discrete designs out there.

 

[flez007]

mine overloaded the Electrocompaniets linestage due to a similar ringing. fortunately the EC has a gain switch to drop it 6db and the problem was solved. There are internal jumpers in the Mytek to pad the outputs 6db, its not mentioned anywhere in the manual that i could find but it was written about in mike lavorgna's review. Im gonna experiment with dropping the gain of my unit to improve the volume range of my amp.

Keep us posted Rob, I might get my preamp back this weekend and learn from there again.

 

[flez007]

mine overloaded the Electrocompaniets linestage due to a similar ringing. fortunately the EC has a gain switch to drop it 6db and the problem was solved. There are internal jumpers in the Mytek to pad the outputs 6db, its not mentioned anywhere in the manual that i could find but it was written about in mike lavorgna's review. Im gonna experiment with dropping the gain of my unit to improve the volume range of my amp.

Rob, is this picture showing the actual pin set to lower it 6dB?

 

[puroagave]

out of the box its supposedly set at the higher gain. i havent opened mine up yet to see if the jumper positions match the pic or not. you can email Michal (the designer) at mj@mytekdigital.com

 

[microstrip]

How curious they apply the sanding wheel to their analog chips but not the digital ones. I figure they must be using some pretty embarrassing opamps...

Unhappily they are using SMDs. If they were using sockets a careful inspection of the physical aspect and carrying a few simple measurements could tell us the whole story ...

 

[flez007]

I had also tried different inputs, SPDIF and USB1, not sure if my Siltech Coax is playing its magic here but I preferred it against USB. (no DSD yet).

I will download drivers this weekend, both for the Myteck and John Kenny's DAC and try from there...so far I am very happy with the Mytek and ready to give John's DAC a good listen (thanks again Mr. kenny!).

More later...

 

[jkeny]

I had also tried different inputs, SPDIF and USB1, not sure if my Siltech Coax is playing its magic here but I preferred it against USB. (no DSD yet).

I will download drivers this weekend, both for the Myteck and John Kenny's DAC and try from there...so far I am very happy with the Mytek and ready to give John's DAC a good listen (thanks again Mr. kenny!).

More later...

You're welcome, Fernando.
I'm interested in your comparison - Bruce B, when he had my DAC, wasn't able to get a Mytek in time to do a comparison

 

[KeithR]

look forward to BADA vs Mytek, indeed. thanks!

 

[flez007]

I just got my preamp back from servicing, instruments are better placed now (as expected) so integration and linearity - but still it overloads with some specific tracks, I will decrease the sensitivity as per Puroagave´s recommendation.

I will also download the drivers and try USB2, hopefully I will have DSD files next week! - preliminary conclusions point to a great price/performance contender.

 

[puroagave]

the chassis screws on mine must be loctited - tried every trick short of striping the screw heads - back to Michal it goes. mine really needs the pad, the linestage in the krell im now using can handle it, but the gain is much greater than any line-level component in the system and i want the preamp sec in the krell to do more of the heavy lifting. besides that, its sounding really good so far and padding the gain might help the trebble uneveness im hearing. comparo with the BADA is forthcoming.

 

[mep]

the chassis screws on mine must be loctited - tried every trick short of striping the screw heads - back to Michal it goes. mine really needs the pad, the linestage in the krell im now using can handle it, but the gain is much greater than any line-level component in the system and i want the preamp sec in the krell to do more of the heavy lifting. besides that, its sounding really good so far and padding the gain might help the trebble uneveness im hearing. comparo with the BADA is forthcoming.

Interesting. Since the gain is supposed to be user adjustable, you wouln't think they would locktite the chassis screws. I don't have any issues with gain being too high, but then I'm using a Krell KRC-HR preamp.

 

[garylkoh]

Fernando, no more excuses for not having DSD files to try out. See here:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?8708-Free-DSD-Download-Sera-Una-Noche

 

[daytona600]

anyone know how to install/download the usb2 drivers, can only get 96khz usb

 

[Bruce B]

anyone know how to install/download the usb2 drivers, can only get 96khz usb

USB2 drivers can be downloaded from your computer vendor, though Win 7 (or whatever software you're using), has them embedded.

The ASIO drivers for the Mytek can be downloaded from HERE under support/downloads.