Country of Origin
Reviewer: Marja & Henk
Financial Interests: click here
Sources: PS Audio PWT; Dr. Feickert Blackbird MKII/DFA 1o5/Zu DL-103; Holbo Air Bearing Turntable System [in for review]
DAC: Mytek Brooklyn; T+A DAC8 [loaner]
Streaming sources: Devialet AIR; La Rosita Beta; Qobuz Desktop, Tidal Desktop; Sound Galleries SGM 2015 [loaner]
Preamp/integrated/power: Audio Note Meishu with WE 300B (or AVVT, JJ, KR Audio 300B output tubes); dual Devialet D-Premier; PTP Audio Blok 20; Hypex Ncore 1200 based monoblocks; Trafomatic Kaivalya; Trafomatic Reference One; Trafomatic Reference Phono One; Music First Passive Magnetic
Speakers: Avantgarde Acoustic Duo Omega; Arcadian Audio Pnoe; Podium Sound One; WLM Sub 12; Sounddeco Alpha F3; dual Zu Submisson MKI; Soltanus Virtuoso ESL; Audio Alto AA LA17 [in for review]
Cables: complete loom of ASI LiveLine cables; full loom of Crystal Cable cables; full loom of Nanotec Golden Strada; Audiomica Pearl Consequence interconnect; Audiomica Pebble Consequence; Audiocadabra Ultimus3 Plus Dual-Headed Solid-Silver
Power line conditioning: PS Audio Powerplant Premier; PS Audio Humbuster III; IsoTek Evo 3 Syncro; AudioMica Allbit Consequence
Equipment racks: Solid Tech and ASI amplifier and TT shelf
Indispensable accessories: Furutech DeMag; ClearAudio Double Matrix; Franc Audio Ceramic Disc Classic; Shakti Stones; Kemp polarity checker; Akiko Audio Corelli,Costello and Phono Booster; Pink Faun LAN Isolator; Farad external power supply
Online Music purveyors: qobuz.com, tidal.com, bandcamp.com, amazon.co.uk
Room treatment: Acoustic System International resonators, sugar cubes, diffusers
Room size: ca. 14.5 x 7.5m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls, wooden flooring upstairs, ca 7 x 5m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls and concrete floor downstairs
Price of review item: €2'995
"I want it all, I want it all, I want it all and I want it now" are the lyrics on Queen's eponymous track. And guess what – today's subject matches that cry from the heart to perfection. Welcome to Mytek's latest all-in-in digital to analog converter in a small foot print but with many extras. We love progress and Mytek aren't shy of continuous progression in their Brooklyn series of digital devices. It all started in 2015 with the Brooklyn DAC. To our eyes this was an ideal Jack of all trades which housed an ESS Sabre 9018K2M chip able to handle up to 32/384 PCM and DSD 256, which was Roon ready and supported MQA. It also was a headphone amplifier, an analog preamplifier and, as cherry on the cake, a phono stage. By 2017, the Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ had replaced the non-plussed original. Now there was the ESS Sabre 9028Pro chip plus a handful of improvements while the price stayed very reasonable. Here's our opinion on that.
DAC vs. DAC+
Soon after this, the American/Polish company released their Brooklyn AMP in the same small footprint, with the same high quality and a friendly sticker. Its class D power stage could deliver up to 300wpc. Owner/designer Michal Jurewicz is a busy man who not only runs the Mytek consumer electronics company but also Mytek the pro audio company.
At last year's Warsaw audio show, he introduced the latest offshoot on the growing Mytek Brooklyn tree, the Brooklyn Bridge. It took a while before we received a review sample but then it was in the house and we were having a great time with this tiny all-in-one with its extra extras. Based on the Brooklyn DAC+, we had the already familiar options whereby to process many different audio sources. Analog input from vinyl via MM or MC cartridge was welcomed by the internal phonostage or at the line-level inputs from an external phonostage. Output from a PC's USB would be read up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM or DSD 256. Input via S/PDIF format was also on the menu as was Toslink optical. Roon and MQA remained part of the deal while clever software drivers handled the secret handshakes with Windows, Mac OS and Linux using ASIO, ASAPI or native for the Unix variants. So what then set the Brooklyn Bridge apart from the DAC+? An additional USB port to support an attached hard disk; and networking capability.
For home use, 'mastering workflow' becomes streaming with the Bridge.
That capacity transforms the Brooklyn Bridge into a pure-blooded network streamer. Input from a (home) network enters hard-wired via RJ45 Ethernet or through the air via WiFi. Either connection is good for 24/192PCM and DSD64 with MQA. Tidal and Qobuz are easily managed with the free mConnect app. There is Roon support with the advantage of accessing Tidal and Qobuz off a shared screen. With mConnect one simply picks one or the other. mConnect also sees a USB hard disk connected to the Brooklyn Bridge. Mytek offer full DLNA/UPnP support for easy integration in mConnect and for the likes of JRiver.
