Throughout, the Liberty was never less than engaging if the Mytek were to remain here, the rHead would sit most games out. Besides, playing with Roon’s EQ I could get them to sound very close to each other. Which sounded better depended on the phones being used the Mezes low-end richness favoured the Mytek’s cleaner, leaner take whilst the Sennheiser Momentum on-ears responded well to the Arcam’s greater body.ĭifferences were small though, the brain quickly settling into the respective sonic signatures. The rHead gives us a richer sound, greater palpability and stronger bass. The Liberty offers greater clarity, incisiveness and low-end control. Against an Arcam rHead – a very good £400 headphone amplifier – the two were hard to separate on enjoyment factor despite a Yin-vs-Yang take on sound reproduction. ![]() The Liberty’s headphone output is lifted from the Brooklyn after 100 hours’ burn-in, it proved invaluable in reviewing the Meze 99 Classics. The acoustic bass wasn’t quite as extended or rich and the detail in the complex arrangement was more difficult to follow. On the opener from Tord Gustavsen’s Extended Circle, the delicate brushwork on the drums showed less air. ![]() Qualities all consistent with marginally lower resolution. Only in comparison with the Ayre AX-7e’s pre-amp section did it exhibit a slight softening of the sound, a little less detail and a slight shortfall in bass response. In absolute terms, the Liberty volume control sounded good. The Liberty is designed in the USA but built in Poland, whence Michal Jurewicz originates. A dimmer would be helpful.īuild quality is good, everything feeling solid the Polish clearly know how to put things together well. At full tilt, needed for DAC duties, the LEDs could land an aeroplane at Heathrow. Those front-panel lights are just too bright. Operation is simple, the different functions of the control knob being easy to master, particularly as a fixed-volume DAC (on/off – easy). A sixth light indicates standby & file type (including, usefully, MQA). The front panel comprises a 6.35mm headphone socket, control knob and the lights, the latter indicating volume or input. The Liberty will also fully decode MQA streams. All other inputs (2 x S/PDIF, 1 x Optical, 1 x AES/EBU) reach 24bit/192kHz and DoP DSD64. Judge yourself in the photos.Ī typical set of contemporary-DAC inputs is available USB2 scales the heights to 32bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD256. It runs slightly warm so a little ventilation is required. It neither pleases nor offends my own aesthetic sensibilities but I prefer some boxes to be tucked out of sight and the Liberty is small enough to do just that. Akin to a big paperback, the Liberty’s smaller form factor makes lugging it between locations a realistic option. Size wise, the Liberty loses 1⁄3 of the Brooklyn’s width, the other dimensions being identical (140mm x 216mm x 44mm WDH). You can’t use an external word clock with the Liberty though. As with the Brooklyn you can also use an external power supply. Outputs remain single-ended and balanced, the latter requiring TRS adapters – 1⁄4” jacks to you and me. Conversely, no fretting whether Ringo sounds better with the minimum phase or the brickwall. The Liberty’s DAC doesn’t give us filter choices, so no fine tuning of the sound. The Brooklyns’ display has also gone bye-bye replaced by a row of multifunction lights on the Liberty, and the headphone output is single ended only. What gives when downsizing to the Liberty? Most noticeably, analogue the little guy lacks the analogue/phono input of the Brooklyns and the volume control here is digital only. If true, at £900/€995/$999 the simpler, smaller Liberty is an enticing proposition. Three indicators, one from the horse’s mouth, that differences are more functional than they are audible. CEO Michal Jurewicz has also said on a handful of occasions that the Liberty is almost as good as the Brooklyn. Mytek said this translates to the Liberty’s sound quality sitting between the two. Neither was on hand for comparison – that’s for a possible follow up article – but specifications-wise, the Liberty splits the Brooklyns, mating the ESS9018K2M chip of the original with the improved output stage of the Plus version. Does the Mytek Liberty DAC (preview here) deliver half the sound quality of the Brooklyn DAC (review here) and Brooklyn+ DAC (review here) on which its design was based? ![]() Half the size, half the functionality, half the price.
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