Digital Analog Converters (DAC) in recent years are achieving better and better sound quality, with some getting smaller and lighter that, yes, can still be considered of audiophile/high-end quality both in sound and construction–and at a lower cost than one might think. Some of these newer smaller DACs have a variety of integrated features from among volume control, a preamp for analog input, headphone amp, phono stage–and even amps and streaming, in some cases. This trend is yet another example in high-end audio, where the meaning of ‘integrated’ has been expanded to describe any audio unit that incorporates several functions for your audio system.
Certainly a prime example of this progress is demonstrated by the Brooklyn, New York based company Mytek, which, in mid-October 2017, released the object of this review, the new and improved Mytek Brooklyn DAC +. I am grateful to Mytek President Michael Jurewicz for promptly sending me a unit for review.
I had spotted the DAC + at the recent RMAF 2017 (Denver Colorado, early October) in the lobby with Jurewics, where it was being debuted and was sufficiently impressed to accept his offer of reviewing it. As a Manhattanite, naturally I was initially interested in reviewing the much more expensive Mytek Manhattan II DAC; but the tiny size, lower price, and extraordinary array of included technology in the new Brooklyn DAC + truly intrigued me.