John
With Mytek Digital US headquartered a matter of miles from the Marriott at The Brooklyn Bridge, it’s heartening to see another local company supporting their regional show despite also signing on for RMAF in Denver in two weeks’ time.
Since I was last hands-on with the Mytek statement DAC at T.H.E. Newport Beach in June there have been several tweaks exacted on this impressive looking – and sounding – beast.
The buttons on the front fascia have been enlarged and the thickness of the top plate doubled for superior structural rigidity.
On the inside, the Manhattan shares a similar-ish circuit to its well-received but still pro-clothed Stereo-192DSD DAC. However, a bigger box means bigger power transformer and concomitant doubling of current output on the headphone output of which there are two.
One thing you might not know is that the Manhattan can serve as both digital and analogue pre-amp; the rear hosts both balanced and unbalanced inputs as well as the usual array of digital inputs for which the end user must switch from digital to analogue volume attenuation using the inbuilt menu system.
Recently added is the optical SDIF input that allows for digital streaming from SACD players from the likes of Meitner and Playback Designs. Mytek’s Chebon Littlefield tells me this is of bigger concern in Germany, Japan and China than it is in the USA. If such functionality can be added without affecting the sticker price then why not?
Back to analogue, Littlefield says Mytek are also in the final stages of testing the optional MM/MC phono card although designer Michael Jurewicz doesn’t think it will see light of day until CES 2015 at the earliest. “We only have one chance to get it right so it has to be right”, he said.
The Mytek Manhattan DAC is now in production and will sell for a flat US$5k.
Further information: Mytek Digital
