Mytek Manhattan

[Jaguar]

I wasn't at the club meeting, but I'm using the Manhattan as my reference at the moment and I listened to Bruce's Lampizator for a while at RMAF. The headphone setup Bruce had at RMAF was one of the best digital setups I've heard. I didn't expect good results with the Manhattan at the Club, because our system has exactly the wrong synergy for the Manhattan. The Lampi and its tubes have tremendous lushness that's perfect for the club system. The Club system is somewhat unforgiving; I've heard it sound great at times and at other times, with equipment having the wrong synergy or a bad recording, it can send you running for the exit. The Manhattan with its current firmware version is equally unforgiving of bad synergy. I'm guessing those who attended the meeting would describe the sound as Fatiguing.

The Manhattan firmware currently does 32/384 PCM upsampling. The resolution is so amazing I can hear all kinds of things I've never heard on my Redbook collection, but it does sound a bit lacking in color, which I would want to correct in other parts of a system. An upcoming Mytek firmware update in May will do Quad DSD upsampling. I don't care about hi-rez or native-DSD files myself, because I'm not going to go out and spend money on it. However, upsampling of my Redbook collection has been a revelation for me and I strongly prefer DSD upsampling, for its organic spaciousness and lack of PCM harshness (note that the Club demo files were native DSD). With the new firmware the Manhattan will have more tweakability than any digital converter I've used.

A user may well find they prefer the Lampizator overall, but I expect the problem with the club shootout was equipment synergy. If you can't get great sound with a unit of the caliber of the Manhattan there's a problem somewhere.

 

[SEA]

O'kay... here's the deal. The Lampi scored big time. It really wasn't even a contest. Everyone that I spoke with gave the Lampi high marks for its natural tone and coherency. Some felt the Mytek was really good at 256fs, but that went out the door when we started the second half with the Lampi.
To top it off..... there is a gentleman that is a member of our club that used to work for a major PCM DAC manufacturer. He said it was the best DSD he's ever heard and that every DSD DAC manufacturer should be following their lead.
I kinda' wanted confirmation of what I've been hearing the past year. I can't believe I've had this almost a year and it still never ceases to amaze me!
The Mytek is a very versatile and commendable DAC and it does a lot of things. It really didn't do anything wrong. On the Shelby Lynn cut, the mic overload was a little more unbearable than on the Lampi, but it just didn't move your soul. Another thing that I heard someone say. This was anecdotal, but a few folks heard the image shift between the DSD128fs and DSD256fs cuts. I think Mytek may be doing something different in 256fs and I'll have to do more testing when I have the time.
But for me.... and I think I can speak for the rest of our club.... The DSD champ last night was the Lampi. Thanks Lukasz. Can't wait to hear the Big 7 !!

Great review Bruce!

Can you make a few 24bit renders for the Lampi for us to hear?

Thanks!

SEA

 

[bmoura]

Great review Bruce!

Can you make a few 24bit renders for the Lampi for us to hear?

Thanks!

SEA

And some DSD renders....

 

[SEA]

Hey guys I need a little bit of help and clarity here!

I'm currently upgrading my studio and would LOVE to have the Lampi Amber for the DAC. I'm thinking for the ADC perhaps the Mytek Stereo192 ADC and then go THROUGH the Lampi Amber DAC for play back and rendering to DSD.

Now, can the Amber render to PCM as well or do I need to run my DSD renders through a 2nd ADDA to convert to PCM? Even if so, that would still seem like a great way to go since the Amber and the DSD render would be very high-end and translate on the PCM side of things for CD, Youtube vids, etc.

But what would I need to for connections (assuming if this can be done) on the Amber side of things?

Lukasz at LampiratOr said:

"We could make you a special version “for professionals” because we care about the pro people. No extra charge for that special attention to detail.
If you use Amber DAC it will have PCM as well as Toslink inputs for connectivity to your system. Please give me your decision on XLR balanced versus RCA SE."

I need USB connectivity which I believe the Lampi Amber has.

Any tips on just how to do this (if it's possible at all) would be GREATLY Appreciated!

Thanks!

SEA

 

[zerung]

I bet Fred at Lampizator North America could make that happen. Much as they are doing with the group buy of the Lampizator Amber DAC.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129350.0

Factory direct would be far more cost friendly.......
I would be very interested in the GG..... The upgrade from B7 to GG was breathless. But I may just bite - The B7 is so much what every one says and more.

 

[Bruce B]

New review up!

Stereomojo

 

[Jaguar]

New review up!

Stereomojo

I like the review. I find the sonic comparison with the Lampi very similar to my impression. To me the Lampi is more full-bodied (more vertical dimension), but I think the Manhattan dives deeper into the detail of the music. The Lampi is very easy to drop into any system for good sound, whereas the Manhattan is less forgiving and more of a thoroughbred; fortunately the Mytek has extensive tweakability and more coming in the firmware updates. Bruce mentioned he was able to listen to Quad DSD with the Manhattan, but I happen to know the Quad DSD upsampling will not be available until the next version of firmware. I'm guessing his Pyramix player is able to upsample to quad DSD in the player, because it can't be done on the hardware side yet (upsampling on gives you 32/384 PCM, with USB 2.0). Too me this upsampling is the greatest development in the latest wave of DACs. I first experienced this with the DirectStream; since 95% of my collection is Redbook I found it a revelation and could hardly bother to buy higher resolution versions of my albums. It should be noted that Jaguar offers the Manhattan, but I'm also interested in working with the Lampi at some point.

As for Bruce's impression of the design, yes, the buttons are difficult to pick out on the faceplate in low light, but as for the overall design, I differ. I find the Manhattan to have about the coolest case design of the products I've seen in this category. Bruce and I are relatively close in age and maybe I go for more exotic design than the average person. Mytek recently came out with the Black Manhattan because some of the older guys said the silver was too flashy. Some of these older guys also don't care for the lines on my Bully Sound S5 amplifier. To a certain extent I find manufacturers need to free themselves from designing for senior citizen audiophiles and take some creative license (or what many would call taking some chances). When manufacturers in the 1960s were coming out with one innovative design after another, I doubt they were asking themselves what would appeal to my great grandfather.

 

[bonzo75]

I like the review. I find the sonic comparison with the Lampi very similar to my impression. To me the Lampi is more full-bodied (more vertical dimension), but I think the Manhattan dives deeper into the detail of the music. The Lampi is very easy to drop into any system for good sound, whereas the Manhattan is less forgiving and more of a thoroughbred; fortunately the Mytek has extensive tweakability and more coming in the firmware updates. Bruce mentioned he was able to listen to Quad DSD with the Manhattan, but I happen to know the Quad DSD upsampling will not be available until the next version of firmware. I'm guessing his Pyramix player is able to upsample to quad DSD in the player, because it can't be done on the hardware side yet (upsampling on gives you 32/384 PCM, with USB 2.0). Too me this upsampling is the greatest development in the latest wave of DACs. I first experienced this with the DirectStream; since 95% of my collection is Redbook I found it a revelation and could hardly bother to buy higher resolution versions of my albums. It should be noted that Jaguar offers the Manhattan, but I'm also interested in working with the Lampi at some point.

As for Bruce's impression of the design, yes, the buttons are difficult to pick out on the faceplate in low light, but as for the overall design, I differ. I find the Manhattan to have about the coolest case design of the products I've seen in this category. Bruce and I are relatively close in age and maybe I go for more exotic design than the average person. Mytek recently came out with the Black Manhattan because some of the older guys said the silver was too flashy. Some of these older guys also don't care for the lines on my Bully Sound S5 amplifier. To a certain extent I find manufacturers need to free themselves from designing for senior citizen audiophiles and take some creative license (or what many would call taking some chances). When manufacturers in the 1960s were coming out with one innovative design after another, I doubt they were asking themselves what would appeal to my great grandfather.

Are you referring to Lampi's dsd dac? because the Big 7 with 101Ds is hyper detailed

 

[bmoura]

Are you referring to Lampi's dsd dac? because the Big 7 with 101Ds is hyper detailed

The demo by Bruce Brown he's referring to featured the 4th Generation Lampizator DSD DAC ($3,400) vs. the Mytek Manhattan DAC ($4,995), not the Big 7 ($10,500).
An updated comparison might include the new Lampizator Lite 7 DAC which sells for $5,200 - very much in the Mytek Manhattan price range.

 

[bonzo75]

The demo by Bruce Brown he's referring to featured the 4th Generation Lampizator DSD DAC ($3,400) vs. the Mytek Manhattan DAC ($4,995), not the Big 7 ($10,500).
An updated comparison might include the new Lampizator Lite 7 DAC which sells for $5,200 - very much in the Mytek Manhattan price range.

I am referring to the one referred to by fork, not Bruce

 

[wisnon]

The demo by Bruce Brown he's referring to featured the 4th Generation Lampizator DSD DAC ($3,400) vs. the Mytek Manhattan DAC ($4,995), not the Big 7 ($10,500).
An updated comparison might include the new Lampizator Lite 7 DAC which sells for $5,200 - very much in the Mytek Manhattan price range.

The Lite 7 is also DHT and DHT and DSD is a love affair. For me, a Lite 7 will have a higher level of DSD playback, but not for Bruce, as the Lite is SE and Bruce runs Balanced.

Bruce would need a Bal Big7 to fully exploit DHT DSD.

 

[bmoura]

The Lite 7 is also DHT and DHT and DSD is a love affair. For me, a Lite 7 will have a higher level of DSD playback, but not for Bruce, as the Lite is SE and Bruce runs Balanced.

Bruce would need a Bal Big7 to fully exploit DHT DSD.

Actually I think Bruce was talking Golden Gate the last I heard....

 

[wisnon]

That WOULd be news to me. What's up Bruce…let us know if you have demoed the DHTs in your system yet…No need to give any spoiler alerts, just acknowledgement.

 

[bmoura]

That WOULd be news to me. What's up Bruce…let us know if you have demoed the DHTs in your system yet…No need to give any spoiler alerts, just acknowledgement.

What Bruce said was he would like to try one of the Lampizator DHT DACs. I don't think he has obtained one for testing yet.

 

[Bruce B]

What Bruce said was he would like to try one of the Lampizator DHT DACs. I don't think he has obtained one for testing yet.

Would love to have the Balanced GG in here. No word from Lukasz yet...

 

[Jaguar]

Are you referring to Lampi's dsd dac? because the Big 7 with 101Ds is hyper detailed

I believe the Lampi units I've heard have been the 6 and the 7. I've heard both the Lampi and Manhattan at the same time, with the same headphones. That said these two DACs are so vastly different in character that I don't think an ongoing direct comparison is necessarily called for. Too often the conversation about a DAC starts with the premise that a DAC is a DAC. In my mind the Lampi is an ultimate Analog DAC and the Manhattan is an ultimate Digital DAC. Nobody should buy a Manhattan if they're going for the virtues of the Lampi or vice versa.

The Lampi has remarkable balance from top to bottom and a very musical rounding of the extension that makes it easy to drop into any relatively neutral system with great results; I find the Manhattan much more challenging to get right in a system. I haven't heard those more expensive Lampi models and no doubt they have a lower noise floor, but the Manhattan as I said is Digital (in character). There's a quality in the Manhattan treble that digs into the micro-extension of the treble detail that I don't believe the design of the Lampi will allow, even with the higher models. What I'm referring to is that listening to the Manhattan, even with relatively lower-end headphones, like the new Audeze EL-8 I can make out so many lyrics, echos and other details in my music library that have never been evident before (I'd say this resolution is particularly focused in a certain region of the treble rather than the entire frequency spectrum). I've experienced this before with other products, but nothing like this. That's really what makes the Manhattan unique (plus the entire package of features).

 

[bonzo75]

I believe the Lampi units I've heard have been the 6 and the 7. I've heard both the Lampi and Manhattan at the same time, with the same headphones. That said these two DACs are so vastly different in character that I don't think an ongoing direct comparison is necessarily called for. Too often the conversation about a DAC starts with the premise that a DAC is a DAC. In my mind the Lampi is an ultimate Analog DAC and the Manhattan is an ultimate Digital DAC. Nobody should buy a Manhattan if they're going for the virtues of the Lampi or vice versa.

The Lampi has remarkable balance from top to bottom and a very musical rounding of the extension that makes it easy to drop into any relatively neutral system with great results; I find the Manhattan much more challenging to get right in a system. I haven't heard those more expensive Lampi models and no doubt they have a lower noise floor, but the Manhattan as I said is Digital (in character). There's a quality in the Manhattan treble that digs into the micro-extension of the treble detail that I don't believe the design of the Lampi will allow, even with the higher models. What I'm referring to is that listening to the Manhattan, even with relatively lower-end headphones, like the new Audeze EL-8 I can make out so many lyrics, echos and other details in my music library that have never been evident before (I'd say this resolution is particularly focused in a certain region of the treble rather than the entire frequency spectrum). I've experienced this before with other products, but nothing like this. That's really what makes the Manhattan unique (plus the entire package of features).

The demo with Bruce was the DSD dac which is level 4 equivalent. The 4 and 5 are different from the 6, which is much more different from the 7. Bruce is waiting for the GG, which is the spruced up version of the 7. It took me two minutes to decide how much better 7 is than 5 and 6. Just put some complex music in. The lower levels aren't detailed, while 7 is unbeatable.

 

[paul79]

Why does every damn thread go Lampizator? I think the cheerleading has gone on enough... (that ought to get some attention!) lol

 

[bonzo75]

Why does every damn thread go Lampizator? I think the cheerleading has gone on enough... (that ought to get some attention!) lol

All roads lead there.

This thread started with Bruce's review, and someone compared the Mytek to the Lampi, so that by itself would have left incorrect information unless the dac level was correctly specified. Kind of saying Wilson, without specifying which model, could even be the center channel

 

[paul79]

All roads lead here man.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...9DLiHzhN-Xlm0aIAjrbYYVg&bvm=bv.96339352,d.aWw