New DAC - Lavry DA11 or Mytek 192 (or Lynx Hilo)

[masteringdigital]

I recommend the Lavry DA11
Crazy audiophile converter + volume controler

[Red Mastering]

with this budget, according to users of this very forum -
forssell mdac, the best dac money can buy (reasonable amount of money

[newnes]

Thanks guys! Yeah I've got my eye on the Forssell as well. I guess I was hoping to keep it closer to the $1500 side of things but if it's that much better...

I'm liking the Lavry black at the studio more and more so I'm leaning toward that for home but I guess I'm mostly wondering if anyone has tried the Lavry DA11 head to head against the Mytek 192 DAC? ...

[Jezzta667]

I have the Hilo and am very happy with it despite the current shortcomings in the firmware (they're working on it). I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has A/B'd the Lavry DA11 and the Hilo as I was on the verge of buying a DA11 when I was told about the Hilo.

[Weiss]

Happy Mytek 8x192 user here, i compared to cranesong and lavry gold converters, there is some diferences but for the price i prefer mytek.

[priko]

Originally Posted by Weiss

Happy Mytek 8x192 user here, i compared to cranesong and lavry gold converters, there is some diferences but for the price i prefer mytek.

THe Mytek DA192 is not the same design than Mytek 8x192, it sounds better more transparent, just a little less analog and natural than My best Forssell MDAC

[Mixtree Audio]

Violectric V800 by Lake People, GmbH

Stunning. Beyond words. Has a re-clocked/de-jittered s/pdif out. USB input too like the Lavry.

[bslobodian]

I just have good words for the Mytek DSD DAC 192. The only problem is that it reveals flaws of recordings/mastering like never before (I previously had a Mytek Stereo96) - but that's not a problem, right

Bernard Slobodian
Home | Small Mastering Studio

[JP__]

I like my Mytek 192-DAC a lot, but never listen to forsell...
Especially like his dynamic behaviour.

[newnes]

Okay this great! I've done lots of searches on here and I can't find a lot of actual user feedback on the Mytek 192 DAC. Revealing flaws and brutal honesty is exactly what I'm looking for cause that's what we're getting at the studio with the DA11 and it's helping us make better tracking decisions.

The price and feature set on both the Lavry and Mytek is great, though slightly different (width control and remote control volume on Lavry, extra connections on Mytek). I think the word clock on the Mytek is going to clinch it for me though. I plan on ordering a Mytek and comparing it directly to the DA11 on the Barefoots at the studio and Twins at home and I'll review my findings cause I don't think anyone has done that yet.

[bslobodian]

Newnes,

I don't know what is "remote" for you but the Mytek also has remote control capability with any Universal Remote Control using RC5 standard. Haven't tried it yet -don't really need it in my setup- but will try it soon.
I don't know about the DA11, but can tell that when I compared the DA10 -and the Benchmark which I owned at the time- to the Mytek Stereo96, I really felt that it was a complete different beast. For me, the only logical step was to go for the DSD DAC 192 and I can only say that I was not disappointed.
FWIW: never got accustomed to the "volume switch" of the Lavry. The rotary encoder of the Mytek does... what it's supposed to do ! - in an ergonomic way.

Bernard Slobodian
Home | Small Mastering Studio

[nms]

In contrast, I have developed a love affair with the Lavry volume switches! I'd go for a Mytek 192 or more likely a Lynx Hilo next (more channels, AD/DA).. but I've come to love quickly dialing in to specific volume levels and not so sure I can give it up now.

[Jezzta667]

Lynx Hilo has just top scored in the loopback converter shootout test.

The Ultimate Converter DA/AD Loopback Shootout Thread!

If that helps.

[MasterBlasterUK]

Originally Posted by Jezzta667

I have the Hilo and am very happy with it despite the current shortcomings in the firmware (they're working on it). I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has A/B'd the Lavry DA11 and the Hilo as I was on the verge of buying a DA11 when I was told about the Hilo.

Yo Jezzta667 is the firmware sorted out yet? Am thinking of buying a Hilo!

Dont worry u seen "the feedback loop test" yet?
Regards M.B.

lol just seen your post...

[Andrew Kinsey]

Originally Posted by newnes

Okay this great! I've done lots of searches on here and I can't find a lot of actual user feedback on the Mytek 192 DAC. Revealing flaws and brutal honesty is exactly what I'm looking for cause that's what we're getting at the studio with the DA11 and it's helping us make better tracking decisions.

The price and feature set on both the Lavry and Mytek is great, though slightly different (width control and remote control volume on Lavry, extra connections on Mytek). I think the word clock on the Mytek is going to clinch it for me though. I plan on ordering a Mytek and comparing it directly to the DA11 on the Barefoots at the studio and Twins at home and I'll review my findings cause I don't think anyone has done that yet.

I think the shoot out is deffinately worth doing. The Mytek 192 Dac is very new and like you pointed out there are no user reviews about yet.

I did manage to AB the Mytek 96 Dac against the DA11 not so long ago using 44.1k source material and felt that both sounded exteremely similar, very revealling converters and transparent.

I was however AB'ing them out of curiosity and not with the intent to buy them (we already had bought them for demo usage) so splitting hairs to determine which one was not neccesary.

If i had to choose it would probably be based on price and feature set, as they sounded too similar for me to really call.

[Red Mastering]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Loving my Ross Martin Audio dual Bare Beast DAC. It uses 4 Burrbrown pcm1794 DAC chips in a dual mono configuration. It is extremely quiet and a large dynamic range, about 132 db. It has USB, optical and S/PDIF inputs, balanced and RCA outputs. I had it built with Analog Devices ADA 4898-1 opamps, super clear and quiet too.

I paid about $260 for it.

that sounds very interesting, and I can see Jim you mention it from time to time,
could you test it vs a few well known contenders ?
benchmark/lavry/mytek (others)
price seems to be kinda user friendly

[david L]

I'd go both....not enough MEs are prepared to present options as opposed to their opinion based on purchase

[Slug1]

Recent Hilo purchaser here. Love it. Upgraded from Apogee Rosetta 200. BIG step up. But the Apogee Symphony 2X6 looks incredibly beautiful as well.

[Lagerfeldt]

I have the Mytek 8x192 and I'm very happy with the sound. However, I think I'll be testing a Hilo to see if it's even better in my system. No holy cows here.