MYTEK LIBERTY DAC II

soundstage, with a slight loss in clarity. Queueing up none other than Michael through my company’s MAATgo plug–in anyway, I instantiated it leaving the balance no soundstage depth and a slimmer width. In addition, the bottom was severely diminished. It was a more academic, less involving presentation. Overall, the groove factor was less, the Liberty II was more…alive.

The Liberty DAC II lacks a very rare feature that Mytek used to include but no longer does…the ability to bypass MQA decoding on command. Fortunately for me, I was listening to last year’s energizing and cleanly recorded Dance Fever by Florence + The Machine [TIDAL 48/96k MQA]. Since, for this review, I stuck exclusively to playback via Amarra Luxe, I realized I could insert a certain plug–ins in the chain and use that plug–in to force an MQA bypass. Since I usually listen collapse with an accompanying loss of low end heft. Also, the top end diminished and grew faintly mushier. All that as I moved back and forth from un–decoded 48k to fully unfolded 96k. Did I mention I always prefer an MQA–encoded version to Red Book 44.1 if available?

In the case of Dance Fever, I was fortunate to have two 96k versions at hand; the MQA–encoded TIDAL version and the FLAC–encoded Qobuz version without MQA’s increased focus. Between the two, I preferred the MQA render, with its temporally tight little somethin’ extra.

Shifting from pop to the jazzier side of the street, Gregory Porter’s Take Me To The Alley [TIDAL 48/96k MQA] from the album of the same name is a close mic’d piece. Porter’s textured, mellifluous voice combines with Alicia Olatuja’s subdued doubling to good effect. Tivon Pennicott’s mellow horn driven by Emanuel Harrold’s pillowy trap drums is painted as a relaxing thing of beauty by the Liberty DAC II. Out of curiosity, I dug around for the deluxe edition of Esperanza Spaulding’s Radio Music Society [TIDAL 48/96k MQA]. Interestingly, the Liberty II

Mastering engineers in particular value timbral honesty, at least in principle. That means confining “color” to “effects” hardware or plug–ins, where distortion can be applied on an as–needed basis. Professionally, I came up in my customer’s mastering suites, honing my listening skills on many truly reference–class pro playback rigs. Approaching the latest Mytek converter, my expectations were that it should not only better my original Brooklyn, noticed prior. Comparing it to Snarky Puppy’s Grammy Award–winning Sintra [TIDAL 44.1k MQA], the puppy chow was markedly larger, lusher, far more dynamic and enveloping; better in every way from an audiophile perspective. I love both artists but Esperanza’s Craft release sounds like it was recorded with some fairly low rent gear, and that’s even with the help of a higher sampling rate. clearer, more open and honest portrayal of the incoming data stream than any DAC I have recently reviewed, and I was not disappointed. Despite its unassuming appearance, relative affordability and pleasantly diminutive size, the Liberty DAC II brings the listener closer to an artist’s intent than any converter I’ve heard at anywhere near its price. It may be too honest, too linear for some folks who want a velvet