Mytek's Michal Jurewicz has been hard at work ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to temporarily relocate to upstate New York. Michal told us he was working on a new flagship streamer and would soon have further details. This was followed by several weeks of radio silence and we learned about the Mytek Empire announcement the same way as most others - on Facebook.
The appropriately named Empire could be considered to be something of an improved Manhattan II DAC (with optional MM/MC phono and network cards) plus a Roon Core/Nucleus plus an iPhone touchscreen for display and control.
We can also spot what appears to be a custom-made upside-down 4-pin XLR jack for balanced headphones. The unusual dual 6.3mm TRS balanced headphone outputs of the Brooklyn series or Manhattan will not be joining the Empire.
We'll be placing our order with Mytek as soon as possible. Pre-orders will begin in late 2020 with shipping expected in early 2021. The Empire is estimated to sell for $20,000 USD. While this may seem expensive, for the price of one Boulder 2120 streamer, you can buy three Mytek Empires and have one for home, office, and boat.
Mytek Empire Preliminary Specs
Network streaming DAC/Pre-amp
Roon Core / Nucleus server
MM/MC phono input
Mytek OS
A pair of 130dB 8-channel ESS9038PRO DACs
32-bit/768kHz, DSD512, MQA, DSD upsampling
17x14x3.5" (432x356x89mm)
You can read more about it over on Darko Audio: Mytek's Empire-building plans laid bare or listen to Audiophile Style's interview with Michal in the video below. Discussion of the Empire begins 1:03:10 into the video.
