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 an improved Manhattan II DAC (with optional MM/MC phono and network cards), combined with a Roon Core/Nucleus and a built-in 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 are expected to begin in late 2020 with shipping anticipated 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 could buy three Mytek Empires and have one for home, office, and boat.
Mytek Empire Preliminary Specs
- Network streaming DAC / preamp
- Roon Core / Nucleus server
- MM/MC phono input
- Mytek OS
- Dual 130dB 8-channel ESS9038PRO DACs
- 32-bit/768kHz, DSD512, MQA, DSD upsampling
- 17 × 14 × 3.5 in (432 × 356 × 89 mm)
You can read more over at 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 at 1:03:10.
Audiophile Style Interview — Mytek Empire Discussion
