Hi all... Just took delivery of a Manhattan II with network card (no phono preamp as yet... likely upgrade soon). Note that I am coming from a PS Audio DS and before that, an Auralic Vega. My setup, real quick, is running the Manhattan as preamp to BMC M2 mono amps which power a pair of Focal Utopia Scala (v1). Most of my music is stored in a Sony HAP-Z1ES server connected via usb to the Manhattan.
All in all, I am blown away. I cannot speak to Lumin or Aurender, but I cannot imagine resolution, tight bass and overall dynamism to get better than this. $7K is a lot of money but you get what you pay for. As someone said, the PSA DS was a bit softer... great if you have a bright system. For me though, the Manhattan hit the sweet spot. The Vega was good too but somewhat less sophisticated and mature compared to the Manhattan’s sound signature. Michal at Mytek has hit a home run. My only suggestion to Michal moving forward would be a better quality network card. Mine quits working every now and then.
All in all, I am blown away. I cannot speak to Lumin or Aurender, but I cannot imagine resolution, tight bass and overall dynamism to get better than this. $7K is a lot of money but you get what you pay for. As someone said, the PSA DS was a bit softer... great if you have a bright system. For me though, the Manhattan hit the sweet spot. The Vega was good too but somewhat less sophisticated and mature compared to the Manhattan’s sound signature. Michal at Mytek has hit a home run. My only suggestion to Michal moving forward would be a better quality network card. Mine quits working every now and then.