 I reviewed the original Mitek Liberty DAC mid-2018 and liked it. Now there is a successor and it has been upgraded drastically. The original Liberty DAC was essentially a Brooklynon budget. No analog input, no display, only single ended headphones output and simpler electronics. The Brooklynness end of life, the Brooklyn Bridge 2 Rune isn't but that has a Rune core on board and costs more than 4 grand. Interesting surely but a less direct relation to the Liberty DAC 2 on review here. But let's first see where to place the Liberty DAC 2 in the stereo. The Liberty DAC 2 is to be connected to an amplifier using analog interlinks via either balanced outputs on XLR or single ended outputs on RCA. The amp needs to be connected to a pair of loudspeakers unless you use headphones of course. If you want to play music directly from your desktop or laptop computer, it can be connected to the Liberty DAC over either USB, SPDIF or Toslink, depending on the available connections on the computer. If you are in for higher quality, you should use a network player that is connected over a network to your computer or NAS, that now can be placed elsewhere in the house. Choosing what music to play is usually done on a smartphone or tablet. If you want to know more about how network audio works, see my video on how network audio players work. Since the Liberty DAC 2 has 5 digital inputs, you can also connect other digital sources like a CD player, a game console or a TV. In goodbye tech tradition, the Liberty DAC 2 has a sturdy metal housing with a black anodized aluminium front panel. It is only 140mm wide, 225mm deep and 44mm tall and weighs 2kg. On the front left the 6.3mm headphone jack with next to it the input selector that doubles as a power button when pressed longer. Short presses let you select one of the five inputs indicated by LEDs. The bit depth, MQA and sampling rate are also indicated by LEDs. On the right the volume control with around it a circle of LEDs that indicate the volume setting. The rear is rather crowded with on the left the IEC mains input, SPIDF 1, SPIDF 2, TOSLINK, USB audio class 2 and AES-EBU digital inputs. The balanced analog outputs are now on XLRs and not on TRS jacks as on the first version. The single ended analog outputs are on gold-plated RCA's. Here we find the clearest differences with the first incarnation of the Liberty DAC. For now it has a linear power supply that even switches to the grid voltage present as long as it is between 100 and 240V AC. This small transformer probably is powering this circuit. The large toroidal transformer has four secondary windings, two deliver six volts for the digital circuit and two 15 volts for the analog audio. The AC low voltages from the transformer are converted here to DC and buffered by a total of 48000 microfarad capacitance. There are several local voltage regulators, even the headphone amp and line outputs have their own. These are clamped against the left side wall by a brass bar, so using the cabinet to dissipate the heat. This part of the PCB holds the digital input and processing circuits with a Burr Brown digital interface and an exiling processor that does the MQA processing. The conversion is done by the ESS9038 Q2M chip, the light version of the 9038 Pro that is used in the Brooklyn Bridge. To fit the headphone output, this Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 chip is used that according to the datasheet can deliver one volt at 16 ohm load. The current to voltage conversion and the output buffers for the line outputs are located here. And let's end with a short comparison between the Liberty DAC 2 and the previous edition. On the left version 2 with a linear power supply and on the right the first incarnation with a switch mode power supply. The circuit board of the two also looks a lot more crowded. By the way the DC power input on the old model didn't return on the Liberty DAC 2 since it already has a better power supply abort. Using the Liberty DAC is very simple. Select your digital source or sources to the inputs on the rear. Keep the input button pressed for a longer time until you hear a click. Wait till the LED stops flashing and select the input you want to choose by pressing the input selector until the LED next to the input leads. The Liberty DAC 2 comes with an Apple remote control that lets you choose the input. Set the volume and the mute. The original Liberty DAC had no remote control. Likewise the Liberty DAC 2 has its place in my reference setup 2A. Watch my videos on the reference setups I published two weeks ago. The single ended analog outputs were connected to the Marantz k-outperl light that drives the acoustic energy radiance 1 loudspeakers and the RLT-5 subwoofer that is also connected to the loudspeaker terminals. The digital source was the LO-USB signature, powered by the LO-Shanty and running Roopy Roon Endpoint software. A normal CAT 6 patch cable connects the USB signature to the upturn audio ether region switch. The Roon Core runs on the Grimm Audio Mew one in my setup 1 downstairs. The Liberty DAC 2 is a clear upgrade from the original Liberty DAC. This is where the original Liberty DAC was already a good sounding product. The sound of the Liberty DAC 2 is more relaxed, has a cleaner mids and highs, has a better sibilance control. The spatial information remains better intact and there is more focus. It is closer to the original Brooklyn and therefore I scale it in the lower part of my setup 1B. Make sure you use a proper digital source, there is much to gain from a good streamer or network bridge instead of a computer, or worse a laptop. The Mitek Liberty DAC 2 retails for €1500 including 21% VAT in Europe or $1500 excluding sales tax in the US. That's 50% more than the original Liberty but as I have shown you, it is a largely different beast and many first gen Liberty owners spent €350 to €500 on a linear power supply at purchase or added it later on. In that light there isn't a great difference in price with the new one. It has every popular interface for input safe I2S and does PCM to 384 kW, DSD256 and is MQA certified. The higher sampling rates need the USB input by the way. In short, the Mitek Liberty DAC 2 offers a lot for the money. And that brings us to the end of this video. As usual, there will be a new video next Friday at 5pm central European time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to my channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumb up or link to this video in the social media. It is much appreciated. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and lets me improve the channel further. If that makes you feel like supporting our work too, the links are in the comments below this video on YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com And whatever you do, enjoy the music.