How does the digital bypass on home theater processor work

@bomber52

I didn’t quite understand your question.
So you want to use your Mytek Brooklyn DAC Plus as a DAC/preamp for your stereo needs and you wanted to connect your Mytek to your AV pre pro? Is that right? What pre pro do you have? All AV pre pros have built-in DAC. And you said your pre pro does not have DAC? What kind of AV pre pro Is that?

The analog bypass or digital bypass mode on the AV pre pro means simply bypassing the DAC, DSP and other digital processings in the pre pro so that it will be used as an analog stereo linestage preamp. But you will still be using the linestage preamp (volume control) section in your pre pro. You control the volume in your pre pro. And you can simply use your Mytek Brooklyn DAC Plus as a DAC only (source component only) and disable the volume control by setting the output of your Mytek Brooklyn to fixed gain and connect it using analog interconnects to your pre pro.

Cause people who normally have the Mytek Brooklyn DAC Plus and if they want to use it both as a DAC and a preamp as well (using volume control) will connect the Mytek Brooklyn directly to a power amp.

It will still be possible to use your Mytek also as a preamp and use the volume control in the Mytek but first you will have to select the analog bypass or digital bypass in your pre pro then connect your Mytek via analog to any stereo analog audio input (usually aux input) on the pre pro and set the volume of your pre pro at 80 out of 1 to 100. Cause 80 (out of 1 to 100) is usually a reference setting for unity gain in linestage preamp. But it isn’t advisable and I wouldn’t do that if I were you.

I would set the output of your Mytek to fixed gain thus disabling its built-in volume control and use your Mytek as DAC only (source component only) and use the volume in your pre pro and set your pre pro to analog bypass or digital bypass mode whatever you wish to call it. That way you will be using your pre pro as an analog stereo preamp when listening to stereo music sources through your Mytek Brooklyn DAC Plus. Does that make sense?

What kind of pre pro do you have? Some high end pre pros are good when used as an analog stereo preamp in bypass mode. Such high end AV pre pros such as the Bryston SP3, Classe SSP 800, Classe Sigma SSP, Krell Evo 707, Krell 1204u, Meridian Ref 861 v8 will sound quite musical and pretty good when used as an analog stereo preamp in bypass mode (analog bypass or digital bypass mode thus bypassing DAC, DSP and other digital processings in the pre pro). It isn’t the same as a HT bypass or HT passthrough. HT bypass or HT passthrough can only be found in stereo linestage preamps or stereo integrated amps. You will not find this feature in AV pre pro. HT bypass or HT passthrough feature means disabling the volume in the stereo linestage preamp and the signal will forwarded straight to the power amp.

Or if you have a lower end pre pro that does not perform well when used as a stereo analog preamp in bypass mode then you can add a good quality stereo analog linestage preamp that has a HT bypass or passthrough feature. Then you can connect your Mytek Brooklyn DAC via analog to any analog linestage input on the stereo preamp and connect your pre pro to a HT bypass input on the stereo preamp. So when watching surround movies (home theater) you control the volume from the pre pro and select the HT bypass input on the stereo analog preamp. But when listening to stereo music sources through your Mytek Brooklyn DAC you control the volume from the stereo analog preamp and you don't even have to turn on your pre pro at all.

I think you might be thinking of this backwards.  The idea is to run the front L/R preouts from the prepro to an analog input on the Mytek.  That way only the Brooklyn is in the playback chain for critical 2-channel listening and the prepro is completely out of the circuit.  I don't think your DAC has a HT bypass function, so you can just choose a reference volume level on the Mytek and use the prepro to balance the channels. 

Doing it the other way, the Mytek's signal would have to go through the prepro before going to the amp, which kind of defeats the purpose.  Hope this helps. 

I don't think the Mytek Brooklyn DAC Plus has an analog input. After all it is a DAC that happens to have digital volume control built in. 

Thanks for the help. Let me restate what I am trying to do so I am sure that I have it correct. I am combining my existing stereo system with not yet purchased home theater system-thinking of Anthem AVM 60 or Classe Sigma SSP used or new possibly Rotel 1576 or 1582 if in the buget.
I would just like to plug my existing Mytek DAC+ in to the processor and use the bypass because the Mytek has MQA steaming and also phono stage which so far the used processors I am looking at do not have the phono option. So from what I have been told this will work? Moving to Mexico so I need to get this right. Also thinking of Krell S-1500 or Theater Standard as well as Anthem 5 channel power amps all used so I don't have to pay duty unlike the Rotel products.

Given what you're looking to do, and that unfortunately the Mytek looks like it only has one analog input that presumably will be taken by your turntable, you'd just run the analog out from the Mytek into the front L/R analog inputs on the prepro.  It's unfortunate because the output from the Brooklyn will have to pass through the prepro rather than passing directly to the amp. 

Maybe someone else has a thought, and just spitballing here, but if there's a high quality RCA 2 to 1 switcher that could take the outputs from the turntable and the front L/R outputs of the prepro and plug that into the analog input on the Mytek that could possibly be a workaround.  If you were confused before, I'm sure this only makes things worse. 

If 2-channel is relatively more important to you, a potentially cheaper way to go would be to get a decent AVR (Anthem, Yamaha, Marantz) to handle multichannel processing and amplifying your center and surround channels and buy a good integrated stereo amp with a HT bypass function.  With this setup, although you wouldn't be using the preamp function of the Brooklyn, only the DAC and integrated would be in the signal path for 2-channel and you could switch to HT with the push of one button.  This is the generally the way most people do it when combining a stereo and home theater system into one.  I think what you're trying to do is seamlessly pass through the signal from the Mytek through a prepro using an analog pass through (bypassing the volume control) on the prepro.  I'm not sure that pass through function exists on a prepro (unless maybe there's a way to use the tape loop to do it?), but regardless you'll end up having to send the DAC's signal through the prepro, which is really what you should be trying to avoid from a more purist perspective -- hence the recommendation for an integrated amp above. 

Now that I've probably got you thoroughly confused you I'll just sign off and leave you twisting.  Heh heh.  Just kidding -- I really am trying to help here.  Oh, and don't drink the water. That one's simple.