<p>Layered structures in rocks leads to severe mechanical anisotropy and significantly negates stability of stratums in underground engineering. Binder jetting 3D printing technology using cement can produce repeatable specimens and geometrically replicate natural fine layered rocks due to its high-precision characteristic and the relatively small size of printed bedding planes. However, the brittleness and mechanical similarity of binder jetting 3D printed cementitious materials with brittle layered rock is yet to be corroborated. Hence, this study presents a promising method of binder jetting 3D printing brittle layered rock using magnesium phosphate cement and investigates the influence of different printed bedding directions on acoustical and mechanical properties. Uniaxial compressive strength, split tensile strength, and brittleness index of printed rock-like specimens are compared with those of natural layered rock counterpart to evaluate their mechanical similarity. Failure analysis results show that the weak bedding planes in printed specimens results in acoustical and mechanical anisotropy, which is consistent to those of counterpart natural layered structures in rocks. The P-waves are measured along height of cylinder, and bedding inclination angle is defined as the angle between the bedding planes and the loading direction. As the bedding plane inclination angle increases, P-wave velocity decreases, tensile strength increases, and compressive strength shows a typical U-shaped variation trend. The printed specimens and natural layered rock counterpart show similar change in failure mode under compressive and split tensile loadings. The high similarity of printed specimens in brittleness indexes, strengths, and failure modes to those of natural layered rock counterpart proves that cement-based binder jetting 3D printing is an effective technology of fabricating certain layered rock specimens, such as weak or medium strong shale, sandstone and limestone.</p>