Mark Levinson No.512 CD Player---Opinions

Pkancel, what music do you listen to? Could you give me some specifics? What speakers do you use primarly?

First Stereophile has not reviewed the 512.

Bad news about the 512.

The last week in February, I went to play a cd on my 512 and the left channel had failed. Very soon, the left channel for the SACD playback would fail too.

My dealer did everything right and everything a dealer should do! And more! He kept pestering ML and they did not respond with an answer nor with a “RA” for over a month, but krept promising they’d get right back to him

Finally, I also called ML. Three weeks after I called I got a RA but learned that virtually all of the 512s had failed! The failure was so complete that all the units were being replaced, not repaired. I was told that something was failing on the grounding, the electronics that made it so silent on playback was shorting out.

I got back a new unit on Thursday. It is interesting that the items on the 512's display have changed. When you turn it on it says "Esoteric" not "Mark Levenson 512". It also says SACD 2 Ch instead of just SACD when an SACD was being played. ML assured me that that was just due to a software update, they use Esoteric transport, and will not affect their sound.

It’s just not what a company wants, advertising the competitor, I bet.

It sounds fine, but now I will have to wait some time to make sure.

Unlike Lefisc, my experience with Mark Levinson was great. Harold and Richard, in Tech Support, supplied me with a Technical Service Bulletin and modified circuit board to correct a potential grounding problem. Received the part via next day air and the dealer did the installation. Mark Levinson is a great company and the No. 512 is a great sounding player.

Whew! I am back from my weeks of straight work!
The No.512 was played through Salon 2's as well as Focal Scala Utopia III's. Both sounded great but I assume that it was a combination of the No.53's and the No.512 that made the system sing. I was aware of the failures and I was assured that that ML would stand behind theor products. I am not new to this hobby and I will tell anyone that I would rather buy from a $4 Billion dollar company like Harman that some of the small outfits as i have been repeatedly disappointed by the small guys. Dont get me wrong, I want the underdog to win but I keep being left high and dryby these guys.
UPDATE: I am buying the No.512 tomorrow and I will report as to my findings against my Burmester player.

Great to hear back from you Pkancel.

Are you going to be running the 512 directly to the 53s or will you be using a preamp?

What cabling are you using? I have the Studio 2's and will be upgrading soon to the new Stereovox Dragon line of speaker cables and interconnects?

Looking fwd to your findings.