The Levinson Sound?

I’ve heard No. 334 and X150.5 in the same system for a few hours when a friend was trying to decide to replace his 334 with the Pass unit. At the end we both agreed we liked the No. 334 better so he decided to keep it. His had gone through a major (and expensive) service which included new capacitors and a couple of other electronics a few months before the comparison. I must add the sound after the service got dramatically better so an unmolested unit may not sound much better than the X150.5. The Levinson just sounded fuller with more uniform sound top to bottom. By comparison the Pass sounded a bit disjointed across the frequency range with some frequency ranges sounding more forward and others relatively more recessed. Don’t know how to describe it any better.

I had a 336 which I really liked, but after replacing the caps I sold it and tried several different other amps.  

I could have easily lived with the 336, but now have JC1 mono's which to my ear are a little more lively and open than the 336.  Neither amp will fatigue and both are fantastic.  The 336 is the best of the 3xx series IMO.

Good luck.

I've often heard that Levinson's amps have a "dark" sound to them. What does this mean? I see the 33 and 33H's come up for sale from time to time and wondered if they are as good as folks let on. They are out of my price-range but I am curious about them.

I feel the 3 series is still the best amp Levinson has made today. I have owned 331, 334.332 and now the 335. In all fairness i have heard the 4 series and did not like them at all. The newer 5 series i have not heard them enough to pass opinion. The 3 series had the cap problem, but once corrected is a great amp. To me it was the older Levinson pre amps that sounded dark not the amps. The Levinson 3 series does not have the bass slam that the Krells of the same age had. But for me they where better across the board. For me the best cable to put with the 3 series is Transparent cable the Reference line or higher.  I have had friends tell me when they listen to my system that it has a tube quality sound when matched up. The Highs and Mids are very detailed and sweet sounding.
enjoy Pete