Mark Levinson 39

lev: do you really want advice? ok, here's mine: don't buy the ml39. save a few hundred $$ more and wait for an accuphase 75v to show up on audiogon. you can run this one-box player direct, too. and, IMHO, it will, in fact, blow away your theta miles AND your ml "dream machine." i know you may find this hard to accept, but there are more people who believe that ml is NOT the be-all-and-end-all of highend gear than those who do; if this weren't true, then ml would have few, if any, competitors. fact is, ml has hundreds of competitors. as others have pointed out before: not everyone likes strawberry ice cream; that's why baskin-robbins used to make 31 flavors. just cuz your screen name is "lev" doesn't preclude you from tasting another kinda cone. and, you might even like it. happy hunting. -kelly

Cornfedboy maybe I will check that out. Thank you for your help. People understand I think the high end audio industry has alot to offer, is Levinson the best no. are there other companys that also offer great products of equal or greater sound yes. I just happen to love what I own and can everyone say that for what they own NO. I have had the other brands and I prefer what Levinson gives you interms of performance.

I owned an No.39 for 3 years, during which time I went back and forth on the issue of running it direct vs. using a separate pre-amp. There is a clarity and purity and image stability you get by running direct, which is mighty appealing. But when I would add a pre-amp, I always appreciated the extra ooomph I got out my system. With a high-gain amp or highly efficient speakers, it might have been a different story.

The Levinson is a great product, but it may be getting a little long in the tooth when it comes purely to the sonics of CD playback. In order to get it all in one box, including volume control, I don't think you will be getting the best CD playback available for $6K. The No. 37 transport in it is superb, but the No. 36 DAC is fair to middling by today's high-end standards, I think. -Dan

thats right

thats right,plus the39 is being updated to implement24/96 hence360-360s technology.but the39 killsthemiles , if you really need a39 for now buy a used one for half price. when running direct you lose a little dynamic punch compared to using a pre of high caliber,minimum of 380 s or 32 in a levinson only system or a art pre for superb sound. mike