In the last 2 weeks I had the chance to listen to my MK III for the first time after going through a series of repairs, right after my upgrade to MK III. Let me explain:
After I got the SDF-2 back from the upgrade, I plugged it in, but found it to be grayish and less detailed than my Levinson 390S, but there are things this DAC does so right for my taste that I forged on to find a Assemblage D2D. While the Levinson upsamples internally to 192 kHz, it does not put out an upsampled signal.
By the time I found an Assemblage, the SFD was broken (it took me a year to find an Assemblage) and I called Anthem / SF and they were ulrta nice to me and said they would fix it free of charge. Excellent service!!!!!!
Anyway, I just got it back 2 weeks ago and I've listened to more CD's than I have in years. It is that good indeed.
I'm feeding the signal from the Levinson through a balanced Nordost cable to the Assemblage to the SF SFD-2 MK III via the Is2 interface cable and to me, it is sonic heaven. While the Levinson alone might be a little more detailed in the highs, together with my Magnepan 3.6, it just never made music. Too bright. While Levinson might be slightly more accurate in some ways, the SF gear makes me feel like I'm hearing music with all it's warmth, impact and emotional involvement. It sings and I love it.
Based on this, I just bought a SF 3 Transport, which I hooked up tonight.
I'm listening to it as I write. If there is a difference between the Levinson and this, it will take me a while to figure it out.
Bottomline is this. The MK III gives me goosebumps and that's my ultimate measure in musicallity as I've gone to many concerts of my dads brassband.
I don't often change equipment andf I feel sorry for the people who are in a constant chase of the "equipment of the day" and never get to actually appreciate what they have. Assemble someting that works for you and stick with it for a while. It might just grow on you and that's a beautiful thing.
Ultimately, if you are considering a SFD-2 MK III, it's a awesome piece of equipment!
Peter Feller
PS: The Buena Vista Social Club CD's really are that good.
After I got the SDF-2 back from the upgrade, I plugged it in, but found it to be grayish and less detailed than my Levinson 390S, but there are things this DAC does so right for my taste that I forged on to find a Assemblage D2D. While the Levinson upsamples internally to 192 kHz, it does not put out an upsampled signal.
By the time I found an Assemblage, the SFD was broken (it took me a year to find an Assemblage) and I called Anthem / SF and they were ulrta nice to me and said they would fix it free of charge. Excellent service!!!!!!
Anyway, I just got it back 2 weeks ago and I've listened to more CD's than I have in years. It is that good indeed.
I'm feeding the signal from the Levinson through a balanced Nordost cable to the Assemblage to the SF SFD-2 MK III via the Is2 interface cable and to me, it is sonic heaven. While the Levinson alone might be a little more detailed in the highs, together with my Magnepan 3.6, it just never made music. Too bright. While Levinson might be slightly more accurate in some ways, the SF gear makes me feel like I'm hearing music with all it's warmth, impact and emotional involvement. It sings and I love it.
Based on this, I just bought a SF 3 Transport, which I hooked up tonight.
I'm listening to it as I write. If there is a difference between the Levinson and this, it will take me a while to figure it out.
Bottomline is this. The MK III gives me goosebumps and that's my ultimate measure in musicallity as I've gone to many concerts of my dads brassband.
I don't often change equipment andf I feel sorry for the people who are in a constant chase of the "equipment of the day" and never get to actually appreciate what they have. Assemble someting that works for you and stick with it for a while. It might just grow on you and that's a beautiful thing.
Ultimately, if you are considering a SFD-2 MK III, it's a awesome piece of equipment!
Peter Feller
PS: The Buena Vista Social Club CD's really are that good.