Mark levinson 30.5 and 31.5 vs todays cd playerrs

It never ceases to amaze me how many Levinson haters there are. If someone does not like their products or should I say they already have a preconceived notion they won't, then the negative reviews unjustly fly. I have owned several ML pieces and liked everyone of them. I don't own one at the moment but know several people who favorably do. They all say the same thing about the naysayers. Either they can't afford it or just hate the line. Typical Krell owners.

To tell you the truth a very good friend of mine who has owned more equipment than most of us will in our lifetime says he loves Levinson. He does not understand why people hate them so much. He borrowed my #36 dac a few years ago and did not want to give it back. At the time he had a 331 amp and 38 preamp.

Wow, Levinson defense force mobilize! Levinson makes some good and some great products (for example, I feel that their 326S pre is something special which is why I own it) but that doesn't change the fact that many of their recent line of products simply can't compete in terms of performance with more contemporary products. If that wasn't the case, they wouldn't be updating almost they're entire line this year. afaik, the only products that will remain in the lineup are the 326S, No51 and an updated No40 (True HD and DTS HD MA decoding, etc.); everything else is either EOL (No32, 320S, 390S, 33H, 432) or will be this year (pretty much their entire line of amps).

Frankly, given the performance of the 326S, I can't wait for Levinson's new products, particularly their No33 preamp which will be going up against the Ayre KX-R to find a place in my system later this year (assuming the No33 makes it out in H2 08 as expected). If I didn't have the Ayre MX-Rs I'd also be exited about the No53 and the higher end reference monoblocks. It's time to let the old Levinson out to pasture and embrace the new and improved Levinson which looks like it's going to be a huge step up performance-wise.

I do agree their current line of 400 series amps is something to be desired. I don't know what they were thinking? Levinson used to build large beefy amps with nice big heatsinks. To me that is an amp, not one without them.

great equipment even by todays standards but I prefer the Spectral cd transport and dac, I find them a little warmer sounding

I currently own a ML #35 dac and a Muse Model Five transport. They are connected with an Acoustic Zen MC2 aes/ebu digital cable and all I have to run it is a cheap Denon 1803 receiver. This setup is definitely the most analog, richest, and smoothest sounding I've heard to date but doesn't quite give me the 3d sound and presence that I like. Do you think it would be worth my time and money looking into a separate amp and pre-amp?

I plan to in the future but I want a good foundation to start on first. It is to my understanding that I have a fairly good digital cable so I hope there's no problem there. It is also to my understanding that the 30.5 trounces the 35, but I can't afford a 30.5. My first setup was a Marantz cd-67 se used as a transport feeding the signal to a Theta DS Pro Basic dac.

That setup was nowhere near as rich, detailed, smooth, and analog sounding as the ML 35 I have now, but it had some decent presence and to me was quite vivid. Somewhere along the upgrade path I lost my way. Should I try a different transport? Or is the ML 35 simply not capable of delivering the vivid 3d sound stage and presence which I desire? I was thinking about possibly trying an Accustic Arts dac-1 if I can find one in my budget range ($1500-$2000). Suggestions would be most welcomed and greatly appreciated.