Mark Levinson 534 compared to Pass 350.8


Has anyone heard these two amps?

Any thoughts comparing musicality, dynamics, holographic qualities and jump? 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Best amp I ever had was the VTL 200. But I bought it as a demo and if I called the company

I was treated with complete contempt so I realized it would not work in the long run if I had any problem and it needed to be fixed.

But that had everything I wanted if anyone has heard it.

Looking for that warmth and musicality in a solid state. 

My pre is the ARC ref 10 which is not going anywhere.

roxy1927

Is it just these 2 in the mix?  Coda seems to be more of the goto comparison/competitor with Pass for warmth and musicality than Levinson.  The solid state I have longer term experience with that has warmth, musicality,  and great tone is Circle Labs.  It is a hybrid,  but it still looks 95% solid state to me, however much impact the 2 little tubes have.  If you need that much power, you'd have it and then some if you can do monoblocks. 

@roxy1927 I would add Pass X260.8 into the mix. I had these amps driving my Wilson Sabrina and they’re outstanding. Plenty of Class A power as well. Good synergy with ARC Ref 6 that I had for few weeks on loan. Unless you really need the power of the X350.8, I’d opt for the mono blocks.
Haven’t heard Levinson in a long time and don’t know how it matches with the ARC preamp.
Coda is amazing as well but if you’re running balanced interconnects might not be a good match with ARC preamp due to Coda’s relatively low input impedance.

If you mention your speakers you might get better and more accurate recommendations.