Levinson 360 vs Benchmark

The Benchmark is better than alot of people think. It performs quite well with the proper power cord, line conditioner and IC's; as well as isolation and digital cable. It is incredibly resolving, projects a wide, believable soundstage and does a great job at retrieving those little nuances which create the emotional involvement most look for. Mine did well with the upgraded fuse (HiFi Tuning). I didn't realize how great the Benchmark was until I upgraded to the Berkeley Alpha Dac. While the Berkley is much more resolving and much better in many, many ways, it isn't better by as much as I thought. The little bugger really surprised me. It wasn't blown away by the Berkeley. The Becnhmark, in my opinion, was half as good, which, compared to the Berkeley, is pretty good. Give a warmed up, broken Benchmark with good IC/PC, etc a listen and I think you will be very surprised.

I'm listening to my Benchmark as I write this. I went with an MIT power cord, Kimber interconnects, and a Locus USB cable. The quality of the DAC1 took leaps forward when I had Chris Johnson of Parts Connexion modify it for around $500. So I'm still not in for the megabuck DAC prices, but I'm 3extremely pleased with what I'm hearing.

Thanks for all th input so far - please keep it comming :-)

Thedautch -
May I ask what mods were done by Parts Connexion?

I ran a first gen Benchmark next to my Levinson 360s for about two weeks (borrowed it). On my system the Levinson took the brass ring ... I like the Benchmark and I will probably buy one just to play with. I might even invest in a mod or two but I don’t think it will ever match the Levinson. Of course looking at the retail price for the two units it should be obvious. I was running a Wadia 23 into both DACs for the Redbook CD test. I spent a couple days going back and forth and then switched to my PC's S/PDIF out. I just love the FLAC files fed into the Levinson upsampled to 96Khz. That being said; if and when the 360s dies I will need to do something. Repairing Levinson gear it simply insane and I won’t do it. That is what started my search for a suitable replacement DAC. The 360s is running great for now and I will do everything I can to keep it going, however I haven’t had the best luck with Levinson gear. I see the 36's and 36s DACs showing up every once in a while and the price is pretty manageable. I would be very interested in doing a side by side, if I can ever get my hands on one to test out. Stereophile did a review of the 360s that I read sometime back and as I recall stated the 360 sounded noticeably better than the 36 or 36s but my system is pretty modest so maybe not so much.

I'd like to say it was close but no so on my system ... the Levinson reigned supreme. It had added a level of clearity and removed the grain from my Redbook CDs. It gives my turntable a run for the money on the certain discs. I wouldnt describe it as "analog" but the best digital can offer, at least the best I can afford.

Horseface
Many thanks-
Your insights and experience is extremely helpful. I really like the prospect of a Levinson DAC but did have some of the concerns that you addressed in your post. I purchased a Levinson 380 pre because I used to own a 380s and really like that piece. I still have concerns with it due to the repair issues you spoke of and those concerns cause me to hesitate before purchasing any additional ML gear. I sold a Krell FPB600 due to the same concerns with that company. I had a much smaller item (not the 600) repaired by Krell and the cost was almost as much as the item in question was worth. The repair was VERY minor, I would cringe at the thought of making any repairs that could be more involved. The ML pre I have will hopefully be trouble free for a few years. It’s a shame the high end industry is taking such a turn, it’s not a way to stay health in this economy – or any other for that manner.
It seems you have a very nice system, I’ll bet you get a great deal of enjoyment from it. Mine is very much down scaled from what it used to be. I believe I can still piece together something that I enjoy anyway. I just need to be a lot more careful these days. (grin)
I’ve almost decided I need to steer away from the ML dacs, as much as I love them. Huge repair bill just don’t fit my budget these days. Expensive items that have become, in the case of repair, ‘throw away equipment’ can just ruin ones day. I have previously owned a 30.5. In my opinion it was the best to be had in its day and would probably still be competitive with almost anything out there today. Well those days are gone for me so I am in search of more reasonably priced items that still sound good.
All my best –