Mark Levinson 390S


Very interested inpurchasing this unit, but also very concerned about obsolescence.

Has anyone heard anything about this unit being upgradeable to process either sacd or dvd-A in the future. I expect that it won't because of the tray/transport mechanism.

Any thoughts would be helpful.
humphry
No, it is strictly CD only, that was how ML designed it.
They never intended it to be upgradable. But it does compete with some of those hi-res players.
If I'm not mistaken the DAC can handle DVD-A, thus with a different transport you could send it the DVD-A data stream. I'm not completely sure about this, you may want to call Madrigal.
There has been some talk of Mark Levinson (the company) developing a universal player. I believe this is more likely than another upgrade for the old ML 39 platform, even though I don't perceive any insurmountable impediments posed by the tray/transport mechanism for the 390s. A universal player is likely to be a completely new product versus a "ML 3900sx" extension with an upgrade path from the existing 390s.

Perhaps history will remember the 390s as one of the last one-box CD players that could present redbook material competitively against the new formats. Sort of the state of the art at the end of a product cycle. I bought a Sony VCR a couple years ago, the SLV 1000, realizing that the manufacturers were devoting all their energies to improving DVD players and that subsequent new VCR models would be progressively cheaper and less durable, capable, innovative, etc. The SLV 1000 was the best I could get for my "last" VCR. Let us know what you decide. Good luck.
Mark Levinson is working on a hi-res player. You might want to wait a little if you want hi-res formats.