Mark Levinson 32 or Audio Research Reference 3

I never had a Tube component in my house before. The AR REF3 is priced right and it seems to be a safe purchase. The Levinson 32 is a little harder to find and costs a little more. They are both Reference preamps, I don't know what to expect since I never heard either of them, that's why I could use some help from anyone who had a chance to compare them, both these preamps are highly desired. I can't afford to buy them together so I am hoping to hear from enough users about their experience with these preamps, this way I will be able to make my final decision, currently I am a little bias towards the Levinson 32.
The proceed AVP2 sounds great, I can only imagine when a real reference preamp would do to my sound, I want to get this purchase right and lay back.

I ve both heard them multiple times although not in my own set unfortunately.
The ml 32 in a high resolution system can produce a certain neutral pure livelike velvet sound i have not heard from competitors.
My favorite together with zanden , my nagra is also very neutral and is a very good analogue engine .

Indeed its a tube versus SS decision as mentioned before

I have the 23.5 powering my upper panels on my Martin Logan Monolith IIIP's and a ML3 powering my woofers and I use a Ref 3 as my pre-amp. I find the Ref 3 works wonderfully with my setup. I have not heard the ML 32, but knowing the Mark Levinson quality, it is probably on par with the Ref 3. Take both home and listen to make an informed evaluation and purchase. Most stores will allow you to take units home for evaluation if you give them a credit card. do not change anything else. Don't play with cables or other components. Do a directly comparison and hear the differences.

enjoy.

I owned the #32 and switched to the Ref 3 and never looked back. The Ref 3 sounds more real to me. The 32 did sound great in it's own way.

Hello Trance .. I owned the Levinson #320S and then went to the A.R.C. Ref 3 . The A.R.C.s sound was superior , but not it's built quality . It was less than 3 years old when I started to have issues with it . The A.R.C. just had more life , I have owned many Levinson pieces and the only negative I can think of is , they had a slightly dark sound . I am now using Ayre's KXR and cannot say enough about its sonic virtues . It seems to be a good match for my Levinson power amp .