Any recent experiences with the Mark levinson 512


I am contemplating the possible purchase of an ML512 and would very much appreciate any comments from 512 owners pertaining to performance, problems, etc.
I have read the older previous post and was looking for more recent feedback. Many thanks for your time.
rwherbster

Showing 2 responses by gnomus

I'm reviewing the 512 at home now as a potential upgrade from my ML390S. Wasn't really impressed with the sonic improvements, considering the cost, until I also upgraded my speaker cable from Gryphon blue to Nordost Valhalla. Also upgraded to Nordost power cord for the player as it made a discernible improvement to clarity, dynamics and soundstage; although the main gains in this area were provided by the Valhalla speaker cable. Comparing the 390S and 512 with the cable improvements in place for both is like chalk and cheese, or more appropriately, recorded and live. Redbook recordings took on a palpability, clarity, spaciousness and dynamism that is breathtaking at first hearing. SACD is the same but more so. In comparison the 390S sounded rounded and muffled, like listening through some kind of padded earmuff. The 512 sounds drier than the 390S, which sounds positively warm by comparison, however having attended a live orchestral concert only last night there is no doubt that the timbres the 512 produce are more accurate. As usual, a disadvantage of the 512 is that bad recordings stand out more while good recordings sound even better. Having said that the Led Zep remasters that sounded way too bright on the 390S (before the cable changes) sounded more bearable on the 512. I listen mostly to classical music, rock, contemporary folk and some blues. All good on the sound front then and convincingly much, much better than the 390S. The bad news is that the 512 error correction allows scratches to voice, that is scratches produce pops and cracks not unlike static discharge - very annoying! Also on one occasion the 512 simply stopped working in the middle of a track and went into standby for no apparent reason, it later replayed the same disc without problem. I should mention the demo 512 has something loose in the case which you can hear moving around if you tilt the case. I gather it came to my supplier in that condition. Whether this has anything to do with the above problems is impossible to say. Will probably not proceed with the purchase - given previous reports of unreliability who needs irritating problems at the price of the 512? A great shame ML can't make this a reliable unit. Will keep the Nordost power cord and speaker cable however.
Remaining parts of the system: interconnects are Valhalla driving ML33Hs directly from CD player. Speakers are SF Stradivarius Homage.
In the end I had no further trouble with 512 and bought it on the strength of its CD playback. As a matter of interest, as part of my research, I took the digital out from the 512 and ran it through a Berkeley Alpha Dac direct to the amps. The Berkeley was warmer but didn't have nearly the same clarity or sense of live presence, of harmonic and dynamic detail, the 512 gave the same material. Of course there was also an extra set of cables interposed, quality Harmonic Tech with AES ends, so they may or may not have contributed to the Alpha Dac not equalling the 512. Hope you've had some success in your decision making Rwherbster.