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Mark Levinson Where is the Emotion??

Hello to all,

My system:

ML no. 35 dac
Muse Model Five transport
stock power cords, no line conditioners
Custom built diy speakers
Denon 1803 receiver
Generic 16 ga speaker wire
Acoustic Zen MC2 AES/EBU from transport to dac
Silver interconnects

The problem that I'm experiencing with this setup is when I sit down to listen I find myself more times than often falling asleep rather than being engaged in the performance. While it sounds smooth, airy, open, rich, non fatiguing, etc.. it fails to convey the emotion of the recording. Not to say the no. 35 is a bad dac, it's a great dac but it just doesn't seem to do what I'm wanting.

It may get better with a higher quality transport, but I can't afford a megabuck transport. Eventually I will upgrade the speaker cables and the receiver to a quality integrated, but I don't think this would help much with the problem at hand although I could be wrong. I was thinking of just ditching the dac and transport altogether for a one box solution such as the Electrocompaniet EMC-1UP player since I was reading that it was quite a musical player or possibly try another dac and transport combo (this time one made for each other) such as the Northstar M192 combo. Has anyone else with a Levinson dac experienced the same problem as me and if so, what did you change to? Thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.
162db

Showing 2 responses by 162db

162db OP
5 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. I know that the Denon receiver isn't the greatest, however, I remember being drawn into the performance more and having my attention directed more towards the music when I had an ARC Dac-1 (20 bit version). I know people reading this are thinking why does he have a Denon receiver and a Levinson dac? Well, I piece mealed this system. I'm not sure if the No 35 is the weakest link, but I do remember reading about instances where people went into show rooms and left unimpressed after listening to a full Levinson setup stating that it sounded good but they weren't drawn into the performance.

Unfortunately, there are no reviews of the No 35 to be found online. It seems few people have owned this dac which makes it more difficult to ascertain the cause of my problem. I was also curious of a one box solution since it would mean less cabling to deal with and I would gain the benefit of having an integrated transport.
162db OP
5 posts
 
Thanks for all of the responses thus far guys. This community is really great :) I know there are many areas of my system that could be improved upon. Perhaps I should start with upgrading the transport and the receiver. I was thinking of a Theta Jade transport and a Plinius 8200 MKII, YBA YA-201, or Primare 30.1 for the integrated. I would be looking in the used market.

I'd like to go with an integrated amp rather than separates due to budget constraints and simplicity. Any other suggestions? Is my Acoustic Zen MC2 AES/EBU digital interconnect capable of getting the most out of the Levinson dac or would I need to change that as well? One thing I have been thinking about for a while...I'm currently running single ended analog interconnects. Would it be a worthwhile investment if I switch to balanced (after I get an integrated amp with balanced connections)? Also, could you suggest some interconnects that would help me get the most out of my dac?
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