Esoteric F-07, F-05, Levinson 585


I’m going to trade my Naim Star in for a better integrated.   My choices are: Esoteric F-05, Esotric F-07 or Levinson 585.  I have not heard the new Levinson 5805 yet as it has not hit dealer shelves yet.
I only put the F-07 in because I might not need that much power in my 12x12 listening room. My speakers are Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII with Nordost Frey 2 cabling.
I like a tight bass and not so bright highs.  Any comments would be appreciated as I have never owned these brands.
 Thanks.

trailmusic
Tralmusic you may want to upgrade your Star for a bigger Naim rig.

Right now Naim is running a promotion of the NAC 272/preamp dac and a Nap 250, this combination is dramatically better than the Star.

In our shop we have the Naim Atom, Star, Nova, Nac 272/250 combo, 

as you go up the models you get far better sound. 

Naim can sound very addictative in what it does vs other components.

The Naim sound is warm, punchy, very dynamic and musical. 

With certain speakers the Naim sound can be very hard to beat.

Then you also have the additonal cost of adding a dac and or a streamer with the Esoteric which are analog only devices. 

Also you may want to open up your choices to some of the other high quality integrated amplifiers.

Other units we would recommend the new Krell K300i is awesome and comes with a great dac and streamer, $8k 150 watts class A sound very open and very smooth and musical.  

The new Anthem STR amp and preamp has more power than you need, but the combo sounds really good and comes with a great built in dac and room correction. 

The room correction feature is a huge improvement for a 12 by 12 room as you have the perfect disaster a square room, so room correction can really help with less than perfect rooms. 

We would highly recommend that you consider units with room correction, this would include the Micromega M150 at $7,500.00 
and the Anthem Separates which are very impressive for a $10k package. 

Heard the Levinson gear at Axpona it was a very clean but boring presentation standard Levinson. 

The Esoteric gear is excellent we haven't heard the new intergrateds.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ, Anthem, Naim, Micromega, Krell dealers
Thanks so much for your comments.
What is the promo price for the NAC -N 272 and the 250 DR combo?
I do need a pre with a streamer.
How long is this promo on?
I think I read somewhere that a new pre was coming out......NAC282.

The combo price is around $11k which drops off about $2,500.00 from the price. 

There will be a new one out but not this year, so they are probably drawing down stock. 

There is a gigantic difference between the Star and the Nac 272/250 combo, in our shop we have the Atom, Star and Nova and then we also have the NAC 272/250/XPS 2 and the NAC 282, NAP 300dr, NDX 2 combo.

Even though the NDX 2 is much newer there is not as much difference as you would think from the NAC 272/NAP 250dr combo which just sounds so amazing for the money.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Naim dealers
Mark Levinson No 585 is superior to anything listed here including the Naim and Esoterics. I own the Mark Levinson 585 and the Esoteric I-03 Integrated, the predecessor to the F-05 and F-07.

Go with the 585 and get a great integrated you will keep!