Mark Levinson 32 or Audio Research Reference 3

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 .

I own a Levinson No. 32 preamp (includes phonostage cards). It is currently a back up unit (my primary unit is an Emotive Audio Epifania with remote control). I really like its flexibility and incredibly useful remotely controlled features. As far as the sound, frankly, there is something missing. Yes, it is a pleasant sounding unit and does not do serious damage to the sound (the same cannot be said of the pre-Reference 3 AR linestages which sound extremely bleached and unpleasant to me). However, the No. 32 is a touch too "polite" sounding to me and slightly less lively sounding than the better tube units.

I've only briefly heard the Ref. 3 and Ref. 5, so I don't know their full capability, but, I do know they are substantially better sounding, to me anyway, than prior AR gear.

If you can do without remote control, the Audionote (uk), Kondo, and Shindo stuff should be auditioned. These tend to be on the warmer side of neutral, but, don't suffer from being sluggish sounding as a result.

I only briefy heard the Veloce (battery powered tube linestage) at an audio show, but, what I heard was enough to make me at least think about it as a possible purchase (it is remotely controlled, a must for me).