Dodson MKll D, Levinson 360S, dCS Delius

I like the dCS Delius the most, but you would need to go with the Purcell as well. The Levinson is dated technology and probably will not be upgradeable. The Dodson is the way to go if money is tight.

The dCS has to have 3 digital cables if you buy the Purcell for 24/192 upsampling. The Dodson is a one piece unit. Make sure if you get the Dodson, that it is the absolute most current version. Call Ralph to verify before you buy it.

Good Luck!

Try to listen to all of them first. I think the Levinson deserves consideration.

I replaced my Muse model 2 with a ML 360S DAC. It provided a dramatic improvement in music quality/character. I don't have any experience with the dCS or Dodson. In addition to music quality, two things I really like about the 360S are all the inputs, and it's built in jitter rejection system, ie you can feed it a jittered signal, and the 360S DAC re-clocks it. Happy Hunting. Craig.

......the ML 360S is fully up-gradable, and is already 24/96 compatible.

Drubin, I noticed in a previous thread you chose the Dodson
over the dCS. Did you also compare the 360S? and What are your thoughts on the Dodson now after living with it for a while?

Garfish, What were the greatest improvements the 360S had over the Muse 2?

Thank you.

Just upgraded the MUSE Model 8 and 296 dac for the audiomeca Mephisto transport and the Enkianthus dac. I couldn't do a long Analysis with the Dodson or the dcs. In the short term I found the Audiomeca better in resolution and voicing. The Muse equipment was abit analytical sounding. It is hard to give comparisons on most gear if you can't listen to them for long periods of time for necessary break-in. I would seriously consider the Audiomeca

Brandon;.......biggest improvements were in transparency and dynamics, and this was across the frequency range including bass which was both deeper and more articulate. PR&T are excellent too, but then the Muse 2 had good PR&T also. I found the Cardas Lightning AES/EBU digital cable to work better than Madrigal's cable between ML 37 transport and 360S DAC. Bottom line though, the 360S is very musical. Cheers. Craig.

Follow-up to Garfish: I went from a model two to the 36 (not nearly as good as the 360s) and found it to not only have much better frequency range (particularly bass), but much better imaging--the whole soundstage was much more coherent. JTinn: Now I'm curious why the 360S is dated technology and probably not upgradeable?

Levison speaks for itself. They make pretty much the best in digital seperates. There is better but it isnt the dodson or the dcs.buy a 36 and when you have the money send it in and upgrade it. The 360s is fully upgradable. I dont know where people get their info sometimes?/ good luck

When I owned my 360s, which I loved, I called Madrigal and asked if they would be supporting SACD with the 360s. They told me that they would support the Reference digital but probably not the 360s. The justification was thet it would be too expensive to upgrade. It is possible that things have changed since then, but regardless, I think the dCS is superior sonically. I have compared them and the dCS gear was the best I have tried in my system. I originally bought the newest Dodson and after speaking with a number of friends that had the 30.6 and 31.5, I sent the Dodson back. The reason was they had all replaced the ML Reference digital with the dCS gear and were all unanimously happier.

If you are impressed with the difference between 16/44 and 24/96, wait until you hear the difference between 24/96 and 24/192. It is beautiful.

Lev335: Are you speaking from expeience? You state that "it isn't the Dodson or the dCS", but have you even listened to either in your system? I doubt it. If you had, there is no way you would make that statement.