Does the Mark Levinson 331 suck?


I bought this amp on it's name and reputation alone and I do not like what I am hearing. I don't know if it's a system matching problem (I don't think it is) or what. I sold a Marsh a400 for this and the Marsh smokes it everyway. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Someone please help me!
kevin66
Old thread indeed and another reminder it’s a great amp but the 300 series had bad caps that didn’t aged well and costly to replace. Anyone thinking of buying one should make sure it’s been recapped or buy it dirt cheap.

This is an older thread but, I wanted to chime in anyway. I owed some serious gear in the past 40 years. I do own and listen to a Marsh A400s and A200s, I also tried there preamps but for me they fell a little short. Both marsh amp are excellent amplifiers and do better than much more expensive amplifiers. Mine is paired with a Bryston BP-6 preamp or a Aragon stage one for back up use. The amp is pretty darn close to any Theshold amp, and I love Threshold. The Marsh is very deatiled but lacks just a bit in micro detail. Midrange is very very clear and bass is very good! Not the deepest bass but its just enough. Im not a head banger anyway. Both Marsh ams are very well built and use high quality parts throughout. The A400s is a step up, not just in power but sound quality as well. I do use a Bryston DAC as well. I wouldn’t pony up more money for just a fraction more in sound. ML, Krell, Theshold and others are all extremely nice but at cost! The Marsh amps are a giant killer! Good speed! 

I had a 331 until a couple of years ago. Other than being a pain to move around, it was an excellent amp (fully serviced and recapped). Effortlessly powerful, neutral, analytical and drove my Martin Logans or Spendors very well indeed. So why did I sell it? Firstly, I got the opportunity to buy a mint pair of Michell Alecto II+ monoblocs - amps I'd always wanted, and which turned out to be on another level from the 331 altogether. Secondly, for my main system, I decided to try out one of the more neutral and incisive valve amplifiers - an Octave v110SE (with KT150s), which turns out to be a quite ridiculously good match for the rest of my system. So the Michells are in my vinyl system in the music room, while the Octave does duty in the main digital system. Which left nowhere for the poor old 331 to go. Which doesn't however make it a less than excellent amp