Info on Levinson 390S????

I observed the same sterile and thin sound from the Levinson No.39 vs the Cary 306/200 which by the way, uses 8 Burr-Brown 1704 DAC's vs the less expensive Analog Devices 1853's in the Levinson No.390s. I believe the new Pacific Microsonics PMD-200 digital filter also contributes to the very pleasing and musical sound from the Cary. This filter does double-duty for HDCD as well as regular CD filtering. In the past, Cary used the PMD-100 for HDCD and a Burr-Brown DF1704 filter for regular CD playback.

The Levinson No.390s was not available for auditioning when I chose the Cary over the No.39 but with dealer discounting, the new Cary 306/200 was only slightly more expensive than a USED No.39 that didn't sound as nice. I'd love to audition the new No.390s but the local dealer doesn't have one yet.

I happened to hear this player a few weeks ago at Audio Outlet in Mount Kisco, while I was principally listening to some amplifiers. I believe it upsamples (I'm not talking just about oversampling, but using some kind of filters, etc. like the Purcell), and it was worlds better-sounding than the old 39, which always sounded comparatively sterile and thin to me. This unit had some harmonic richness and dynamics. A nice piece. Not sure how it compares to the separates, but a pleasant surprise.

The Analog Devices 1853 DAC in the 390S is one-fifth the price (per channel) of the Burr Brown 1704-K in the 360 and 360S. Of course, cheaper is not necessarily inferior, but it is interesting fact.

Hi Krocdoc; I read the info. on the 390S too, and it seems to me that the ML 360 is to the 360S as the ML 39 is to the 390S. So, my take is that sonically the 390S should compete fully with the ML 37 and 360S. I have the 37/360S combo.

But, I think the greater importance of this up-grade is the confidence that Madrigal Audio is showing in the future of the CD, ie IMO, they believe that the CD is going to be the primary music format for quite awhile yet.

I talked with a Madrigal Rep. awhile ago and he did say that they were of course, working on a multi-format digital player-- no time line though. Cheers. Craig.