Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 vs Mark Levinson 585.5

I wonder how he phono stage card of the s2 sounds?

Depends why you are buying. If all you care about is how much you can get for resale then buy the brands that spend the most on advertising. While your friends will recognize it and you can brag about it ,. truth is for real audiophiles the most marketed brands never hit the mark, no pun Intended. Your Mark Levinson of today is a Harman Kardan. Mark or Tom Colangelo or Dick Burwen had nothing to do with its design, yet without those 3 you would never have heard the name. If we took a Cello from 30 years ago which was marks Pinnacle, it would embarass a ML of today. So its hard to say unless even you yourself know why you are actually buying the brand. For many its simply association with a famous brand of yesteryear one that still has a huge ad budget so it is reassuring to see current advertisemnents of what you just bought. Only thing is that the Audio Quality is disconnected. You have been trained that is good hifi through terrific advertising. Jeff Rowland gear is different. Its understated and overperforming. Jeff still runs his company each day and has not sold out to this day. So theres more integrity and better performance from Rowland, and theres better recognition  from the Harman Kardan Mark Levinson.    .  

I ended up going with McIntosh C2700 and MC462. Demo'd the Mark Levinson in person and while good it didn't quite do it for me. 

Based on auditioning the JRDG 625 S2 and the ML 532 in my system as an indication, I would go with the ML.
This is of course if the above stereo amp equivalents are good proxies for their respective integrated amps.

I I have met Jeff and owned his products and both are stellar. He’s an audio icon.
All that said the ML 585 integrated amp is a really fine piece of gear. At 6k used it would be very hard to exceed. I doubt that JRDG would disappoint as well. IMHO

the 585 and 585.5 are identical in every respect except for a built in phono stage for the 585.5
unless you hear it in your home you won’t know how good it is. the 5805 is built to a lower price point but regardless ML is building their gear at the highest level.comments based on past lore and hearsay are not meaningful. also i’ve had great support from harmon on a couple of revel issues.

I agree, have been a Roland user for the past 10 years. Great stufff and tremendous customer service. ML was great stuff 20 years ago.

Go for Rowland better sound,better service, better company.

Make sure you get a price on the lower end of their going rate, under $6k ideally. I know the 585.5 is technically a few years older than the 5805 that preceded it, but imo, the build quality on the 585.5 is far superior.

The ML unit is very good. Universally praised. 

gmercer
Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 vs Mark Levinson 585.5

 This should be no contest, go the 33kg ML585.5 it’s a well designed linear amp with a great pedigree.
https://www.stereo.net.au/images/articles/Images/2955/ml_no585.5-top_rt__large_full.jpg

The JR Continuum2 Class-D boards come from Sanway Audio in China and were made for subwoofer use, moded a little by Pascal in EU. Red Dragon US also used them in their S500 $2k Stereo Class-D

Contiuum2 https://ibb.co/s1gn5G5
Chinese Subwoofer plate amp https://ibb.co/kBHf1S4
Red Dragon https://ibb.co/0sy2JtH

Cheers George

Any others you are missing? Yes, zillions...

Lyngdorf TDAI-3400
Anthem STR Integrated
Devialet Expert Pro
Parasound HINT6 (180x2 @8ohms)
NAD M33 (coming in March) or the existing M32
Bel Canto Black ACI600
Classe Sigma 2200i
Peachtree Nova 300 or 500
Musical Fidelity M6si or M8xi
......

I've heard the ML 585 a couple of times at dealers and at shows, mostly with Revel speakers, and to be honest thought they sounded mechanical, restrained, and uninspired.

On the other hand I've auditioned the Continuum S2 with Spendor D7.2 speakers, it was an incredibly incisive yet musical pairing. The inky black background of the CS2 was stunning, and made for a very deep and open sound stage. The instrument timbre was also very "right". If it's the choice between those two, CS2 has my vote.

i’ll testify that the ML 585 or 585.5 are the real deal. if you don’t need phono they are identical and used 585’s can sell for 6-7k which is unreal. i have high regard for jrdg but if it’s a class d design it wouldn’t be for me.
there is another top integrated that has a lot of positive vibes and that’s the newest krell unit.  however for 6-7k the 585 isn’t going to be exceeded imho without a huge jump in price. at 12k list it seems underpriced in this crazy audio world. many raves about it.