Mark Levinson 32 or Audio Research Reference 3


My next upgrade will be a preamp and I want a Reference. After doing some research I have narrowed it down to these two. Can somebody who had both shed some light in how they compare in sound? I have Levinson gear at home so I am excited about the 32 however I can't ignore the possibility that I might be losing out if I don't go with the Audio Research Ref 3. Need help, Thanks

My System:
Mark Levinson 23.5
Mark Levinson 27.5
Proceed AVP2
Dynaudio Confidence 5
Dynaudio 1.3SE
Meridian 508.24
DH Lab Air Matrix Cable
Monster M1 Cable
trance

Showing 1 response by darkstar01

The ML 32 is an excellent pre-amp and has an excellent build quality. What I beleive is that it really comes down to is do you like the Levinson sound? For me, as much as I dreamed about owning levinson gear in the past, when it came to how good does it sound to me, it wasn't my top choice. To put it another way, there was no soul to the sound!

Why aren't you considering the REF 5 instead of the REF 3? It seems the REF 5 should be on par from a price standpoint to the ML 32nd and a big step up from the REF 3?