Hello all. Although this is a very old thread, I stumbled across it, and could not resist to add my two cents. As many have pointed out above, in the first place, there really is no comparison in the build quality, sound and performance, between the two amplifiers. Yes, both big and heavy, both look really good on paper, and that is where it ends. It is often frustrating when I read so many posts from people comparing product A vs B, and they never heard the second one, or Both. This is quite the sport, where so called "experts" pass on their opinions for an amplifier they never heard.
I know how I felt when I bought home my Mark Levinson 335 and hooked it up to my Mezzo Utopias, then switched to my Dynaudio Contour 3.4's. My mouth dropped, and I immediately started listening to dozens of CD's to take it all in. And I did not replace an Emotiva product. I swapped out a Conrad Johnson tube amp, and a Krell KS300S. Both insanely good amps, yet the ML just took my breath away. Don't get me wrong, The CJ and the Krell amps are phenomenal, in every sense of the word. But the topic of discussion is The Mark 335 vs the Emotiva monoblocks. For any of the commentators with "any" negative remarks about the Mark, I would first ask, "have you ever listened to this amplifier, that you are passing judgement and comparison ?" Willing to bet 10 cents to the dollar, that the answer is NO.
This seems to be quite the trend in the audio trade. You get people that have never seen or heard a piece of equipment, critiquing and comparing it against something else. How often does somebody with a limited budget, buy a 2k amp, which happens to be twice as expensive as their last amp, and is blown away by the quality and performance ? Now that they are quite proud of themselves, they have become the expert, and are ready to down play the quality/capability of a 10k amp, which they never heard, and/or cannot afford to buy. Then, you have people reading these notes, passing them on, and believing the non sense.
To sum this up, my friend and associate owns these Emotiva monoblocks, and is quite proud of them. Powerful and clean as could be. But he spends quite a bit of time at my house, listening to my Mark Levinson. Actually, we both do, as I rarely ever go and listen to his gear. But, he was able to buy his entire system, for under 12k. That is about 1/4 of the price of my system. The one we compare to. The moral of the story, is that you get what you pay for. Not to knock the Emotiva amp, or any other product. But if you are going to make a bold comparison, and judge against such an incredible piece of gear, as the Mark Levinson 335 or 33- anything, just make sure you get your story straight. Like somebody on this tread mentioned, don't compare a KIA to a Rolls Royce. It just isn't credible.
