2. digital
  3. 1305691273

Mark Levinson No. 36 DAC & High Resolution Files

Hi

Still have a Mark Levinson No. 36 DAC which is sounding very good in spite of its age - it actually sounds more analogue and warmer than the DACs of today.

I have been outputting FLAC's from a Squeezebox Duet to it via the BNC input on the 36 and it has been playing fine. Recently, I have been thinking of buying higher resolution files. The 36 only goes up to 24/48. Would higher resolution files work on it and how would they sound? I presume they would be downsampled to or only play at 24/48.

Thanks
mikey8811

Showing 2 responses by ts0711

ts0711
91 posts
 
Anything above 24/48 won't play... the DAC wont lock onto the signal, and you get nothing. I've been using my Levenson 360s feed from a Mac Mini, using one of the various "software players" out there to upsample to 24/96 (the dac's limit). Anything beyond that fails.

You should be able to use one of the sofeware palyers to to perform the downsampling... and still get to keep the 36. Not sure if the Sqeezebox software will do the same however.

Tony
ts0711
91 posts
 
Danger Will Robenson!

From what I've read the W44 dac2, while being a great player is going to be far more digital sounding than the Levinson. If you like the analog sound of the 36 keep it and spend your money elsewhere.

Tim, you should hear the 360 with tube amps... Pure bliss.

Tony
More to discover