MARK LEVINSON No. 40 PRO/PRE

I have a Proceed PAV/PDSD pair in our living room with an Oppo 95 connected to the PDSD bypass. The PAV controls volume. The Oppo decodes lossless formats. For reasons I don't understand, I prefer the sound of this setup to having the output from the Oppo go directly to the Proceed amps.

db

I still have his father, Proceed PAV/DSD multichannel decoder and absolutely happy with him. I don't use it as stereo preamp but his job is wonderful.
I know, I know, I don't have new multichannel lossless format decoder, but... i have had some Onkyo, Rotel and Denon stuff and the sound is not the same.
Good luck and enjoy this piece of art

Yes db's idea is a great one.

I have my L-R fronts driven by my higher fidelity audio system (Pass pre and amps) while my Oppo feeds a Classe pre/pro that provides the high level signal to the amps for my center + surrounds + rears.

The Classe pre/pro outputs are plugged into my Pass pre as input #3.

When I listen to a high quality two channel audio source, it plays through high end components. When I listen to a 7 channel AV source, my high end L-R fronts are used plus my center and surrounds and rears via the pre/pro.

An alternate in the face of developing processor technology is to use a high-quality analog stereo preamp for front LR and bypass the other channels to a processor. An Oppo 105 does this nicely. In addition to playing almost any kind of disc, it provides most of the functions you expect of a processor. Its impressive 7.1 audio is paired with impressive video that I send directly to a projector. In my setup, a phono stage and another disc player go directly through the stereo preamp. At around $1K, I can afford to replace the 105 when a major new development I must have comes along.

db

The ML 40 is an impressive machine. If you get one, be sure it has the HDMI module; the original design did not have HDMI capability.

I like the built in video screen.

The Classe SSP 800 costs less and also has a video screen. Plus it was designed with HDMI inputs and output. It is also very good sonically, but I have not compared it head-to-head with the ML 40.

Digital video technology is still moving quickly. Rather than invest in an expensive design that might become obsolete in a few short years, another strategy would be to just buy good but cheap components (e.g. Oppo or Emotiva) and upgrade every two years or so.