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Mark Levinson Where is the Emotion??

Hello to all,

My system:

ML no. 35 dac
Muse Model Five transport
stock power cords, no line conditioners
Custom built diy speakers
Denon 1803 receiver
Generic 16 ga speaker wire
Acoustic Zen MC2 AES/EBU from transport to dac
Silver interconnects

The problem that I'm experiencing with this setup is when I sit down to listen I find myself more times than often falling asleep rather than being engaged in the performance. While it sounds smooth, airy, open, rich, non fatiguing, etc.. it fails to convey the emotion of the recording. Not to say the no. 35 is a bad dac, it's a great dac but it just doesn't seem to do what I'm wanting.

It may get better with a higher quality transport, but I can't afford a megabuck transport. Eventually I will upgrade the speaker cables and the receiver to a quality integrated, but I don't think this would help much with the problem at hand although I could be wrong. I was thinking of just ditching the dac and transport altogether for a one box solution such as the Electrocompaniet EMC-1UP player since I was reading that it was quite a musical player or possibly try another dac and transport combo (this time one made for each other) such as the Northstar M192 combo. Has anyone else with a Levinson dac experienced the same problem as me and if so, what did you change to? Thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.
162db
kschiu
73 posts
 
em... how do you conclude that your No 35 is the weakest link? Have you brought it to other people's setup and test it out?
justlisten's avatar
justlisten
489 posts
 
I had the same experience this past weekend after putting in a back-up solid state amp while I was re-baising my tube amps. I would suggest trying a modest tube amp.
162db OP
5 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. I know that the Denon receiver isn't the greatest, however, I remember being drawn into the performance more and having my attention directed more towards the music when I had an ARC Dac-1 (20 bit version). I know people reading this are thinking why does he have a Denon receiver and a Levinson dac? Well, I piece mealed this system. I'm not sure if the No 35 is the weakest link, but I do remember reading about instances where people went into show rooms and left unimpressed after listening to a full Levinson setup stating that it sounded good but they weren't drawn into the performance.

Unfortunately, there are no reviews of the No 35 to be found online. It seems few people have owned this dac which makes it more difficult to ascertain the cause of my problem. I was also curious of a one box solution since it would mean less cabling to deal with and I would gain the benefit of having an integrated transport.
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samzx12
1,220 posts
 
I doubt the dac is your problem. I have heard it and to my ears it doesn't put me to sleep. You also have a nice transport. I love my Muse Model 9 Signature Gen III CDP.

I suggest you start upgrading to an amp and preamp and then start with better powercords. It isn't cheap but you will reap the rewards.
schipo
1,268 posts
 
This could be a good thing? It only proves that your system is not bright,you don't run out of the room screaming,and no digital fatigue at all. Now has far as the sleeping part, your stereo has just lulled you to sleep.....goodnight.
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