Theta Pro Gen Va Balanced & Levinson 360S

I own a Levison No. 360S. I would buy it again in a heartbeat. It's the best DAC I've ever heard. Bass is stronger than the Theta's, and the soundstage is wider.

I also have a Gen Va (with both XLR in and outs) but never heard that it requires a balanced input (AES/EBU) to be trully balanced.

IMO the way digital signal enters the dac has nothing to do with the way it is processed in digital and then analog domains.

For the past three years I've owned the Gen Va balanced and have been very happy with it. Never heard the Levinson. If you decide on the Theta be careful of two things: 1) Many are advertized as balanced but are not. Having balanced outputs doesn't do it. It must have a balanced digital input. This was an $1800 option and is a truly balanced piece. It also came with a teflon circuit board. 2) Several Gen Va DACs have been advertized as having the 24/96 option. There is no such thing. The option is 20/96 as the unit still uses 20 bit DACs. Four of them in the balanced model.