Will a New Amp Sound Better Than My ML333?

Great amp you have

Amps have sonic character. If you were to buy another Mark Levinson of equal or greater level it would probably have the same character, but with much better performance. For much of the last 40 years I had Pass amps and found a significant (worthy of spending money) every ten years. I would think ML would be the same.

If you are changing brands then the character is going to change, maybe a little maybe a lot. My tastes have changed dramatically over the decades as I have been exposed to much more live acoustic music and recognized the emotional connection that my system lacked. This caused me to change my approach to amplification. Mark Levinson is a very respected brand, but I have always found it lacking in emotional connection. This certainly does not mean you will.

I think you are in a great position. Not in a hurry to make a change… basically pretty happy. Time to browse. Take your time and listen to different alternatives. You have the luxury of not doing anything unless something sounds great. Go listen to Boulder, Pass, Audio Research, and a couple more.

If you are not near dealers make a couple “audio” trips to the city… spend the night, make appointments at high end shops to listen. Take your wife… dinner, go hear some live music. Make it fun for both of you.

You could try Van Alstine amps, are said to be very good and reliable.

Keep your amp as it sounds it’s running great and guessing the extensive work done was likely the caps, which is what the 300 series are known for. The amp may last you another twenty five years. If you’re looking to upgrade, speakers will always be more noticeable/rewarding or speaker cables. That’s a beast of an amp so if you don’t have dedicated circuits, you have no idea what your 333 is capable of. 

As with everything audiophile, if you try something new you will be excited by whatever you have heard from pundits is the defining difference (more bass, air, soundstage, etc), only to eventually realize that it sounds no better than what you substituted. How many times have we tried a new component armed with preconceived notions of how it should sound, only to discover after some time that it is no better than what it replaced (assuming you have the previous component available to substitute back in)? As audiophiles, we are all chasing something that can never be caught. If you say you have an “end game” system, you are not an audiophile.