David Berning live

I recently ordered an LTA MZ2 to be both a preamp and headphone amp and looking forward to hearing the benefits of the ZOTL design.  I also recently had my McCormack DNA 0.5 RevA amp get full upgrades through SMcAudio and was interested to learn that they do high-end research for David’s cost-no-object designs and that the fruits of that research trickles down into SMcAudio’s DNA upgrades.  I’m about to hear the results of adding both the MZ2 and upgraded DNA 0.5 to my system and feel like I’ll be wired into David’s brain in no small part.  Truly an icon in our audio world. 

My Quadrature Z monoblocks have a base that Steve designed. It’s made of copper and provides a multi-layer damping and ground system. This feature is available through Rick Brown at Hi-Fi One who represents the Berning product line.

Steve is one of the nicest guys in the business. I had the pleasure of meeting him at some of the SoCal audio society events when I lived in the area. In my opinion he is another one of the top audio engineers out there, but he tends to keep a low profile.

Thank you for the post!

My Quadrature Z monoblocks have a base that Steve designed. It’s made of copper and provides a multi-layer damping and ground system.

@clio09 Yup, my DNA 0.5 has Steve’s Gravity Base he adapted from development work he did for Berning.  Due to the expense of copper these days they now use a highly-engineered and dense wood-based product they find as effective but much cheaper than copper.  All I know is it added several lbs. to my amp and can’t wait to finally hear the thing.

What a great video. David Berning is practically a living legend. I agree with @dodgealum on Mark Schneider’s contribution. He brought unique tube amplifiers designed by David Berning to many more audiophiles. @clio09 so you’re not impressed with David Berning’s choice to work with Mark? Did you know David tried to work a deal with at least two other audio manufacturers to bring his designs to the market but both companies failed? It seems David’s ZOTL amps are extremely complicated to build. This is where Mark and his team have excelled. The customer service LTA offers is above and beyond. As a rabid audiophile, like myself, Mark’s commitment to a quality audio product is motivated by progressive excellence. Mark’s manufacturing and marketing success has inspired David to continue to crank out designs as we will see in the form of new products in the very near future.