Words ending in tad4/2/2023 Would my decade long wait to finally hear a pair of Levinson amps in my system meet my expectations? At the risk of ruining the ending for those who are actually able to resist reading the conclusion first, I’m afraid I knew the answer to that question nearly straight out of the box, and have heard nothing in the months to follow that would change my mind. I was also quite excited at the prospect of hearing how these $12,500, 350Wpc brutes would mate with the stellar imaging and accuracy of a loudspeaker like the B&W 800D. So it was with much anticipation that I awaited the arrival of the Mark Levinson Nº 436 monoblock power amplifier for review. The only thing I did regret back in the earlyto mid-90s is that I never completed the system I had worked so hard to assemble with Levinson amplification. It was all-in-all still a nice unit, though, and one that I never had any remorse about buying. The Nº 38S was also beautifully crafted, and while it embodied the same kind of sonic sophistication that has been the hallmark of Mark Levinson products since the company’s inception back in the early 70s, I found the preamplifier to be a bit less engaging than expected, and perhaps too polite. (Still makes me grin to think about how incredibly cool it was to show off that motorized lid to all my audiophile buddies.) In combination with the Nº 30 DAC (as well as the more affordable Nº 35), these two stunning pieces made for arguably the best CD playback available at the time. Few will disagree that the Nº 31 was an absolute work of art when it came to both sound and build-quality. Of all the gear I’ve had the good fortune to own over the course of the past two-and-ahalf decades, the Mark Levinson Nº 31 Reference CD transport, Nº 35 digital-toanalog converter and Nº 38S preamplifier easily stand out as some of the finest components to grace my listening room.
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