Mark Levinson Dac still good?

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Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby cploogq » Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:04 am

wanted to try digital my transport is Rega apollo wanted to add Dac to my system.
2nd hand mark levinson dac, onix dac, or the rega dac?

charles
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby cploogq » Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:36 am

mga bagong dac upscale 192bit Ml 96bit lang.
ano ba to? :lol:
not familiar with these :D :D
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby muypogi » Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:05 pm

cploogq wrote:wanted to try digital my transport is Rega apollo wanted to add Dac to my system.
2nd hand mark levinson dac, onix dac, or the rega dac?

charles


Rega DAC. DAC chip technology advances so far that high end DACs of just 5 years ago can be matched or beaten by mid-end DACs like the Rega DAC.
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby Gau_Ban » Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:15 am

Upgrading or changing a DAC will be a subtle change.

There are other things you can spend the money on to improve the sound in your room.
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby muypogi » Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:52 am

Gau_Ban wrote:Upgrading or changing a DAC will be a subtle change.

There are other things you can spend the money on to improve the sound in your room.


Depends on how good your CD player is. An entry-level player will greatly benefit from a high quality DAC. Also, when you go digital files, lossless files + DAC will sound much better vs physical CD transport + DAC.

In this case, a Rega Apollo's sound should improve as the DAC implementation in the Rega DAC supercedes the Apollo's and is similar in design to the higher end Rega Isis.
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby Stealth » Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:54 pm

I got very good experience w/ onix dac. The apollo is a good cd player. I think it will further improve w/ d onix dac. This dac is also great in digital lossless files playback.
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby cploogq » Sun Aug 28, 2011 3:32 pm

not much diff with the onix dac.
might try other option like
selling the apollo na lang :lol: :lol:
and get a highend player
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby edwin » Sun Aug 28, 2011 3:45 pm

You might be interested with a DCS verdi and Ekgar plus transport and dac combo :rock: .
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby rtsyrtsy » Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:03 pm

Hirap sagutin nito...best is to audition the ML DAC in your system.

Here's why this isn't a straightforward answer.

First, there is the argument that digital technology has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years. Based on my own listening in my own system and room, the current model Naim DAC is a testament to this argument. However, many new DACs actually employ old technology, e.g. non-oversampling, tube output stage, etc. NOS DACs like those from Audio Note and 47 Labs are a strong counterpoint to this same argument.

Second, IMHO, a the big leap in digital playback of recent years is in the reduction of jitter by using technology like asynchronous USB, memory buffering, etc. If you feed the old ML DAC via async USB, for example, you may get a large chunk of modern digital playback's advances already.

Third, system and room matching are still signifiant deciding factors. Maybe your transport and rest of system downstream mates well with the ML DAC. Then again, maybe not. To some, the DAC is a minor upgrade with little return on investment. To me, feeding all digital sources (DVD/CD player, cable TV STB, computer, etc.) into my DAC upgrades all the sources upstream so there is a huge audible improvement and decent RoI.

Lastly, I've tried a bunch of various technologies: (1) non-oversampling, upsampling, typical over-sampling, (2) tube and solid state output stages, (3) optical / coaxial / BNC, etc. I don't subscribe to any specific combination of technologies deployed. Any combination can sound good. Any combination can sound bad. So you really simply have to try it in your system.

Hope this helps!
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby JackD201 » Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:49 am

Not all that's new is better :) My belief is that the analog output stage has more of a bearing on the final sound than the chipset. There are countless examples of players that use the same chipsets but sound radically different to support my belief. There are only so many chip manufacturers after all. You could probably count them on two hands.

The ML DAC, if it is what I think it is, still uses a 24/96 DAC and a 32bit SHARC processor. Aside from being able to handle sampling rates higher than 96, it will hold its own against many of today's darlings. Not all, granted, but many.

Russ makes many good points. I think all of them are good points actually.
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby rtsyrtsy » Mon Aug 29, 2011 3:47 pm

JackD201 wrote:The ML DAC, if it is what I think it is, still uses a 24/96 DAC and a 32bit SHARC processor. Aside from being able to handle sampling rates higher than 96, it will hold its own against many of today's darlings. Not all, granted, but many.


Don't forget the all-important arguments from MSM: the pogi points that a hunky chunk of ML mass could add on your rack. 8)
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby m_shoe_maker » Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:05 pm

rtsyrtsy wrote:
Don't forget the all-important arguments from MSM: the pogi points that a hunky chunk of ML mass could add on your rack. 8)


Agree! :) And if you do get an ML 30 / 31 combo, just say you got it when it came out in the market. :devil: That was the IN thing before, and was an instant chick magnet. 8)

Chick magnet it is and here is the proof! :devil:
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby cploogq » Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:14 pm

cant make up my mind. bahala na :)
anyway thanks guys :)
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby AUDIO8 » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:36 am

if you want the sound of the apollo you must not miss auditioning the new rega cd transport ( i think the model is isis ) then you tell me if you still need a dac :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby nslsy » Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:56 pm

Hi Charles.

Try the new Rega DAC with your Apollo. You won't be disappointed.

Nick
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Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby docsialu » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:09 pm

Try olive plus hdtracks downloads
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby cploogq » Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:29 pm

nick,
walang pambili ng rega dac :lol: :lol:

charles
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby muypogi » Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:40 am

cploogq wrote:nick,
walang pambili ng rega dac :lol: :lol:

charles


Actually, since nabenta mo na Apollo mo, get:

1) Rega DAC
2) entry level DVD player (yung mura ng Philips)
3) Use the digital outs of the DVD player and connect to DAC

OR:

1) if you have a MAc, connect it via the Mac's optical out in it's headphone jack; if you have a PC, use the USB
2) Connect to Rega DAC

You'd be surprised at the results. . . :-)
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby redline_xp » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:18 am

docsialu wrote:Try olive plus hdtracks downloads


:clap: :clap: :rock: :rock: :rock: :rock:
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Re: Mark Levinson Dac still good?

Postby egay » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:13 am

edwin wrote:You might be interested with a DCS verdi and Ekgar plus transport and dac combo :rock: .


Is he going to break 2 arms & 2 legs and then mortgage his property for this combo, Edwin? ;)

dCS is one of my "wants" if I replace my Mc or Wadia, but they are so "out there" yet

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