Lonely transport seeks DAC for music nirvana

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skp574

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I got myself a Mark Levinson No. 37 Transport a couple of weeks ago. I was on the hunt for a ML No. 36(s) digital processor. I found one at a dealer, so I booked an audition last saturday. Well only to see what physical state it was in really. And would have paid the asking price of a nads under £2k.

Unfortunately, as I did not put a deposit down on it, they sold it on the Friday to someone else. Buggers.

Anyway enough of the rant. I am still on the look out for a multi input DAC which can be remote controlled. I would love it to be an ML 360s to match the transport, but these are still above my budget of ~£2000.

I was originally after an ML 390s but they are still out of reach for the forseeable future and does not quite have the digital inputs I now require.

So then, would anybody like to suggest a suitable multi input DAC which has the following:

remote controllable (only input selection, I don't need volume control)
balanced outputs
at least 1 x balanced input (only for transport)
2 x coaxial inputs (DVDP and Neuston Network media player)
1+ toslink input (Sky+ STB)
all the above in one box


The only thing I've been able to come up with is the offering from Pertetual Technologies, but that's a three box arrangement and too much clutter and without remote control.

Did/does Mark Levinson only make such a thing???

If anyone would like to offer me an ML processor for around £2k this would definitely be my preferred option, but they are thin on the ground at the moment, and I'm stuck without CD playback. :(
 
try an audio synthesis dax decade - i've seen a couple about for around 1600 quid but if you talk to david at a/s he may have one traded in for less.
cheers


julian
 
julian2002 said:
try an audio synthesis dax decade - i've seen a couple about for around 1600 quid but if you talk to david at a/s he may have one traded in for less.
Click to expand...

I went this route and am a happier man as result. It delivers. Now have the poweramp itch but my back end is lovely!
 
Interesting result M/L<>Dac 64 smooth meets brash, may give a good result :)
EC 192 MKII Dac would partner the M/L well, sound would compliment each other well, great build, all the connectivity, and balanced too and in the price range worth an ear-wig
 
GaryG said:
I don't think we want to know about your back end!
Click to expand...

"Does my sound stage look big in this? How much detail does it show? What about the wiggle, the swing? Just how much of a PRaT?"

skp574, The Dax Decade comes in several flavours, with and w/o balanced and analogue input, so price & availability at 'good price' depends on your priorities. GaryG is better placed to comment on some of this - he may even offer comment on the relative strengths of the Dax Decade when compared with the Dax Discrete, given time!
 
wadia-miester said:
EC 192 MKII Dac would partner the M/L well, sound would compliment each other well, great build, all the connectivity, and balanced too and in the price range worth an ear-wig
Click to expand...

Does the EC 192 have a volume control (I take it EC = Electrocompaniet)? I am getting a loan of one this weekend, arranged it months ago and the dealer has finally managed to get hold of one, apparently supply is very irregular.
 
Well I picked up the No. 36 on Saturday. I thought it was a steal for the price. No now I can play CDs again! :) . Before handing over the CC I thought, am I making the right decision should I wait for a 360(s) to come up for the right money. Nope, can't live without CD for that long, sold.

Left it for 24 hours before doing any serious listening. Initial thoughts are the bottom end has been beefed up compared to my old ARC CD3MKII. Especially with my B&Ws at low listening levels the bass all but disappeared. My speakers do prefer to be played louder. (what no loudness button!?!?! ;) )

I am now hearing things I didn't before, just small nuisances but nevertheless it made me situp and take note. The overall sound, I think, is in more keeping with my music taste - Jazz, electro, rock (her indoors). I was seriously considering a sub to fill in but won't be needing one now.

If the 360(s) is fully 24 bit and supposed to be a big improvement on the 36 I don't want to hear it, as I'll want one now.

I'm sticking with the 36 for the foreseeable future as it puts a smile on my face. It works very nicely with the Krell.

And it heats up the lounge nicely for when authumn kicks in!

Add - Her indoors likes that they match. And asked if I could get the matching amplifier. My reply: Unless you want a heated foot stool in the middle of the lounge we'll keep the Krell my dear!

So much for trimming down my setup. I've not got another box! Ooops.
 
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Glad to hear things worked out okay, by my reckoning you've still got a grand in the kitty so while Wadia-Miester isn't looking, pop over to www.rosemorrisproaudio.co.uk and check out an Apogee Big Ben master clock to go between your transport and dac (ask for Bernard Jones). I think you'll like what it can do in your system.

Regards
Gary
 
Glad to hear things worked out okay, by my reckoning you've still got a grand in the kitty so while Wadia-Miester isn't looking, pop over to www.rosemorrisproaudio.co.uk and check out an Apogee Big Ben master clock to go between your transport and dac (ask for Bernard Jones). I think you'll like what it can do in your system.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to keep the money in the bank for the moment. I'm going to get used to the new sound before making more upgrades or tweaks.
 
37 Transport Disc Jam

I had fun last night with my 37.

There was a disc inside but it refused to read it or eject it. So I did a little under the bonnet investigation.

I found that the disc wasn't sitting on the spindle so carefully moved in back into place. Switched it back on with the lid off just to check everything was ok. Yep, it read the disc and played it ok. I ejected it, took it out, open/closed the tray a few times. I then put the same disc back in and it refused to completely shut the tray. It simply would throw it out again. But the tray would close if there was no disc inside. Oh bugger I thought, something has broken off inside and is stopping the tray from closing when there is a disc inserted.

Well, I took the transport out of the case and had a good look at it's motion, and I could find nothing causing the jam. So put it back in place. With the lid off but it still refused to accept the disc. After a closer inspection, I noticed on the front of the transport mechanism a light sensor. I hovered my finger over the top of this and closed the tray and hey presto it accepted the disc.

I slid the case back on and sat there for 10 minutes repeatedly open/closing the tray with/without a disc and it now works perfectly. Weird er?

Could it have been a grimey sensor. That couldn't detect the presence of a disc.

Before taking the lid off, it would take an age to detect that there was no disc inserted. So me think that was the case as it now can detect straight away when there is no disc in the drive.

All working fine now though, phew!

Then the remote started doing very weird things. Pressing play would bring up the firmware version?!?!? Sussed that one. I had my plasma screen on last night which is directly opposite my hifi. The IR from the screen was screwing up the IR from the remote control and confusing the player. ooops. I should have remembered this from when I had my Cyrus kit and it doing exactly the same thing.
 

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