mark levinson led the way in digital reproduction for a long time, 1st with some very good sounding proceed dacs/transports, and cdp's that were built like tanks. then they made the first ML-brand dac, the #30, which was considered the absolute best you could buy, along with their extraordinary reference transport(the 31.5). finally trickle down resulted in the #36, #36s, and the #360s dacs, which came so close to the #30 many dealers stopped carrying the "reference" gear. their final cdp, the 390s, is still made and incorporates many if not all of the features offered in all of those previous components. i feel the ML-390S digs almost as deep into the music as many players costing (as much as you care to spend). the HDCD filter is absolutely superb as well; if you like Reference Recordings you are in for a super treat. if they would only make sure the drawer would last for a good 10 years (or they'll fix it for free), imho this compact little black box is/would be very tough to beat.