Levinson 360 vs Benchmark

I just cleaned and re-calibrated the #39's CD drawer again. It was making a squeak during open and closure. I think it's nearing time after 14 years to put that classic into the Robinson audio museum, alongside the mint Marantz 2110 tuner. I ordered a DAC1 USB, so I'll be doing some side-by-side testing between the Benchmark and the #39. I've tried other CD players in my system before, nothing has touched the Levinson. I also ordered an Emotiva ERC-2 as a transport. When they arrive the games will begin.

Went through the same issues with Madrigal regarding repairs for my ML #333 and #37. The worst thing was that all I needed was a simple recalibration for the transport, and ML had issued a technical bulletin earlier to all its dealers on how to recalibrate the transport mechanism, by pushing a few buttons on the front panel to initiate the process. Madrigal charged me that $1800 + shipping for the repair (they replaced the whole mechanism). A friend found the bulletin online and sent to me like a year afterwards.

I still have the #36, a Sonic Frontier SFD2 Mk II, and a Benchmark USB. House is under remodel, and all components are in storage. But will be putting the 3 against each other in the system in early spring. Original intent with the Benchmark USB was to introduce music server into the system now that I have all my CDs ripped to a home server.

FrankC

After giving it some thought, I switched to the DAC1 HDR. I chose the USB initially because I wanted the balanced digital input, but then decided the muting functions and the better potentiometer were more important.

Speaking of important, Guitar Center is running a coupon special for $150 off purchases of $799 or more until 12/24, and remarkably this coupon is good on Benchmark products. I've been thinking of getting a DAC1 for a few years now, and I've never seen a discount anywhere. Period. Full MSRP is it, and the best you can do is free shipping. So if you are thinking about a Benchmark DAC my advice is to buy now.

Well, I got the DAC1 HDR hooked up. It sounds fully as good as the #39. No question. After three hours of listening at some pretty substantial volumes there is no fatigue at all. None. I feel like I could listen all night if, I didn't have to go to the office in the morning. The small size of the DAC1 is a little surprising the first time you see it. The #39, incidentally, turns off the digital link whenever a disc isn't playing, causing a bright blue LED to flash on the HDR anytime you press Stop. I could swear bass response is better on the HDR as a pre-amp than the #39 as a pre-amp, but maybe not.

It's nice having a volume knob again.

When the #39 gets really cold the drawer doesn't like opening. There's another adjustment I need to make. Then it's going in the museum when the new transport gets here.