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Recording of July 2003: Vivaldi: <I>La Stravaganza</I>

VIVALDI: La Stravaganza
12 Violin Concertos, Op.4
Rachel Podger, violin; Arte dei Suonatori
Channel Classics CCS 19598 (2 CDs). 2003. Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, prod.; C. Jared Sacks, eng. DDD. TT: 102:59
Performance *****
Sonics *****

Happily long gone are the days when those who should know better (Stravinsky, for one), as well as the hoi polloi, claimed that, rather than writing more than 500 concertos, Vivaldi wrote one concerto 500 times. Now we know that, in addition to the instantly recognizable The Four Seasons and the choral Gloria, he was a superb composer of…

Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution

In this issue you can find a full report from the 2000 International Consumer Electronics Show, held last January in Las Vegas. By contrast to the 1999 CES, the Y2K Consumer Electronics Show was considerably more upbeat, both according to my own observations and to those experts who specialize in judging the size of Las Vegas conventions: the city's taxi drivers. Yes, there were some rooms where lonely exhibitors were more than usually pleased to welcome a visitor from the press, but to judge from the home-theater exhibits at the Las Vegas Hilton's Convention Center and the specialty audio…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter

Unlike the imposing mbl and Burmester DACs that I review elsewhere in this issue, the Mark Levinson No.360 is New England conservative in appearance. Its operation was simple to master despite the sophistication and flexibility on tap. Flanked by Fasolt and Fafner, the Levinson No.360 seemed as amiable as Freia.

The No.360, the successor to the No.36 (which can be upgraded to 360S status), sits under the $6995 "special performance" No.360S in the hierarchy of Levinson DACs and features a Madrigal-designed input receiver circuit (DIR) rather than off-the-shelf chips. Levinson's…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Page 2

LEDs indicate the activation of digital de-emphasis, the detection of a professional AES/EBU-format signal (not the use of the similarly named AES/EBU connector), and absolute signal polarity (controlled by a button on the lower left). The Teach IR button is used to instruct learning remotes how to control the No.360. Finally, the inset right side of the front bears a standby button and power LED. When active, the LED is illuminated steadily, but flashes when the No.360 is in standby mode.

The labels on the front panel are really all one needs to know in order to operate the No.360, but…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Page 3

As with Das Lied, the draining of some residual muddiness from the low end permitted a better sense of space for the entire ensemble. The subjective effect was as if there was a lowering of the noise, even though I had not previously been aware of any noise problems in these recordings. It could be that the No.360's improved bit resolution allowed my ears to distinguish meaningful sound cues about the recording venue, even though the signal levels approach the absolute noise floor of the 16-bit medium—a talent it shared with the Burmester 970.

To pursue this issue of subjective noise…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Digital/analog converter with dual-differential 24-bit/96kHz DACs. Input data rates accepted up to 96kHz. DSP processor, full remote control, HDCD decoding, 8x oversampling digital filter, Bessel-tuned, linear-phase analog filter and phase inversion switching. Digital inputs: 2 AES/EBU, ST, TosLink, RCA, BNC. Digital output: XLR. Fixed-volume analog outputs: XLR balanced, RCA unbalanced. Source impedance: less than 6 ohms. Connectors and capability for Mark Levinson and PHASTlink integrated system control. RS-232 port for communications and…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Associated Components

Sidebar 2: Associated Components

Most of the extended listening for these reports was done with the California Audio Labs CL-20 CD/DVD player as the source. I made this choice to eliminate any possible bias from using a transport designed and constructed to mate to a specific DAC. As the common source, the CL-20 provided both S/PDIF (coax and optical) and AES/EBU outputs, as well as CD/DVD compatibility with up to 24/96 digital output. I did this also to maintain a level playing field without auditioning all the possible combinations of transport and DAC and interconnection.

Let'…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Comparisons

Sidebar 3: Comparisons

I toiled in vain to find a good analogy to help me characterize the distinctions among these three digital processors. First, I thought of The Three Tenors. It seemed appropriate to equate the mbl 1611HR with Luciano Pavarotti's glorious ring and imposing presence, and to associate the Burmester 970 with Placido Domingo's vocal accuracy and dramatic tone. However, it would be wrong to equate the excellent and future-proof Mark Levinson No.360 with José Carreras, a great tenor but one who once was even better.

Next, I thought that the three bears of…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

The Mark Levinson No.360 didn't invert absolute polarity from either set of outputs (the XLRs are wired with pin 2 hot). The maximum level was 2V single-ended, 4V balanced, sourced from 7 and 13.4 ohms, respectively. The frequency response (fig.1, top traces) was identical from both sets of outputs, flat within the audioband with a very slight (-0.1dB) droop apparent at 20kHz. Playing back a de-emphasized sweep (fig.1, bottom traces), the rolloff at 20kHz was larger but still inconsequential. The processor successfully locked to all sample rates up to 96kHz; fig.2…

Mark Levinson No.360 D/A converter Measurements part 2

However, note that at lower frequencies, the increase in word length has unmasked a couple of power-supply components, at 120Hz and 240Hz. I tried different grounding arrangements to eliminate these, without success—but at around -130dBFS, their presence will have zero subjective effect. Changing the data to represent a -1LSB DC offset gave a smooth, low noise floor (not shown), again with some content noticeable at the power-supply frequencies but without any idle tones present.

This very low noise floor contributed to excellent linearity performance (fig.4). With 16-bit input data (top…