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Mark Levinson No. 519 Audio Player Digital Streamer/Player/CD/DAC/Preamp

I couldn't make it over to the Hard Rock for the Levinson rollout, but Stereophile's Larry Greenhill was able to grab some photos and information to share:

The new No. 519 is intended to be an all-encompassing source for digital playback and will include not only a CD transport, but also Bluetooth, streaming, network playback, DAC, digital volume control and headphone amp. On the back are AES/EBU, SPDIF, optical and USB inputs as well as ethernet networking jacks. There are both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs as well AES/EBU, SPDIF and optical digital outputs.

The front…

AVM MP 3.2 and 6.2 Media/CD Player

AVM stands for Audio Video Manufaktur, and the company has been in the US for five years. I write this because every time I enter their room at CES I forget that I've seen them before and think, oh a new company. I'm not sure why that is, but to set the record straight (at least in my mind), they have a very full line of products with several new digital sources of note.

AVM has three lines of products ascending in quality and price: Inspiration, Evolution, and Ovation. Pictured above is the Evolution MP3.2 Media Player with built-in Teac CD transport that handles PCM up to 24/192 and…

Graham Nash's Second Stop: dCS/Wilson Audio/Dan D'Agostino Suite at the Mirage

[Note: click here for background on this project and here for how we set up the equipment.]

We were clearly off to a good start, so I was wondering what Graham Nash's reaction would be to an all out audiophile assault.

I explained to Nash that the Vivid speakers and Luxman system we just heard were relatively compact, by audiophile standards (though by no means modest), and that the next room would be more typical of the cost-no-object approach. Judged by Graham's "impact of the music" criteria, would bigger necessarily be better, or might it detract from the musical intent he was…

The Earphone Evolution is Now!

Movin' on up: Many audiophiles (of a certain age) are a little slow on the uptake. They clutch the past like it was a plate full of the best-mashed potatoes; "Don't touch my spuds!" Well, in many ways, classic two-channel—speakers out in the room, with a "sweet-spot" listening position—was a bowl of tasty spuds, but now, the sweetest spud may be the "bud"—ear bud that is. Headphones and in-ear speakers are moving up—from Can-Jam fun in the big room on the ground floor to the dee-luxe suites on the upper floors. Many of the best sounds and listening experiences at CES were with headphones.…

Naim's New Mu-so Qb

Like old radios or the console hi-fis of the 1950s and '60s, desktop, countertop, bureau-top, 'wireless music systems' are quickly becoming deluxe objects of conspicuous consumption. "Oh honey—look! Isn't that beautiful!" Competition in this relatively new-old category of home music delivery is mostly driven by industrial design awesomeness. To succeed in the short haul, a wireless music system must be attractive in a way that interior designers and decorators believe will enhance their efforts. To succeed in the longer haul, these products must deliver a quality of sound that satisfies our…

Adcom: another happening scheme

Adcom introduced two new products at CES 2016: The 250Wpc, GFA-565se stereo amplifier ($1499, rear) and the Luna wireless music system ($599, front). Like the Naim Mu-so, Adcom's version of "industrial design awesomeness"—the Luna also connects in the most happening ways: WiFi, aptX Bluetooth, USB, UPNP/DLNA, 3.5mm analog input and headphone jack. It is 240/110V AC or Li-ion battery-powered. It was only on static desktop display, but it has two 3" full-range speakers driven by separate 10W amps.

I thought la Luna looked full-moon good; notice the cute round remote which I suspect fits…

Moon by Simaudio

It was déjà vu all over the Venetian Towers. The popularity of "all-in-one" streamer-DAC-integrateds housed in a single chassis definitely reminds me of my college days, when every professor had a Marantz receiver and some Large Advents. While those scholarly fellows of yore needed a Dual 1019 and an AM/FM tuner to access their music, today's men and women of the academy simply connect their "receivers" to the Internet.

Moon by Simaudio's new Neo ACE ($3500) looks and sounds and feels like a 21st-century version of a classic Marantz receiver. It is a 50Wpc, class-A/B integrated…

Epos and Creek

Roy Hall, the master of the "wee dram" (of single-malt Scotch) was demonstrating all this Creek wonderfulness with the Epos K3, three-way, floorstanding loudspeakers ($2395/pair) which, like the Creek gear that he distributes in the US, showcased beauty, charm, fine detail, and of course: a wee bit of drunken revelry.

Creek introduced a new CD player! Yes, a new CD player. This makes me extremely happy because I have been waiting for a new CD player to review—so I can discuss some of the important issues surrounding collecting and archiving music.

The $1995 Creek 100A DAC/CD…

Music Hall: Long Live Black Discs!

More than a decade ago, I reviewed Music Hall's first turntable, and not only did it play way better than it should for its price; but it felt distinctly like what would surely become the forefather of long bloodline of musical, high-value record players; and it did. The newest, youngest, and most attractive of them all, the MMF 7.3 looks like a new stud breeding horse and a super value for it $1595 price.

It sports a carbon-fiber tonearm and comes ready to play with an Ortofon 2M Bronze moving-magnet cartridge with a nude fine-line stylus. It is a two-speed—where's my 78?—belt-driven…

Lumin M1 Network Music System

Lots of all-in-one type digital music systems at CES this year, but this has to be one of the most simple and straightforward in purpose. You have a network ethernet port and a couple of USB inputs (for storage or flash drives) on the back and then left and right speaker posts. That's it, except for the power switch and plug of course.

The amplifier path is Class D all the way to the speaker posts and is rated at 60 watts/channel. Digital can handle up to 32/384 PCM and DSD128 and it includes built-in support for Tidal and Qobuz streaming services. You can use the volume control on the…