{"id":941,"date":"2010-05-05T18:31:43","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T16:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/?p=941"},"modified":"2023-04-08T20:18:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T18:18:01","slug":"mark-levinson-no-360s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/review\/digital-reviews\/spdif-dac-reviews\/mark-levinson-no-360s\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Levinson No. 360s DAC – Quick Impression"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 360s is a very sophisticated and neutral sounding DAC. It is neither clinical nor warm. It has extremely good detailing, in that area it is really only bettered by the dcs Delius and Purcell DAC\/upsampler combo. The 360s also has a very wide soundstage and doesn’t sound flat; in fact, it’s quite layered sounding but not quite a Wadia in this respect. But it’s also not a Wadia in the highs, which in the Levinson’s case are super-silky and almost lush, as well as its midrange that’s simply glorious and in no way electronic or otherwise artificial. The bass is deep, round but also very articulate. it is in the bass that there is the most difference compared to the 390s cd player. Whereas the 390s cd player is more lush and round, the 360s is more refined and articulate. All in all. because the 360 DAC is more controlled and the 390s player more free I’d say that the 360s is more audiophile and the 390s more musical. Compared directly to the 390s cd player, not compared with the 360 that I had years ago so the 360 and 360s may actually sound a lot alike but I cannot confirm this with certainty anymore.<\/p>\n

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Only recently it occurred to me that the 360S uses 4 PCM1704\u00a0multibit DAC chips while the 390S CD player uses 2\u00a0AD1853 chips, which are Delta\/Sigma chips, so essentially bitstream units. Naturally Levinson did not pick just any 1-bit DAC but opted for a special hybrid multibit Delta Sigma design, but still, bitstream DACs tend to sound\u00a0different than multi-bit DACs. This will also go a long way toward explaining the differences between the 390S and 360S.<\/p>\n

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Associated Equipment<\/a><\/p>\n

See Also<\/h3>\n

360 DAC Mini Review<\/a><\/p>\n

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