Hi all,
I’m looking for an R2R DAC to use in my SR1a + b112 Sub/M126Be Performa3 system.
Just found a local seller offering a Mark Levin 360S DAC for 2000 Euros.
If any of you can compare this DAC with modern offerings under 3000 Euros, I would greatly appreciate it. Or wait a month and go with a Terminator II.
If anyone decides to chime in, I thank you in advance for your responses!
I’ve bought older DACs and been happy with them. I even recently bought an R2R and tube buffer CD player from 2003. But in the $3000 price range there’s a lot of compelling new (some ladder DACs) that are going to be hard to beat sonically with the added benefit of two decades of technical improvements.
What kind of sound are you looking for that’s got you looking at older equipment? What amp/preamp are you going to be using?
I brought my ML26 and ML27 to service at an authorized ML dealer a few weeks ago in Munich. I was shown the internal layout of some older Mark Levinson gear. Some 436 Monoblocks and mostly the insides of my own 26 and 27. For example, production of the 532 had to be stopped because they weren’t making any money from selling it even though it sold for over 25K. So they shared my much of their enthusiasm for Mark Levinson equipment.
I’m looking for a warm sound in order to counter the analytical character of SR1a.
And damn you answered that quickly, wasn’t expecting that.
I’m not the guy that should be answering, just giving you some feedback on experience and I’ve based a lot of my learning curve on older equipment. It seems like even if you get the DAC and you don’t like how it synnergises with the rest of your chain, that you’d be able to sell it without taking a hit.
I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this before, but it’s been so long ago that I can’t really comment too much on sound. The the 360s was good iirc (and it’s the upgraded version as well), and will definitely hit the warmer target for sure. Given you also have other ML gear, synergy won’t be a problem so it could make sense to try. I don’t know if that’s an actually good used price or not off the top of my head, but if it is good you should be able to try it and if you don’t like it sell for the same price so there’s not too much risk
For 3k, it still might potentially hold up decently today, but I really has been too long since I’ve heard one to confidently make any comparisons
I’m going to pick it up tomorrow. It’s true what both of you guys said that I can sell it for the same price if I don’t like it. Do you think It would be an upgrade to use a DDC like the Singer SU6 or the Audio DI20HE from using the S/PDIF Output of the M11Pro? Asking since the 360s doesn’t have a usb input.
Nice, will be very curious how things go
Yes
Sure! I’ll post some pictures once I have the 360s set up 
Agree with @M0N on an older DAC a modern clean clock (with a good LPS) would probably be very noticeable.
Picked it up today, and the ML 360 S has been running for a few hours now.
Still feeding it via the coax out of the M11Pro. Ill have to wait a few weeks for the SU-6 to arrive because that’s typically how long the Wolfsburg officials take to deal with private imports.
I didn’t think a DAC could weigh this much!
How could you not buy that. It fits in perfectly with the rest of the crew.
Nice psu’s and components are heavy lol
i know right?! I love the look of these ML components together.
