519 is indeed built very well and has an excellent preamp section in it. That said ...the Dac in it I feel is lacking for the price tag. Not impressed with the slot loading CD. First, it does have excellent bass and a very refined top end so tonally it seems very balanced. My biggest complaint is that compared to Esoteric, Berkeley, and EMM Labs DACs I find the soundstage to be too small with not nearly the presence or overall soundstage size of the other top flight DACs. That said, the others are at the same price and don’t include a streamer but for the price point I would have a hard time living with the compromises of an all in one unit especially when I could buy one of those other DACs and like an Aurender front end and sound way better...and that’s exactly what I did. Aurender N100h and EMM Labs DA2 and the Levinson wasn’t even close. At least to me. And I’m not hating on Levinson ... just bought new 523 and a pair of 536s which are simply amazing. The 536s may be the best amps Levinson has ever produced ... Digital product isn’t in the same league in my opinion.
George
Last edited by gadawg; 03-11-2018 at 02:27 AM.
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