RSSMark Levinson No. 30 Digital to Analog Converter Reviewed
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Say it slowly: twelve thousand, nine hundred pounds. Crazy, huh? And just how do you approach a D/A converter -- not even a whole CD player -- costing as much as a decent VW Golf or a platinum Rolex? I suppose reverence is a good place to start, but I've been at this for too long to let price tags hammer me into submission. Besides, I have at present two other contenders for DAC of the Decade, so the No. 30 wasn't in for an easy ride. Indeed, it had to work harder than the others, because -- for the same money -- I could buy the Krell Studio and the Vimak DS-1800 and still have enough change for a fabulous transport, some NBS cables, a bunch of CDs, a tank full of Shell and a round-trip ticket to the USA. Oh, and a new laser printer.
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Not that its sheer presence isn't enough to make you go, 'Whoa!!!' Let's face it: no single piece of digital hardware, at least not any I've ever seen, seems so over-engineered, so bomb-proof, so utterly complete. The No. 30 has to be the 1992/3 State of the Perceived Value Art. Two boxes, one holding a power supply fit for an amp, one looking like Darth Vader's laptop. Enough inputs to satisfy a reviewer in the midst of a CD transport survey. Smooth action, wonderful read-outs, the smell of computers, a dark, looming presence telling you that it's a Very Serious DAC Indeed.
But it didn't, well. mo-o-ove me. It's almost too insistent on its own greatness, all but defying you not to like it. Have I the testicular fortitude to stand up against most of this planet's reviewers by not falling in lust with the No. 30? It is, after all, the most detailed DAC I've ever used. The sound, like the unit itself, is so solid and so tactile that you cannot help but hear more of a performance than you might through other DAcs. But now I'm wondering if we do need to hear every mote of dust whirling through the studio when the recording was being made.
Read more about the No. 30 on Page 2.Featured Audio-Video News
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