Summary:
This site is getting harder and harder to post to with less and less current equipment reviews. Why isn't this review listed under DACS? Anyway here goes. Mark Levinson 360S sets the standard for state of the art but not necessarily cost no object DACS. Retail is approx. $7500 for this piece now. I bought a used 36S a few years ago for half price and just had it upgraded to the 360S status. With about 100 running hours on it now and a month of being powered up, I have to say at the very least it was worth the $2200 for the upgrade. It is a whole new box sonicly speaking. Gobs of detail and focus. Removes at least a couple more panes of acoustic glass between the listener and the event. Bass is fleshed out better than before. More thump, more bump, more depth. Highs really shine with no glare or edgy brightness. This dac and great cd's such as Fantasy Jazz K2's or XRCD's makes it harder to give the nod to the Sony 777ES SACD player as the best sounding digital source component in my system. As more and more great remasters of popular music come on the cd scene, I'm sure I will find myself listening to the 37 and 360S combo ten times more than the 777 even though it is great sounding box. Just not enough variety yet in the way of software to keep it spinning. You would not regret buying a 360S unless you had the scratch for it's bigger brother.

Strengths:
Resolution and detail in buckets

Weaknesses:
Price?

Similar Products Used:
36S

Summary:
I recently upgraded my Levinson 36S to the new 360S. I had no real desire to add the 24bit/96kHz capability that was part of the upgrade. The unit had to go back for a warranty repair so I decided to splurge since it was already going to be at the factory. I did this with some trepidation because there were no reviews available on the upgrade. My local dealer also did not have a demo unit available.
There was no need to worry. The improvement between the 36S and 360s on standard 16 bit / 44kHz CD's was amazing. Be warned...Out of the box, the unit is going to be harsh and flat. I went through a week of intense self doubt and anxiety. Then one night I loaded a Sara K. CD from Chesky and punched the start button. Before I could get back to my chair, I was in shock. The vocal was so sweet and full bodied it seemed Sara was in my listening room. The acoustic guitar had way more bloom and mid range purity than it did on my 36S (I thought it was perfect before). Every voice whether human or instrumental was better defined against the background and seemed fuller. The soundstage in both dimensions was larger. Each instrument's position on that stage was better defined. The aforementioned experience was repeated on every high quality CD I tried. The lesser recorded music did not fare well in my system. Every upgrade I buy seems to narrow the number of CD's I own that sound acceptable.

I have no idea when 24bit/96kHz sound will arrive. I don't care. Levinson has erased any difference between digital and analog and has made further improvements in the media meaningless. Buy this equipment for the thrill of a lifetime.

Other equipment in my system: Levinson 31.5 transport, 380S preamp, Krell FPB 300 Amp, Thiel CS6 Speakers, Transparent Reference speaker and interconnect cables.