Mark Levinson no. 37 compact
disc transport / Mark Levinson no.36S D-to-A convertor.

Reviewed in Stereophile
Magazine on January 25, 1997.

These two devices include
performance upgrades by SoundMods, the original mint condition manufacturer’s
user’s manuals, the Mark Levinson remote control with fresh Lithium batteries, a
.75 meter Audioquest Coffee AES/EBU digital interconnect, a one meter ST-Optical
interconnect, the Ethernet transport to D/A convertor communications
interconnect, plus power cords for both. 
Unpack – plug up – play.  This
solid-state package comes on song after about an hour warm-up – then leave them
powered on stand-by.

Why? Because I am getting
ready to downsize my life and this system represents that start.

Total plug-and-play package original MSRP was $10,915. 

This package is being offered for $4,550 plus shipping cost
–or- best offer.

Worst case shipping cost from Maryland to California seems
to be no more than $200 for the entire listed pair via FedEx Ground including
insurance.

No.37
Description:

CD transport with four digital
outputs: AES/EBU on XLR, S/PDIF on BNC,

S/PDIF on RCA, ST optical.

Dimensions: 15.75" W by
3.76" H by 14.3" D. Weight: 32 lbs (shipping).

Serial
number of unit for sale: 3276

Original Price: $3,995

The No.37's transport mechanism is a
Philips CDM 12 industrial model that has been coated with a flat green acrylic
to absorb laser reflections that would otherwise “paint” the disc and introduce
jtter. Levinson developed its own user interface rather than the stock Philips
board that uses an all-digital servo control system.  The laser transport itself is shock-mounted
and the reference clock -- a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator that is
acoustically damped -- is located in the final stage of the output section,
with its own dedicated power supply. The digital output is stored briefly in a buffer
and released in sync with the accuracy of the clock. This design is said to
virtually eliminate jitter in the output signal.

 No.36S
Description:

Digital-to-Analog converter with HDCD
decoding and 20-bit resolution.

Digital inputs: two
AES/EBU on XLRs, two S/PDIF coaxial (one RCA, one BNC), one ST optical, and one
TosLink optical. Outputs: L&R balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) (analog),
AES/EBU on XLR (digital), one each RJ-45 communications port and IR repeater
port. Frequency response: 10Hz-20kHz, +0, -0.2dB. THD: 0.001% at 1kHz, 0dBFS,
A-weighted. Dynamic range: 98dB (or better). S/N ratio: 105dB. Channel
separation: better than 110dB. IM distortion (SMPTEIMD): 0.005%. FIFO jitter:
under 20ps, uncorrelated. Output impedance buffered from interconnect
reactance’s

Dimensions: 15.75" W by
3.76" H by 14.3" D. Weight: 36 lbs (shipping).

Serial
number of unit for sale: 1509

Original Price: $6,495

The No.36S makes use of Levinson's
"smart FIFO (First In, First Out)" buffer, which re-clocks the incoming data with high
precision to minimize jitter. Madrigal claims less than 20 pico-seconds of jitter for the No.36S.   The No.36S will decode at sampling
frequencies of 32kHz, 44.1kHz, and  48kHz.  The 36S shunts un-selected inputs to ground. Internally,
both processors are fully balanced in both their analog and digital circuitry
(unbalanced digital inputs are converted to balanced before any processing is
performed). The No.36S also provides for HDCD playback though the inclusion of
Pacific Microsonics' PMD-100 HDCD, 24-bit throughput, 8x oversampling HDCD
decoder/digital filter chip. And, the 36S handles HDCD's inherent 6dB-lower
level in its own unique way and is defeat-able through the remote.  The 36S includes  a four-layer, cyanate-ester main circuit board
plus the 36S power supply has a significantly lower output impedance. The
trimming in the 36S is performed via 0.0006%-accuracy Vishay bulk-foil
hand-trimmed resistors.

The manufacturer is available for any service
that may be required; however, the Mil-Spec build quality has paid off in terms
of reliability and ageless performance.

Audioquest
Coffee AES/EBU Interconnect

Solid 10% Silver conductors

Dielectric Bias System with Radio Frequency Trap

Hard-Cell Foam Nitrogen Injected Insulation

Carbon-Based 7-layer Noise-Dissipation System

Cold welded terminations

Foil and Tinned Copper Braided Shield

Original
Price: $395

Mark
Levinson ST-Optical Interconnect

ST-ST Optical Fiber Duplex Multi-mode 62.5/125 Optic Network Patch Cable

Original
Price: $25

Mark
Levinson Ethernet Interconnect

CAT-6 Patch Network Cable Rj45 Ethernet to enable communications
between the transport and DAC.

Original
Price: $5