Locked in

By Anonymous -

Mark Levinson No. 585 Stereo Integrated Amplifier 


Sometimes things just… click.

I witnessed that this morning with this Mark Levinson No. 585 “do-everything” style of integrated amplifier as I hauled its massive chassis up onto the test bench.


Mark Levinson and perhaps the rest of the Harman Group certainly know how to package a fine product to elicit feelings of pride in the owner.

Fit and finish are superb, but it’s the little details like a remote with the right heft, embroidered gloves and a special screwdriver for the remote that have me impressed with the packaging.

But of course you should know that with me, the buck stops with the sound.

Firing up the 2018 master jazz production called Hudson, everything is perfect, and everything is right. I’m greeted with instant space and depth in this recording featuring some of the jazz world’s best musicians.If you haven’t jumped on the Hudson train yet, it’s a rag-tag crew of no-names like John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier and John Medeski. And of course, I kid when I call these giants “no-names” — they are literally jazz royalty.

The music on this disc ranges from amazing and engaging to challenging and wild. The production however is consistently at the very top of the heap.

So it’s a remarkable system that shows off every nuance this disc has to offer. My fantastic bookshelf speakers, my flat ribbon cables, my Belden ICONOCLAST interconnects and this Mark Levinson integrated represent such a system.

Pair this with good Dynaudios or, better yet, a set of Harbeth 30.2, and strap in for the ride. Like I said before, everything is there. This is one of the few amps I hear where everything is right and I have no complaints whatsoever.

And keep chasing that “click” … it happens to all of us at some point!

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