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Sorry, clee - you are wrong!

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cawson@onetel.net.uk

(A)

In Reply to: You need a preamp posted by clee on March 13, 2003 at 09:20:20:

The attenuator in the ML 390S is ANALOGUE, not Digital.
Most CD players (eg Wadia) do indeed use a Digital volume control which reduces quality as volume is reduced. At -50 dB the loss in quality is noticable. Not so with Mark Levinson. If you only use CD as source, or CD plus other ditital sources (eg DAB) then don't think about a preamp. The 390S has the volume control circuit taken directly from their 380 preamp, so unless you need other analogue sources, save your money, or spend it on hundreds of new CDs. Surely a better way to blow the several thousand you'd need to better the 390S sound?

Follow Ups:

Sorry but you are right partially - clee 19:37:09 03/13/03 (1)
Sorry,
I have to correct my previous message. ML returns to me again and tell me the 390S really features a analog bolume control. However it is merely a volmue control similar to the part of colume control of 380 rather than a built-in 380 preamp circuit. Anyway, I still suggest you to check out the difference yourself with the setup of 390S + 380S. I listened ever for the 380S + 390S but did not compare it with 390S solely.
- Are you not possibly completely wrong? - cawson@onetel.net.uk 16:25:54 03/14/03 (0)
  Clee
  If all you want to do is attenuate the output from normal CD level, then why are you suggesting a $7000 preamp? This has dozens of switches and components to do lots of other jobs. The built-in analogue volume control of the 390S avoids the need for the precious signal to be assaulted by an extra interconnect plus all this bag of bits. Every review of the 390S (and predecesor 39) has found better results using no preamp. Unless you need gain (and this is extremely unlikely with the full output from a CD player) then don't use a preamp.
  Clee, you admit you've not tried the 390S on its own, so why suggest that using it with a preamp is likely to be better? It seems an illogical recommendation.
Re: Sorry, clee - you are wrong! REALLY? - clee 19:19:13 03/13/03 (0)
I check with ML again and ensure that 390S only feature digital volume control intead of a built-in 380 preamp. As you know the 390S costs only $7,000 as same as 380S. The volume control in 390S is merely a digital db discrete reducer (no gain). Anyway, just go to the deal with a set up of 390S + 380S to check out the difference.

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