Mark Levinson: let's be more honest....have a higher value of ethics

[MRC01]

Yes, his company makes boutique expensive audio gear which propagates high end audio madness. However, his gear at least seems well engineered and built with good measurements. You can buy something "sonically equivalent" (whatever that means) for a lot less money, but if you do buy his expensive gear at least you're not getting something bad. That said, I've only seen a few of his products measured and reviewed over the years so maybe I'm missing some flagrant counterexample.

This makes Mark Levinson at least interesting, in that it's not a clear-cut case of audio charlatan.

 

[watchnerd]

The interviewer says he cut that interview down to 10 minutes. I think cutting it down to 1 minute would have been enough. And oh, he should have the same to his part of the video.

I met Mark 15 years ago or so and he didn't make any more sense then, than he does in this video. He was showing us some MP3 enhancement DSP that sounded grating and anything but audiophile enhancements. I was amazed he couldn't hear how bad it was.

I, too, found it meandering, once he made the point about the high end mafia and lack of progress.

 

[Zog]

Yes, his company makes boutique expensive audio gear which propagates high end audio madness. However, his gear at least seems well engineered and built with good measurements. You can buy something "sonically equivalent" (whatever that means) for a lot less money, but if you do buy his expensive gear at least you're not getting something bad. That said, I've only seen a few of his products measured and reviewed over the years so maybe I'm missing some flagrant counterexample.

This makes Mark Levinson at least interesting, in that it's not a clear-cut case of audio charlatan.

I only have one product by Mark. It is the Daniel Hertz M6 1MΩ Preamp. It is fine product and I use it a lot.

 

[Fluffy]

OMG that's so much BS. Basically he is saying "everyone else is greedy and mafia, but only we really care about audio!", so obviously you need to buy from him. And at the same time he talks about some BS magical technology that makes PCM sound better… oh common!

 

[GrimSurfer]

"More honest"? I remember when honesty was binary. Now there's a sliding scale. Must be new math.

You can never have too much money... or too little scruples on how to make it.

 

[JJB70]

The hypocrisy of a man who sold re-badged $200 Chinese amplifiers for $2000 climbing on a moral high horse about this stuff is breath taking.

 

[raif71]

As twilight age beckons him, he's finding that he's at ease serving others. The younger years of him accumulating wealth takes a back seat now that he's seen the light

 

[MRC01]

The hypocrisy of a man who sold re-badged $200 Chinese amplifiers for $2000 climbing on a moral high horse about this stuff is breath taking.

Did he actually do that? I'd like to read more about that.

 

[CDMC]

The hypocrisy of a man who sold re-badged $200 Chinese amplifiers for $2000 climbing on a moral high horse about this stuff is breath taking.

I forgot about that part. I just remember the Red Rose Stuff being stupid expensive for what it was. He was targeting the lifestyle crowd that would otherwise buy Bose, but wanted to buy something better (i.e. more expensive) than their neighbor. He sold out a long time ago.

 

[HammerSandwich]

However, his gear at least seems well engineered and built with good measurements.

Do you mean current products from ML (the person) or the Harman Samsung products with his name on them? Not sure I've seen objective validation of Hertz gear, but see Fig. 4 of what Red Rose sold back in the day. Of course, as JA wrote, "This graph probably looks worse than it sounds..."

 

[MRC01]

I'm referring to a few ML preamps and power amps I've seen reviewed at Stereophile over the years.

 

[scott wurcer]

I'm referring to a few ML preamps and power amps I've seen reviewed at Stereophile over the years.

I interviewed ML's chief designer years ago who wanted to transition to IC design. He was a smart guy and their designs at the time were fairly sophisticated. He had no feel for any of the semiconductor physics so it didn't work out.

 

[JJB70]

Did he actually do that? I'd like to read more about that.

As CDMC noted, in his Red Rose phase he was selling very expensive ringers. If you do a Web search there are a few references to the episode, unfortunately I am travelling and browsing on my phone and I am useless at posting links on this thing.

 

[HammerSandwich]

I'm referring to a few ML preamps and power amps I've seen reviewed at Stereophile over the years.

As I understand it, ML the man left ML the brand before JA joined Stereophile & began doing measurements there.

 

[AndrewDavis]

More honest"?

Less a liar?

 

[GrimSurfer]

Less a liar?

20% less?

Sounds like the kind of BS we hear from politicians of every stripe.

 

[watchnerd]

OMG that's so much BS. Basically he is saying "everyone else is greedy and mafia, but only we really care about audio!", so obviously you need to buy from him. And at the same time he talks about some BS magical technology that makes PCM sound better… oh common!

Oh.........is that what he was trying to say?

Honestly, it was so convoluted, I couldn't tell....plus I just started tuning out of the circular logic.

I've heard easier to understand monologues from raving nuts drug-addled street people.

 

[watchnerd]

As CDMC noted, in his Red Rose phase he was selling very expensive ringers. If you do a Web search there are a few references to the episode, unfortunately I am travelling and browsing on my phone and I am useless at posting links on this thing.

I've read the same.

 

[anmpr1]

A friend of mine was the business manager at Cello. Sounded....interesting.

The Audio Palette was a very sophisticated unit, for its time. God knows how much it cost to build. In one issue of Audio magazine, must have been the late '70s or perhaps '80s, there was a little blurb about Dick Burwen, and his work on EQ. A photo showed Dick's hand made device, which looked pretty much like a prototype Audio Palette. Form factor was the same, with similar rotary controls.

One of Mark's Cello speakers looked like the old AR LST.

Mark's Cello thing, as I understood it, was to offer (sell) a 'systems approach'. I read an anecdote from one of his dealers who thought he'd done right by selling a couple of Cello amps and probably the Audio Palette. A big money sell--Mark never gave it away. He called the main office to place the order, and by his report, Mark was furious that he didn't sell an entire top to bottom system to the customer. It left a bad impression on the dealer, being dressed down like that.

 

[anmpr1]

As CDMC noted, in his Red Rose phase he was selling very expensive ringers.

I am not saying that the Chinese gear Mark was selling at his store were not quality units. I don't think Mark could get away with that. On the other hand, it was a big change for him. In fact, for the first time he was actually selling tube gear (integrated amplifiers). Harvey 'PT Barnum' Rosenberg (of NYAL Futterman fame--or infamy... depending) quipped somewhere that after listening, he told Mark how impressed he was that Mark had finally made tubes sound as bad as solid state!

During his Red Rose days Mark decided that digital was 'bad for your health' (literally). He came up with an idea of reburbing Nakamichi 1000 cassette decks and offering cassette copies of his 30ips master tapes he'd made on his modified Studer A-80. But I don't think that idea ever came to fruition.