If you want all your sources controlled from one box, then this integrated streamer, SACD player and DAC from luxury audio brand Mark Levinson could fit the bill, albeit it at a price: $5500 to be precise.
The Mark Levinson No. 5101, made in the USA, allows playback of multiple physical formats including SACD, CD-A, CD-R and CD-RW. And if you want to stream your music from NAS, DLNA and UPnP devices (connected to the same network via wi-fi or Ethernet), it will handle FLAC, WAV, AIFF, OGG, MP3, AAC and WMA files.
It can also navigate and play back audio files from a USB flash drive connected to the USB type A input. Additionally, with one coaxial and one optical S/PDIF digital input, the No. 5101 serves as a premium stand-alone DAC for digital sources.
As you'd expect from Mark Levinson, there's plenty of quality engineering under the hood. The PrecisionLink II DAC allows the No. 5101 to deliver "outstanding digital audio quality", the company claims. You also get the latest generation ESS PRO Sabre 32-bit D/A converter with jitter elimination circuitry and a fully balanced, discrete current-to-voltage converter directly descended from the Mark Levinson No. 5802 and No. 5805 integrated amps.
Should you want to connect it to compatible Mark Levinson amplifiers you can do so using the coaxial and optical digital outputs fitted as standard.
The slot-loading CD transport is suspended on steel standoffs floating on a PVC and styrene-butadiene rubber sandwich and shielded with a steel cover. Build quality should be up to Mark Levinson's usual legendary standards with robust casework and one-inch-thick solid aluminium front panels.
"The No. 5101 is a very exciting new product. There are high-end CD players on the market though few that support the SACD format and feature integrated streaming," says Jim Garrett, Senior Director, Product Strategy & Planning, Harman Luxury Audio.
"The Mark Levinson level of industrial design and ground-breaking engineering that has gone into this player are remarkable, and we expect the No. 5101 will redefine expectations for integrated audio media players."
The Mark Levinson No. 5101 is being previewed at Munich High End 2019 and will be available in the fourth quarter of 2019 at an estimated price of $5,500/£5000.
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