June 9, 2008

  • Mark Levinson No. 380S, Part 1

    Ten years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed my job delivering the Hokubei Mainichi newspaper in and around Japantown.  Another person actually had the route that covered the mall.  Whenever she or her dad couldn't do it, I volunteered.  One of the stops was the Kinokuniya Bookstore:

    Kinokuniya recently moved the front entrance.  But anyway, I loved stopping by, and reading the Japanese audio magazines.  There, I learned that Swing Out Sister were not only alive, but were rather popular in Japan.  They had released a very good album, Shapes And Patterns, but it was very difficult to find, here in San Francisco.  When I finally found a copy, I discovered that SOS had brought back the orchestra, for a bigger (size-wise), lusher sound.  Interestingly, SOS did a cover of the Laura Nyro-penned "Stoned Soul Picnic."  Nyro wrote some songs for the Fifth Dimension, and SOS's "We Could Make It Happen" nods to the Fifth Dimension.  It's one of my favorite SOS songs.  The album also features the golden "Here And Now," the kind of song my head would sway to, when I was a kid spending my summers in Honolulu.

    I also learned that American hi-fi companies seemed to have a higher profile/image in Japan, than here in the States.  Mark Levinson seemed to be popular in those Japanese magazines.  And that inspired me on my road to finding a workable preamp.

    You see, almost every preamp I tried simply did not have enough volume control range and steps.  Even when the knob was at MIN, the sound was too loud.  I know, I know, the fault also lies with (a) source components having too much output, (b) excessive gain in power amps, and (c) speakers with ridiculously high sensitivity.  As much as I loved the look and sound of the Classe' CP-60, the sound was too loud at step 5.

    I did not get preamp relief, until I bought the Mark Levinson No. 380.  It served me very well for a few years, and has since been upgraded to "S" status:  

    Other than the new badge to indicate "No. 380S," all of the changes are internal.  Nothing has changed on the rear, which still has the symmetrical layout:

    If you look carefully at the rear panel, you will not find a powercord or IEC jack.  That's on account of the jack inconveniently being located under the preamp's belly:

    Unless you prop up the unit, you will have to get a powercord with a right-angle IEC plug.  I have ordered an Acrolink P/C-046 with such a device:

    Aiden flips the unit over...

    ...and plugs in the Acrolink powercord:

    The No. 380S has more transparency, delicacy, and speed, than the stock No. 380.  In comparison, the stock No. 380 sounds grainy, hazy, and grayed-out.  But the newer and more expensive No. 326 is so exquisitely detailed, focused, unambiguous, and not present, that it leaves the No. 380S sounding a bit gray and plump.

Comments (2)

  • ahhhhhhhh yes!  that was the Alcatraz triathlon I put my name in for!  but its kinda popular so they did a lottery draw for people to pay to do it and my name wasn't chosen.

    well swimmers usually wear wetsuits....prisoners wouldn't have....swimmers usually train for this...prisoners usually dont LOL  so it would be possible (esp in summer I suppose) but the water i hear is pretty cold and choppy.

  • haha yup...limited # can race.....its like a night club...make people wait...and it becomes more popular i guess.

    yeah the field is pretty nice.

    funny thing about this particular league is that if guys hit it out of the ball park...it's an out.  i hit the top part of the fence and it bounced back so it was "in play"  LOL 

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