Daniel J SaitHARMAN’s Mark Levinson has announced a firmware update for its № 519 Audio Player, presented as a versatile ultra-high-end source component designed to accommodate nearly every digital audio format.
The № 519 is now Roon Ready adding this platform’s rich and engaging way to browse, organise, and listen to music. Artist photos, credits, bios, reviews, lyrics, tour dates, and composers are located automatically, then interconnected by links to build a surfable digital magazine.
Going beyond a personal music collection, Roon lets a user explore millions of tracks on TIDAL through the lens of the user’s collection. Roon is also a multi-room, multi-user networked audio platform, it offers features such as bit-perfect playback, DSD and PCM up-sampling, multichannel support, and Signal Path display. Because the Nº 519 is Roon Ready, it requires no configuration to work with Roon; just connect it to the network.
The Mark Levinson No519 is now also certified with the MQA Full Decoder, which enables playback and authentication of MQA audio files and streams. The No 519 delivers full MQA playback while streaming MQA files from Tidal or Roon, playing through a USB drive, listening to an MQA-CD or via DLNA. MQA is an award-winning British technology capable of delivering the sound of the original master recording. The MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream or download.
Ant that’s not all folks…
Additional enhancements include support for up to 8TB USB hard drives, support for Mac OS formatted hard drives, faster network discovery, an added Wi-Fi signal strength indicator and improved user experience with streaming services.
The № 519 was designed to be the heart of high-performance audio systems, with the ability to playback virtually any audio format from streaming music services including Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz and others, to networked storage, to CD to high-resolution digital inputs and even convenient aptX Bluetooth wireless.
The 519 offers high-resolution digital decoding up to 32-bit, 192kHz from PCM and double-speed DSD. Its Precision Link DAC features an ESS Sabre32 Reference converter for musical accuracy with high resolution and dynamic range.
The № 519 contains a complete embedded Precision Stream Linux computer with 1GHz multicore processor, delivering high-quality performance regardless of configuration.
The machine also features a proprietary Mark Levinson Pure Path discrete, direct coupled, fully balanced, dual-monaural signal path offering balanced and single-ended analogue outputs, balanced, optical and coaxial digital outputs and a high-performance Main Drive headphone output integrated into the front panel, enabling listeners to drive up to 32-ohm headphones in class A using the main output circuitry.
Fixed or variable main outputs enable usage as a standalone music playback device connected directly to a power amplifier or active loudspeakers without the need for a separate preamp, and selectable high-pass filtering enables seamless subwoofer integration.
Its maker says the № 519 is built to the absolute finest standards of materials, fit and finish, featuring a 6000-series aluminium housing in black with silver trim.
The № 519 can be operated from its large, front-panel colour display, included remote control, Apple iOS and Google Android apps, all major web browsers and via a comprehensive range of system integration connections. Like all Mark Levinson products, the № 519 is designed and handcrafted in the USA.