Mark Levinson № 519 Audio Player Receives Firmware Update that Adds Roon Ready Capability, MQA Certification and other Enhancements

December 20 2018, 01:10
Harman's Mark Levinson announced a major firmware update for its № 519 Audio Player, a remarkably versatile ultrahigh-end source component designed to accommodate nearly every digital audio format. The update turns the № 519 Roon Ready and with it introduces support for the Tidal music streaming service, including its Premium top tier that makes available the largest collection of MQA encoded files. Therefore, the update also makes the 519 certified with the MQA Full Decoder, which enables playback and authentication of MQA audio files and streams.
 

The Mark Levinson № 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.

Roon is a rich and engaging way to browse, organize, 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 about the user's musical taste. 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 upsampling, multichannel support, and Signal Path display. Because the Nº 519 is Roon Ready, it requires no configuration to work with Roon; just being connected to the network.

With the update, the No 519 audio player also 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. The MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream or download.

Additional enhancements include support for up to 8TB USB hard drives, support for macOS formatted hard drives, faster network discovery, an added Wi-Fi signal strength indicator and improved user experience with streaming services.

The Mark Levinson № 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, while the system features a complete embedded Precision Stream Linux computer with 1GHz multicore processor, delivering outstanding performance headroom for flawless performance, regardless of configuration. 

On the audio electronics side, the № 519 features a proprietary Mark Levinson Pure Path discrete, direct coupled, fully balanced, dual-monaural signal path offering balanced and single-ended analog 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.

The № 519 is built to the absolute finest standards of materials, fit and finish, featuring a 6000-series aluminum housing in black with silver trim. It can be operated from its large, front-panel color 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.
www.roonlabs.com | www.mqa.co.uk | www.marklevinson.com
related items