One of the side effects of trying new gear is sometimes this happens. You all know I really love my Pass amp so when a friend, who just happens to also be a dealer, offered to let me try a Levinson 532h amp in my system I said alright, thinking I'll just show up another piece of gear. Plus I've heard this amp numerous times with good results but nothing that made me lust for one. This is another very interesting point and why it's important to listen in your own system, own music and room.

The H series Levinson amps are a bit different from the typical Levinson in that they use banks of smaller capacitors opposed to the large can size, so the amp doesn't double down into 4 ohms but what the smaller capacitors do is give the amp an excellent transient response that provides an excitement or liveliness to the music. I'm sure there's more to it than than just the capacitor array. I mean the other Levinson, amps like Krell etc. have crunching transients but the 532h seems to make everything pop. It also does this along with providing the macro/micro dynamics, musicality and the emotion. The amps frequency response is balanced with strong bass and extending clean highs, very quite and transparent. I never expected to have anything in place of my Pass, except a newer Pass but this 532h got to someplace in my emotions, I was addicted to the sound.

By comparison the X250 soundstage was some larger, more of a lush presentation. The X250 seemed to accentuate the mids where the 532h had more of a flat balance. It's difficult to compare detail as the two amps just seemed to have two different goals, the Pass offering more shading or colorations, not necessarily negative when I use colorations, where the 532h seemed almost stripped down but you got more emotion and finer detail was easier to hear. When I say "stripped down" that was the effect the lack of how the Pass sort of gave a lusher larger sound stage, the 532h had more focus and transparency. It's crazy, I don't remember very many components getting me as excited over it like the 532h. Obviously, when we switch gear there's some improvement or excitement that prompts the switch, and I did enjoy the past gear I've had, but the excitement the 532h puts into my system.... addicting, is the perfect description.