HARMAN’s Mark Levinson № 519 Audio Player Firmware Update Adds Roon Ready Capability, MQA Certification and other Enhancements

NORTHRIDGE, California — HARMAN’s Mark Levinson today 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 № 519 is now Roon Ready. 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 your 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 connect it to your 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.

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 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 for superlative musical accuracy with exceptional resolution and dynamic range. The № 519 contains a complete embedded Precision Stream Linux computer with 1GHz multicore processor, delivering outstanding performance headroom for flawless performance, regardless of configuration.

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. The № 519 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.

About Roon

Roon software provides an unrivaled user experience that is made for music lovers. It offers best in class audio performance and seamless integration of local personal content with the 40 million track library of TIDAL. More than just a music player, Roon is a cross-platform networked music system, with server apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux; Control apps for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android; and networked audio Output to any Roon Ready, AirPlay™, Sonos, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Linn, Squeezebox, or Meridian Sooloos device on the network. Learn more at www.roonlabs.com.

About MQA

Using pioneering scientific research into how people hear, the MQA team has created a technology that captures the sound of the original studio performance. The master MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream, while also being backward compatible, so you can play MQA music on any device. MQA’s award-winning technology is licensed by labels, music services and hardware manufacturers worldwide and is certified by the RIAA. MQA is a UK-based private company. For more information visit www.mqa.co.uk

The MQA logo is a trademark of MQA Limited. © MQA Limited 2018

About HARMAN

HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things.  With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In March 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.