After nearly 50 years in the audiophile audio business, luxury brand Mark Levinson has announced its first headphone: The Mark Levinson No 5909, a $999 wireless model with active noise cancellation.
The Mark Levinson brand, now part of Harman and owned in turn by Samsung, has always emphasized the design of its products alongside its commitment to audio quality. The No 5909 headphones look to be no exception, having already received a 2021 Red Dot product design award, a prestigious honor in the industrial design community.
Mark Levinson has made bold choices with the design. The ear cups are available in metallic red, gray or black. The cans have an anodized aluminum frame with a leather headband and replaceable leather ear cushions. Each earcup features a prominent Mark Levinson logo and edge ring that give a nice cam gear effect.
Mark Levinson No 5909 headphones come with a hard-shell case and a full complement of accessories.
Battery life looks solid: a promised 34 hours of playback for regular listening, and 30 hours with noise cancellation turned on. If your battery runs out, you can get six hours of listening from a quick 15-minute charge.
A hard-shell travel case and a 1.25-meter USB-C charging cable, USB-C to USB-A adaptor, 1.25-meter and 4-meter USB-C to 3.5mm audio cables, along with a 1/4-inch to 3.5mm audio adaptor, an airplane audio adaptor, and a microfiber polishing cloth.
The No 5909 features two 40mm Beryllium-coated drivers tuned to the Harman curve, the industry standard for frequency response created by engineers at Mark Levinson’s parent company Harman.
The headphones support Bluetooth 5.1 along with the LDAC, AAC, and aptX, Adaptive codecs. Active noise cancellation is powered by four-microphone array, with a feature dubbed Smart Wind Adaption that’s designed to deliver high-quality phone calls. An Ambient Aware mode is provided for safety when using the headphones in a crowded environment. Mark Levinson says its No 5909’s audio performance meets the standards for Hi-Res audio.
The Mark Levinson No 5909 wireless headphone is pricey, but it’s far from being the most expensive home audio product in the Mark Levinson collection. We’re interested in finding out if it justifies its lofty price tag as much as we are in learning if it lives up to the Mark Levinson name.
Author: James Barber, Freelance Contributor
James has worked in music as a producer, A&R executive, music publisher, manager and record store clerk. He writes about music, technology and movies from his home in Georgia.