Предусилители — Mark Levinson No.626

The № 626 is the stereo preamplifier of Mark Levinson's 600 Series, first presented at Munich's High End exhibition in 2025 together with the № 631 mono and № 632 stereo power amplifiers. Retail availability followed in September 2026, with a US price of about USD 24,999. The Harman-owned brand designs and engineers it in the USA, and it houses line, phono, digital and headphone circuits under a single lid.

Key specs that matter

Line-level sources have five stereo inputs, two on XLR and three on RCA, and a dedicated RCA phono input with a ground post accepts moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges. The digital side offers six inputs - AES/EBU once, coaxial and Toslink twice each, and an asynchronous USB-C port that takes PCM and DSD up to 32-bit 384 kHz. Conversion uses the Precision Link III stage built on the ESS ES9039PRO, an eight-channel Hyperstream IV chip. Output goes to a single balanced XLR pair and a single RCA pair, and a 6.3 mm TS jack on the front serves headphones. Control connections include three 3.5 mm trigger jacks, a 3.5 mm IR input, an ML source link and a service-only USB-A socket, and a full-function handset is supplied.

Engineering and use context

The analogue path follows Mark Levinson's Pure Path principle - fully discrete, direct-coupled and balanced from input to output, with separate left and right circuits. Every analogue input is selected by its own signal relay. Level is set by a discrete R-2R resistor ladder that works in balanced form. The converter adds the brand's jitter elimination and a discrete, fully balanced I/V conversion stage after the ESS chip. Phono amplification is called Pure Phono and runs in Class A, as does the Main Drive headphone circuit. Analogue, digital and power sections sit in separate modules inside the chassis to keep them from interfering with one another, and an ultra-low-noise linear supply with a toroidal transformer feeds them. The Tectonic body combines aluminium and steel anodised in black on a silver plinth, with a glass centre panel and red accent lighting shared by the whole series.

Pairing

The natural partners are the two 600 Series power amplifiers, which take the XLR output directly. With the phono stage, converter and headphone circuit inside, a turntable, a streamer or CD transport and headphones can connect without further boxes.

Alternatives

Mark Levinson's № 526 is an earlier dual-monaural preamplifier that also handles both digital and analogue sources.