Предусилители — Mark Levinson № 526

The № 526 is a dual-monaural stereo preamplifier from Mark Levinson that pairs its analog line section with a Pure Phono stage, an ESS Sabre DAC and a headphone amplifier. A sister model, the № 523, shares the analog platform but omits the digital section. The company describes both as designed and handcrafted in the USA.

Key specs that matter

Analog inputs are two balanced XLR pairs, three single-ended RCA pairs and one RCA phono pair with a grounding post. The digital board offers one AES/EBU, two coaxial and two Toslink inputs plus asynchronous USB, handling PCM up to 192 kHz and 32 bit and DSD at 2.8 and 5.6 MHz. Outputs are one XLR pair, one RCA pair and a 6.3 mm headphone jack. Line gain is 13.5 dB balanced and 7.5 dB single-ended at the normal setting, rising to 19.5 dB and 13.5 dB at the high setting. Response is flat within 0.02 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and reaches 0.4 Hz to 370 kHz at +0.1/-3 dB. THD+N is under 0.003% at 1 kHz, and signal-to-noise exceeds 97 dB wideband unweighted and 115 dB at 1 kHz. The balanced output delivers over 22 V RMS from under 160 Ohm, the RCA output over 11 V RMS from under 80 Ohm, and both input types present more than 45 kOhm. The chassis is 438 x 95 x 457 mm and weighs 18.6 kg.

Engineering and use context

Signal travels through discrete, direct-coupled circuitry that stays balanced end to end, with individual switching relays per input. Volume uses a balanced, current-mode discrete 15-bit R-2R ladder with low-noise analog switches. Modular construction keeps low-level analog and digital circuits apart from the power supplies inside an extruded aluminium and steel chassis with internal heatsinks. In MM mode the phono stage gives 40 dB of gain into 47 kOhm with capacitance selectable from 50 to 680 pF. In MC mode gain is switchable between 50, 60 and 70 dB, and resistive loading offers ten settings from 20 Ohm to 47 kOhm. A defeatable 15 Hz infrasonic filter is fitted. The converter pairs the ESS SABRE32 chip with jitter elimination and discrete balanced I/V circuitry, and HARMAN Clari-Fi processing is available for compressed files. Headphone output impedance is selectable at under 3 or 75 Ohm.

Pairing

The outputs can run full range or through a switchable 80 Hz fourth-order Butterworth high-pass filter for use with powered subwoofers. Integration ports include Ethernet, USB, RS-232, IR input and 12 V trigger connections, and Mark Levinson supplies a system IR remote control.

Alternatives

The Mark Levinson № 5206 is a preamplifier that keeps MM and MC phono and a DAC but adds Bluetooth aptX HD, MQA decoding and DSD up to 11.2 MHz.