Shown for the first time, the foundation of the Nº 5805's is its patent-pending, fully discrete, direct-coupled, dual-monaural line-level preamp circuitry. According to the company, a unique single gain stage mated to a digitally controlled resistor network for volume adjustment maintains maximum signal integrity and widest possible bandwidth.

The Nº 5805 also features a headphone output employs a preamp output stage specifically designed with the current and power capacity to drive headphones directly, in Pure Class A, without a separate headphone amp.

Also onboard is a newly designed MM/MC phono stage with selectable gain levels and infrasonic filters, and capacitive and resistive load settings.

It features three stereo line-level inputs comprising one balanced XLR and two single-ended featuring Mark Levinson connectors.

Digital audio has not been forgotten with the latest generation ESS Sabre 32-bit D/A converter with jitter elimination circuitry and a fully balanced, discrete current-to-voltage converter to form the heart of the digital audio processing stage.

There are four digital audio inputs comprising one coaxial and two optical S/PDIF, and one asynchronous USB for playback of high-resolution PCM (up to 192kHz/32 bits) and DSD (up to DSD 5.6) files. A powerful XMOS USB audio processor also decodes and renders MQA-encoded files.

Jim Garrett, Senior Director, Product Strategy & Planning, HARMAN Luxury Audio, told StereoNET:

The Nº5805 and Nº5802 were created to deliver all of the performance and quality expected from Mark Levinson while implementing state of the art features and efficiencies gained from decades of superlative audio engineering and technological advancements.

For the "all-digital" enthusiast, the № 5802 featuring the same Precision- Link II™ DAC is expanded to six digital audio inputs: One AES, two coaxial and two optical S/PDIF, and one asynchronous USB for playback of high resolution PCM (up to 192kHz/32 bits) and DSD (up to DSD 5.6) files.

The Nº 5802 includes MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) technology, which enables play back of MQA audio files and streams. There's also a Bluetooth receiver equipped with aptX HD.

Both new amplifiers feature fully discrete, direct-coupled, class AB amplifier channels powered from an oversized (500+ VA) toroidal transformer with individual secondary windings for the left and right channels.

The voltage gain stage employs a topology directly descended from the acclaimed Nº 534 amplifier, which is mated to an output stage comprising two high-speed driver transistors operating in class A and six 260V, 15A output transistors. Two Thermal-Trak devices in a unique configuration guarantee stable output bias regardless of load or temperature. Four 10,000-microfarad capacitors per channel, located directly on the output stage circuit board, easily provide enough current for a conservative 125W/channel at 8 ohms, 250W/channel at 4 ohms, and stable operation down to 2 ohms.

As we've come to expect from Mark Levinson, the 5000 series features robust materials, lavish finishes and bold geometries, in true ML fashion. A newly designed 5000 Series aluminium IR remote control is included with both models.

The Mark Levinson Nº5805 and Nº5802 integrated amplifiers will be available in early 2019. Australian pricing has not yet been confirmed.

For more information visit Mark Levinson.