As spotted by our Antipodean cousins over at StereoNET AU, Mark Levinson of the Harmann stable has taken the wraps off of a pair of new 5000 series amplifiers.

Mark Levinson № 5805

The foundation of the № 5805 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 the maximum signal integrity and widest possible bandwidth. As well as each of the amp's three stereo line-level inputs (one balanced XLR and two single-ended) using custom Mark Levinson connectors, they also have their own, individual signal switching relays.

Like the 500 series components, the Main Drive headphone output employs a preamp output stage designed explicitly with the current and power capacity to drive headphones directly in Pure Class A without a separate headphone amp. The № 5805 also includes newly developed MM/MC phono stage. You can select the required gain levels and infrasonic filters from the front panel. However, you need to get around the read to sort the capacitive and resistive loading settings.

The № 5805 adds the Mark Levinson Precision-Link II DAC. The ESS Sabre 32bit DAC supports one coaxial and two optical S/PDIF and one asynchronous USB for playback of high-resolution PCM (up to 32bit/192kHz) and DSD (up to DSD 5.6) files. An XMOS USB audio processor also decodes and renders MQA-encoded files.

Mark Levinson № 5802

The № 5802 is an all-digital integrated amplifier featuring the same Precision-Link II DAC, although here it covers six digital audio inputs. Inputs listed are an AES, two coaxial and two optical S/PDIF and one asynchronous USB for playback of high-resolution PCM (up to 32bit/192kHz) and DSD (up to DSD 5.6) files. The № 5802 also decodes MQA and sports an aptX HD Bluetooth receiver.

Both 5000 Series amplifiers feature 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 № 534 amplifier mated to an output stage comprising two high-speed driver transistors operating in class A and six 260V, 15A output transistors.

Price and availability

The № 5805 and № 5802 will be available in the first quarter of 2019. Pricing has been quoted at $8,500 and $7,000 respectively. We are awaiting confirmation of UK prices.

For more information visit Mark Levinson.