View Single Post
  #55  
Old 02-03-2019, 12:41 AM
gadawg gadawg is offline
Guest
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Prosper TX
Posts: 847
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by allhifi View Post
Good call: " ...There should not be any "fact gathering," they should have overnighted you new gear and sent prepaid labels to send the broken stuff back."

A friend recently ordered a 534 (amp), and has the 326s pre. By all accounts thus far, it appears the 523 is considerably superior ?
Oh, and if anyone has experience with the No.52 (pre) by itself/or compared to 523, please advise.

Thx,

pj
So last year I had considerable experience with both the 326s which I owned for 5 years, the 523 and the Ref 52. First the 326s is a great sounding preamp but the 523 just does everything much better ... more detail and much larger sound stage are the two biggest differences and they are big differences for sure. When I put the Ref 52 into my system vs the 523 the biggest thing I noticed was a more holographic presentation ... it really felt like the entire room was now part of the sound stage in every direction. There was even better detail as well. I was now hearing things in recordings that I didn't previously ... let me hear much deeper into the sound stage if you will. One big note is that while the 523 is not as dark or warm sounding as the 326s the Ref 52 is even less so so system synergy is really important. The 52 is extremely revealing and doesn't sugar coat anything so if you have recordings that are less than stellar they sound .... well ... less than stellar. When you have great recordings your jaw will drop with the realism it can create if the rest of the system is up to the challenge. So ... coming up on a year later and I'm still very, very happy i went with the Ref52. As an FYI I also still have them partnered up with the 536s and they have been simply amazing. I've heard the 534 is very good also so I would imagine that pairing would be incredible as well.

George
Reply With Quote