Happy new year to all of you.
So, I did some investigation on the 523.
And to be honest I am quite impressed. The signal path pf the 523 is kind of completely discrete.
In theory this should give a better performance. It is done all in SMD technology and therefore quite compact. The volume control looks identical to the 32, 52, 326 ... it looks like they used better resistors. But it looks like a 10-bit ladder network, where the 32/52 is 16 bits.
This should give a less precise volume control and only 60 db of control range so I am not sure if this is correct, but less components in the signal path so in theory better sounding.
Can someone confirm that it goes down to -60dB and then silent?
What they also could have done is manipulate the gain of the first stage and at low volume settings reduce that gain. That would actually be quite clever as most line-amps have 12 to 18 dB of gain and a volume control that is often attenuating the gain with more than this 12 to 18 dB.
With a source that delivers 4V you have more than enough voltage to drive most pre-amps, so you attenuate most likely most of the time.
The power-supply is also quite extensive. multiple stages and also discrete.
Not the regeneration of AC like the 52 and 32, but still quite extensive.
I would say that the power-supply is better than in the 326.
The team responsible for the 523 is different than who did the 52 and 326. This is when the team moved to the Harman, Lexicon premises.
You can see that the 5xx series have a different build, different design choices and although still very much a Mark Levinson, the look different from the outside.
So the original question of this thread is still open: How does the 52 compare to the 523?
Cheers, Peter
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