Congrats on the 526 ... awesome preamp! Decided what you're going to pair it with?

George

Thanks- I have a 532h and a Luxman m600a and Carver 275-Speaks are Proac D2-Spatial Audio M3 Triodes and Spendors Sp2 and Sp3

Dawg-- How is the Ref working these days?

Actually sold it a while back and went with a BAT Rex2 2 box tube preamp. I sacrificed a tiny bit of detail and soundstage overall for a tad bit of warmth. In my system it was the right choice. Otherwise the Ref52 was awesome! Still miss that palm size remote though!

George

Sorry for the late reply-- yep that remote is the best- I may look at that BAT--warm wins!!!

How does the 526 stack up against other DAC's that cost the difference of a 523?

Also 526 phono stage, any thoughts?

Of the two I’d give the better grade to the phono stage. I could tell very little difference to the built in phono stage of the 526 vs Audio Research PH8. Now that was an older phono stage but still a very good one. The Levinson was good enough that I sold the phono stage.

The dac on the other hand … It is NOT a value as there are many dacs I listened to even at less than the price differential that are much better than the DAC in the 526. Yggdrasil is the first of many that come to mind here …

No doubt these are great preamps … just add the DAC of your choice to get the most out of it and because of that I recommend the 523 which was why I had bought that originally after comparing the two, then upgraded, etc, etc, etc :D

George

In the No 52 HIFI news article, download from ML site, for the phono stage, it states "Custom input loads, should one be required, can be configured using internal solder-less connections by your dealer."

This sounds like jumpers possibly, has anyone done this or have more info on how this is done? thanks.

It dawned on me that I should be able to also set the load to the option of 47K, and then use loading plugs. Example 900 ohm resistor used on a loading plug (1 male RCA to dual female RCA) would give me ~900 ohm resistive load?