Are new Mark Levinson Preamps better than old?

isnt amazing

A person asks a simple question will the ML5206 replace an older ML380 as an upgrade and gets maybe 1 or 1 1/2 reasonable answers.

The rest of the replies  are people telling you what gear they have and the original question is long gone.

Please keep to the original Question , we dont want to know what colour socks your grand mother wears. Or what speakers you run. 

I have a pair of 33h amps and personally  I liked  the Ayre k1xe  better than the levinson  pre. I have a tube front end and I have been thinking  about a pathos synapse  preamplifier.  But just thinking as I am happy where I am at currently.  

I agree with Testpilot.  I used to have a 25s/26s/23.5/37-360s set-up and later added 20.6's (which I recently sold).  All Madrigal CZ-Gel interconnects and even camac shorting plug's for un-used inputs.  That system was quiet as chair.   It mostly drove Tympani 1-D's and JBL 4345's.  When I told the guys in the Levinson room @ CES several years ago what I had, their jaws dropped, and they admitted that that was the pinnacle of ML and It's been downhill with Harmon ever since.  The ML32/33H was their attempt to better the 26s/20.6's and I'm sure it is a formidable combo, if it isn't total over-kill...
I moved on to Hartsfields and Marantz tube gear 15 years ago.

@triwhiz

You mentioned upgrading ML DACs.  Are you talking about migrating from a DAC1 to a DAC2 module?  If so, can you provide a little detail about the ways in which the DAC2's SQ was an improvement? And in retrospect, do you consider that difference to have justified the cost & hassle of a circuit-board upgrade?

For context, I'd probably be using the upgraded component with a pair of $10-20K Vivid speakers.

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

More Primaluna gear. Yes!

I have not compared the 380 to the 380S so I can't comment on sound differences.  I have fully recapped my preamp about eight years ago.  Considering the unit's age and enclosed chassis a recap at this time is advised.  

willcycle - did you ever hear the difference between the ML 380 and your ML 380S?  I wish I had purchased a a ML 380S all those years ago, but it was too costly for me at that time, and if I were to get one used it would be as old as my ML 380, so it would have to really bring better sound to be worth it.

triwhiz - thanks for the info on the ML 526.  I actually have an ML 5101, and I am very happy with it.  Since I already have the ML 5101 DAC and since I do not listen to vinyl, do you think the ML 523 would work as well?

I feel I can add something to this conversation. For a reference point I own a fair amount of ML gear.  I know the local Harmon Karddon rep here in the Tampa area and buy my stuff straight from him.
My main system is a pair of ML 50 mono blocks with an ML No 526 preamp. I’m sending that to Revel F328BE speakers.  The amps are as advertised and have an incredible foundation. The clarity in the system is pretty amazing.  The 526 preamp is very good and the soundstage is to my liking, to say the least. I will say this since we’re talking about ML preamps - the rep sold me an ML No 5101 SACD player/streamer and told me in passing that the DAC in the 5101 is newer and better than the DAC in the 526.  The system’s performance while running a remastered SACD is on another level, depending on the material and the remastering, of course.  Streaming sounds great too through Qobuz and Tidal.   I don’t have any vinyl so that’s not part of the conversation. I guess my point is that the 526 and the 5101 both sound amazing & perform very very well and Levinson does seem to improve their gear as they release new models, in this case, most notably with the higher end DAC in the SACD player.  My two cents.

I was using a 380S for nearly 20 years with great satisfaction.  I recently replaced it with a Primaluna Evo 400 which I find superior in the qualities of sound stage and musicality.  The only function I miss on the 380S is the ability to fine tune volume.  In this area it is unmatched. 

Thank you for your comments.  I know Levinson gear was legendary in the 1980s and 1990s, and I have been lucky with my two units from the 1990s: the ML 380 preamp I mentioned and my ML 332 power amp, each of which I have had repaired only once.  As I said, I am thinking of upgrading at least the preamp, but the two issues that I need information on are: do new Levinson products sound noticeably better, and are they as reliable?  I would have thought that 27 years of technological progress would offer better sound, but so far it sounds like it may not be a great idea.  If anyone else can provide more information, I would appreciate it.  I don't want to part with that kind of money and have no noticeable improvement.

No direct experience here, but recall reading of some having reliability issues with more current ML gear. Hopefully others will chime in. 

If you want a better preamp than the ML380 and want to stay in the ML family, don't look forward, look backwards to the ML26S. 

I doubt you would be able to tell any of them apart in a blind level-matched listening test.