One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 150W against 125W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Naim Nova PE the better fit for a very large room, and Mark Levinson No.5802 for desk or near-field listening, a small room and a mid-size room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | B | Mark Levinson No.5802 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output nearly doubles to 250W, where the other increases strongly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Both decode on board, but only Mark Levinson No.5802 handles MQA. |
| Streaming | A | Only Naim Nova PE has AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Roon. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Naim Nova PE is Class D and Mark Levinson No.5802 is Class A/B. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle; Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Naim Nova PE takes up about 53% less shelf area (1145cm² against 2454cm²), and it is 294mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Mark Levinson No.5802 costs less - $8,500 against $9,999 at list. |
A Naim Nova PE B Mark Levinson No.5802
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Mark Levinson No.5802 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Mark Levinson No.5802 is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.