  We test the proposed 3-component spectral model for neutron star low mass
X-ray binaries using broad-band X-ray data. We have analysed 4 X-ray spectra
(0.8-30 keV) obtained with Suzaku during the 2010 outburst of 4U 1608-52, which
have allowed us to perform a comprehensive spectral study covering all the
classical spectral states. We use a thermally Comptonized continuum component
to account for the hard emission, as well as two thermal components to
constrain the accretion disc and neutron star surface contributions. We find
that the proposed combination of multicolor disc, single-temperature black body
and Comptonization components successfully reproduces the data from soft to
hard states. In the soft state, our study supports the neutron star surface (or
boundary layer) as the dominant source for the Comptonization seed photons
yielding the observed weak hard emission, while in the hard state both
solutions, either the disc or the neutron star surface, are equally favoured.
The obtained spectral parameters as well as the spectral/timing correlations
are comparable to those observed in accreting black holes, which support the
idea that black hole and neutron star low mass X-ray binaries undergo a similar
state evolution during their accretion episodes.
