Hi Luke. Your presentations are great and you make a lot of sense on many issues. I have a question on DACs. My system has a DAC in the BS Node and the preamp C2700. How does the streaming music " flow" through the system? Does each DAC add to the conversation or is 2 DACs redundant? And where does external DACs fit in? Thanks!
Only one DAC is used as once you convert digital back to analog, you cannot feed that analog signal into the digital input of another dac, nothing would happen. Use the DAC in your C2700. It is is superior to the DAC inside the Node, also run the node into it via the coaxial digital out as that output measures cleaner than the optical out on the Node.
i LOVE this integrated amp. i have a question and please go easy on me. i know that Audio Purists like to play LPies and or CDs. honestly i don't wanna invest $1000sss on record player/ LPs/ CD player/ and CDs. my question is. if i get the MA352 and an external DAC . can i use a High-Resolution IPod to play music ? and will it sound great ?, or am i wasting my money on these expensive equipment?. i know that you also have another product: the MC5300 with built-in DAC . should i get this one instead and forget about the Tube amp?. thanks
im no expert, so take my reply with a grain of salt. iPOD and high resolution - - don't understand this. The ipod only plays back files through its headphone or internal speaker output you've save to it, no? That said, there are awesome DACs on the market...and honestly even modestly priced DACs vastly improve the sound resulting from iPOD outputs alone. So, using lossless files stored on your iPOD in linked to a DAC will make your iPOD hosted music sound great. And how much greater if that DAC is connected to a chain of electronics and speakers designed to extract the very best out of the musical signals. The MA5300 is a cool product for a 2 channel only system. Remember, it wasn't designed for being the centerpiece of a home media system covering audio and video processing. So, if you buy it, expect to need another system for your home theater processing needs - if you are interested in HT that is. I dont see how you could go wrong with either the MA5300 or MA352. But, if you could only have 1, i'd go with the MA5300 giving me the best of both digital and analog options. (Especially since you can buy and adapter for your iPOD and pair it (or any USB device) directly as a source to the MA5300 - which far less cost than buying a full separate DAC :) ) The MA352 is Analog only, definitely would need another component going that route as you know. Good luck.
Pick up a great external DAC like a Chord Qutest and combine it with the MA352 , along with loseless streaming like Tidal or Amazon HD and you are golden.
Yes, it's quite strange and very frustrating. At first listen on the Sopra 1s, I thought it was very good and I thought I liked what it was doing with the sound signature. After about 100 hours on it. It has become nearly unlistenable! It is is shrill, thin, metallic with a screaming, screeching treble that would wake up the dead. The midrange is recessed and distant, totally unexpressive. The bass has all but disappeared and when it is there it is loose and flabby. Very poor performance overall. Voices are literally transformed into a litany of sibilance unlike anything I've ever heard. Do you know of any songs without words beginning with S or T? I don't! In fact, this thing has transformed my well-known reference recordings from Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, Pink Floyd, Sade and Deutsche Grammophone classical composers into horrifying calamities of sonic agony. I still have trouble realizing how bad this really is. So, what did I do? I changed 3 sets of speaker cables, interconnects and power cords. No effect. I rolled a full set of new production Gold Lions to no effect. I the purchased some expensive NOS Telefunkens and got no effect. I changed the source and it did nothing. I then connected some Sonus faber Concertinos and it was the same, all treble and no bass. Even funnier, I recounted this experience on some McIntosh sites and FB groups looking for advice and suggestions. I was summarily banished as a heretic because I did not proclaim that McIntosh was made by God himself and that it made the very sound of angel's voices singing from on High. It was probably even worse than the Naim forum. It was inconceivable to these people that the MA352 could be considered anything less than a mysterious, magical box that makes heavenly, blissful sound. I stand firmly by my impressions. The amplifier is overrated, overpriced and underwhelming. It performs poorly and is not musical at all. This is the first amplifier where I hear "confusion" in the musical signal. On complex passages, the thing gets lost, confused and drowns out details of instruments and voices and combines them into an unintelligible mush that really is just noise. Never heard such a demonstration of sonic incompetence in all my years, which are numerous at this stage. Now I have an ungodly expensive chunk of dorky metal ruining any hope of listening to music. I swear a 50$ Chinese Class D from Aliexpress could do just as well... Don't expect much from McIntosh except marketing, hype and frenzied fanboy zealots.
I was just looking this up because some dude showed me one last week and I fell in love with it - and it was you! Thanks brother!!
Awesome! My pleasure bro!
Great presentation Luke. Love the McIntosh history and the fact it's still built in the Good Ol' USA.
Was that an AudioQuest power cord ?
McIntosh sure is one of the powers in the market for maximum quality hi-fi products. Keen eye you have there sir, it was an AQ power cable!
Ohh very nice Mcintosh 352 amplifier. My dream amplifier. I wish Santa Claus will hear me:-). God bless.
Hi Luke. Your presentations are great and you make a lot of sense on many issues. I have a question on DACs. My system has a DAC in the BS Node and the preamp C2700. How does the streaming music " flow" through the system? Does each DAC add to the conversation or is 2 DACs redundant? And where does external DACs fit in? Thanks!
Only one DAC is used as once you convert digital back to analog, you cannot feed that analog signal into the digital input of another dac, nothing would happen. Use the DAC in your C2700. It is is superior to the DAC inside the Node, also run the node into it via the coaxial digital out as that output measures cleaner than the optical out on the Node.
@@GramophoneMD Thanks!
If you have not personally experienced a tube preamp with a solid state amp, do yourself a favor. It is a magical combination.
Agreed, mark!
i LOVE this integrated amp. i have a question and please go easy on me.
i know that Audio Purists like to play LPies and or CDs. honestly i don't wanna invest $1000sss on record player/ LPs/ CD player/ and CDs. my question is. if i get the MA352 and an external DAC . can i use a High-Resolution IPod to play music ? and will it sound great ?, or am i wasting my money on these expensive equipment?. i know that you also have another product: the MC5300 with built-in DAC . should i get this one instead and forget about the Tube amp?. thanks
im no expert, so take my reply with a grain of salt.
iPOD and high resolution - - don't understand this. The ipod only plays back files through its headphone or internal speaker output you've save to it, no?
That said, there are awesome DACs on the market...and honestly even modestly priced DACs vastly improve the sound resulting from iPOD outputs alone.
So, using lossless files stored on your iPOD in linked to a DAC will make your iPOD hosted music sound great.
And how much greater if that DAC is connected to a chain of electronics and speakers designed to extract the very best out of the musical signals.
The MA5300 is a cool product for a 2 channel only system. Remember, it wasn't designed for being the centerpiece of a home media system covering audio and video processing. So, if you buy it, expect to need another system for your home theater processing needs - if you are interested in HT that is.
I dont see how you could go wrong with either the MA5300 or MA352. But, if you could only have 1, i'd go with the MA5300 giving me the best of both digital and analog options. (Especially since you can buy and adapter for your iPOD and pair it (or any USB device) directly as a source to the MA5300 - which far less cost than buying a full separate DAC :) )
The MA352 is Analog only, definitely would need another component going that route as you know.
Good luck.
Pick up a great external DAC like a Chord Qutest and combine it with the MA352 , along with loseless streaming like Tidal or Amazon HD and you are golden.
How would you compare its sound signature to MC275 paired with a Mcintosh Preamp?
They are both Macs so there are similarities of course, but the separates are more refined for sure.
The two good things from the US: McIntosh and Harley Davidson....
Dare I say there's a few more great American made goodies under our roof too. But certainly McIntosh.
Could you tell which turntable I should buy for the MA352 McIntosh integrated amplifier.
Can't go wrong with a MT2 or MT5!
Hello, Can I use this MA 352 with a pair of Sonus Faber Soretto V speakers? Thanks
It's a very good pairing.
What’s the song used in the intro?
Nice vid. Amazing amp. Where can I get one?
Right here at Gramophone! Give us a call at one of our showrooms. www.gramophone.com
Can this amp drive Kef Reference 5? How would it sound?
Can it? Yes. How would it sound? Can't say much about the speaker, but the amp is a slight touch warm in the midbass and well controlled.
How will this amp sound with Klipsch La Scala spkrs?
I like tubes with La Scalas.
Yes, it's quite strange and very frustrating. At first listen on the Sopra 1s, I thought it was very good and I thought I liked what it was doing with the sound signature. After about 100 hours on it. It has become nearly unlistenable! It is is shrill, thin, metallic with a screaming, screeching treble that would wake up the dead. The midrange is recessed and distant, totally unexpressive. The bass has all but disappeared and when it is there it is loose and flabby. Very poor performance overall. Voices are literally transformed into a litany of sibilance unlike anything I've ever heard. Do you know of any songs without words beginning with S or T? I don't! In fact, this thing has transformed my well-known reference recordings from Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, Pink Floyd, Sade and Deutsche Grammophone classical composers into horrifying calamities of sonic agony. I still have trouble realizing how bad this really is.
So, what did I do? I changed 3 sets of speaker cables, interconnects and power cords. No effect. I rolled a full set of new production Gold Lions to no effect. I the purchased some expensive NOS Telefunkens and got no effect. I changed the source and it did nothing. I then connected some Sonus faber Concertinos and it was the same, all treble and no bass.
Even funnier, I recounted this experience on some McIntosh sites and FB groups looking for advice and suggestions. I was summarily banished as a heretic because I did not proclaim that McIntosh was made by God himself and that it made the very sound of angel's voices singing from on High. It was probably even worse than the Naim forum. It was inconceivable to these people that the MA352 could be considered anything less than a mysterious, magical box that makes heavenly, blissful sound.
I stand firmly by my impressions. The amplifier is overrated, overpriced and underwhelming. It performs poorly and is not musical at all. This is the first amplifier where I hear "confusion" in the musical signal. On complex passages, the thing gets lost, confused and drowns out details of instruments and voices and combines them into an unintelligible mush that really is just noise. Never heard such a demonstration of sonic incompetence in all my years, which are numerous at this stage.
Now I have an ungodly expensive chunk of dorky metal ruining any hope of listening to music. I swear a 50$ Chinese Class D from Aliexpress could do just as well...
Don't expect much from McIntosh except marketing, hype and frenzied fanboy zealots.
IDK about a $50 china special, but maybe try a Naim Supernait or an NAD M33. Very different sound signatures.
You are posting the same (exactly word for word) nonsensical review in every forum. You definitely have a problem and it's not with the amp.
Probably a Trumper too.
Where i live this amp cost as much as a new car!
Hello Ed, true - not inexpensive, but a really good product just the same
@@GramophoneMD How can you say its not expensive???