Happy Saturday guys! I have been working on this video of the MHA200 for several weeks now , and I am excited to share my thoughts with you. I hope you enjoy this video!
10 Likes
Hello Friends,
Due to unforeseen circumstances Charlie will not be available for todayās live stream. However we will be rescheduling for a future date shortly. Stay tuned.
Presented by The Source Audio Video Design Group.
2 Likes
Can someone ask him when they will fix that lousy volume control on the MHA200? Hoping they just fix it and cease dogging the issue saying its āunity gainā and volume should adjusted on a preamp. Ugh.
I would have bought one already if the volume was fixed. 90% of the volume adjustment should not occur just between 12-2 oāclock position.
@NordicDave jump on the stream with us tomorrow!
Today is the day we have the one and only Charlie Randall, Co-CEO of McIntosh Group and President of @mcintoshlabs, on our YouTube Channel with us at 12:30 pm PT or 3:30 pm ET. We look forward to you joining us!
Link to the Live Stream:
1 Like
ok now, Iām confused I was beginning to believe that tube rolling and trying to improve/change the sound profile was just par for the course with tube amps. I have been researching the pendant, woo wa22, cayin ha6a. the pendant while it seems to produce the most linear sound of the three I question rather my tube amp should sound like my solid-state amp. which is why i have not looked into hybrid tube ampsā¦
2 Likes
So I own one of these Mcintosh MHA200 amps. I also own a Marantz PM8006, a Decware Torii, a Willsenton R8, and a Mcintosh MAC7200, all of which have headphone amplifiers. I have a pair of Focal Stellias that I use as my main listening headphones, and I have dutifully paired them with each of these amps. I have read a few reviews of this amp, but am sorely disappointed by the hatred for this thing on this feed, especially by people that have CLEARLY never listened to it. This thing is easily the best listening setup that I have for headphone listening. I have it paired with an RME ADI-2 FS which I stream from my computer using Qobuz streamed through Audirvana. It is natural, responsive, and extremely musical.
My only complaint would be that it started to have static shortly after I purchased it, I am the original owner. It had to be sent back to Mcintosh and eventually, a new circuit board was needed to fix the problem. Once that issue was addressed, it has worked flawlessly.
I also struggel to understand the overt hateful opinions for Mcintosh in general. Their service is great, and their amps sound sweet and dynamic. It is one thing to not care for a certain sound, it is another thing to attack equipment that you have NEVER even listened to. I have listened to many different brands of receivers, some I love others not so much, and though I might venture an opinion on what I have knowledge about, I would NEVER judge a piece of equipment that I have not even listened to. That is HUBRIS, and should really be left out of any conversation. What one person on this forum called muted. Mcintosh certainly tunes their amps, for what many of us feel is a more musical and less shrill presentation. Not sure why this particular poster hates on Mcintosh so much, perhaps they are financially challenged and just hate the idea that they canāt afford one? Anyway, some of these posts are beyond understanding to me.
3 Likes
The MHA200 sells well for McIntosh. If McIntosh would have JUST given us a real tapered volume control instead of the stupid āline levelā control, it would have been a mythical amplifier for ages.
I know, I know Mac says they expect their customers to run this amp with one of their pre-amps. Kind of shows how little they understand about the current headphone market. Most of us are running DAC direct to amp.
1 Like
Despite being horribly disappointed by the MHA100 and MHA150, at least for headphone use*, this was one I was intrigued by when it was first announced.
The āmini MC275ā look is cute, initially. But with the headphone connectors, and the controls, on the side of the unit, that cuteness wears off real fast. If you actually want to see the tubes (which I do) it means turning it sideways, which is lousy for usability and for cable routing. If you donāt ā¦ then unless you have it on your left, itās just a big block of plain-to-ugly.
Then the volume control implementation is just nonsense.
Those things might be tolerable (though not for me) if the sound distinguished itself and/or was especially good value (not that $2,500 is bad for McIntosh gear, but its not competitive with the rest of the market).
For me, it is/does neither.
Iād describe it as āinoffensive, laid back and uneventful, but lacking raw resolutionā.
Which really makes it a less technically competent MHA100, which is the closest thing I can think of it sounding like.
There are any number of less expensive (some quite significantly so) tube amplifiers that Iād personally rather look and listen to.
Iāve no hate for McIntosh** ā¦
The MC275 is a deserved classic. I really enjoyed the MA352. And I might well have kept the MA252 if it hadnāt kept indicating it was āclippingā when using it with the SR1a.
But their headphone amplifiers just donāt gel with me.
Thereās just nothing about the MHA200 that made me want to keep it beyond my demo period. It is much more memorable as a disappointment and/or a point of frustration than it is for its uninspiring delivery.
*They were sufficiently unimpressive that I almost passed on the LCD-4 as a result of using an MHA100 to audition the Audezeās with. A while later, I tried the LCD-4 with the much less expensive Ragnarok ā¦ and immediately bought a pair.
**Nor is this a case of being āfinancially challengedā. I drink bottles of wine that cost more than this thing, have individual tubes thatād buy you four of these, and a headphone setup that runs well into six figures - never mind it being less than 5% of my listening of late.
3 Likes