McIntosh MA8950 Integrated Amp: 200×2
McIntosh won’t let dealers post pricing on their higher end gear. That’s their rule and we have to comply. How many players are in the field on a baseball team?
Mac is still made in Binghamton, NY, with luscious blue meters. It’s the coolest looking and most reliable gear in our business.
Have you heard… we don’t last forever. Let’s have some FUN while we’re on the planet!
Of course you could be prudent and boring. You could just buy a Yamaguchi integrated for $500 that will sound as dry as white toast. Hey, if that’s you, no reason to read on. Head straight to Amazon.
If you love music and want to hear the heart and soul of it, you won’t get it with Chinese mass marketed boxes. Now, I’m not saying you need to buy Mac. You can buy Rogue for much less, also made in the US. But for this entry, let’s consider something AWESOME.
MA8950 is a full beefcake, back busting Mac integrated. It is the full enchilada with tons of power and heavy, rich sound. MA8950 is the first integrated in the family to employ its massive power supply and enormous autoformers. The autoformers provide a constant impedance interface between the amp and speakers. You derive a warmer sound than you’ll get without them.
MA8950 will take speakers that have a little too much ZING in their sound and make them palatable. Mass made electronics with piles of chips simply exacerbate the grainy character of speakers.
MA352 is a terrific integrated and a strong Mac value for a couple K less. We luv it. But it doesn’t offer the full she-bang of the bigger supply and autoformers. Nor does it have an onboard DAC, MC or the wide assortment of ins/outs.
MA8950 has an on board DAC, as well as MM/MC phono. It has a 5 band EQ which IS useful
because it is Mac quiet. It has a generous palate of RCA and XLR ins/outs.
If you’re like many audiophiles you’ve probably spent some real time and money chasing your tail, acquiring this and that over the years. You probably started with a Chinese built amp and when its luster wore off, tried something north of that. Well… please consider just biting the bullet and saying goodbye to the equipment rat race. Once you experience full bore Mac in your system, you’re DONE.
Rogue Cronus Dark $4500 (100×2)
Rogue’s Cronus Magnum 3 integrated amp ($3500, 100×2) has been the standard bearer at its price class for years. CM3 is a full tube integrated amp. The preamp section uses 5 tubes and the power amp section uses 4 KT88s. It has the mellow luster of expensive separates, for only $3500.
Owner Mark O’Brien has often offered TWEAKED versions of his various designs. He called them Magnum versions. There have been Magnum versions of many Rogue units over the years. Mark has decided to create an improved CM3. While CM3 is still being offered due to its remarkable performance for the dollar, Mark has created the Rogue Cronus Dark- a much souped up CM3.
With Cronos Dark, Mark has upped the ante on CM3. While the power is the same, component parts have been upgraded which belie sonic benefits if you have great speakers like Brystons or Magnepans. If you’re willing to go north of CM3 but not all the way to Mac’s MA8950,
Cronus Dark may be just the ticket.
Grado RS 1x Headphones $750
Made in Brooklyn, NY, Grado’s RS 1x headphones offer a great bang for your buck in high end phones that aren’t crazy in price.
1X starts with Grado’s 50mm, X series diaphragm. It is ensconced in an ear cup comprised of three kinds of wood. They use a maple sleeve, hemp core and cocobolo for the outer ring. These wooden materials lend a more musical, less strident sound to your music. Just as cabinet speakers benefit from great attention to detail in their construction, RS 1x benefits from assiduous TLC.
SPL runs a very high 99.8 dB. Impedance is 38 ohms. Driver matching is within .05dB. Most headphones are mass produced on the other side of the world and diaphragms are just plugged in. Variation L-R can be off significantly.
At $400 I like the Final Audio Sonorous 3. It offers a strong value. Yet RS 1x has distinctly superior transients and delicacy. You can hear precision guitar and piano work for clearly with the Grado. Yep, it runs $750 vs $400. But it’s worth it.
Did I mention Grado is made with great attention to detail in the USA?
Janis, Jim, Bob & Elvis
In their 70s…
