Thanks for posting that . Im using two Mcintosh MC 252 amps through a Krell KCT pre Amp with B&W 800D speakers and I was thinking the same thing . I like Mcintosh for their amps but not so much for their digital products . I bought the Mcintosh MCD 700 player when it first came out in the eighties then purchased a Mcintosh MVP 851 later on and my oppo 95 sounds better than the MAC . Ive also had tons of problems with my Mcintosh players . They have not been trouble free for me over the years . Im still deciding between the two players Mcintosh MCD 550 or the ESOTERIC 7X
Zora ,the Esoteric 7x is one of Esoterics entry level player and is a light weight example of Esoterics line, if your budget is for a new 07x you could look into a used Esoteric O3 which is head and shoulders above the sound quality performance of esoterics entry level players or look into another high quality brand Do your home work .
The MAC MCD 301 is not even close to the MCD 550! These units are completely different, the 550 has dacs from ESS and is a MUCH better sounding player. The McIntosh MCD201 and 301 are entry level players that sound pedestrian.
I beg to differ with you. The MCD301 replaced an Esoteric DV50 and it blows it away. It isn’t nearly as good as my Esoteric UX-3 but the UX-3 was 8500.00 The MCD301 was the second model up in the line with the 201 being the entry level. To be honest with you, I do not like ESS dacs, they are certainly not the end all. I had one in my Wyred4Sound dac2 dsd se with Femto clock. It is a forward sounding dac just like the Wyred dac 1 I used before it. That was the main reason I went with the MCD301 because of not having the ESS chips.
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