McIntosh -- good for show, not for sound, says dealer

@hilde45

if the discussion is about mcintosh’s recent/modern gear, i think a fair summary is it is very good looking and very good sounding gear - of course, different audiophiles may/will have preferences for or against mcintosh’s house sound -- which is somewhat warm and romantic with good bass foundation (this more prominent in its lower to middle ranges... transparency is quite good in their top tier stuff)

of course, you are paying for having both the good sound and sexy looks

there are brands that may sound subtly better, certainly many that offer more value... but for all premium, luxury gear, which mcintosh is today, it delivers to make their customers pretty darned happy

separate point, mikey ocd is a long time audiophile, has strong opinions, is a blowhard when it comes to presenting them, even if some are right (but then again alot of what he says is really wrong), his opinions are also problematic because he is commercially conflicted on many levels

so as with anyone spouting breathlessly on youtube, he may have a narrow fan base, but most viewers with brains and judgement take his schtick with major grains of salt

for really good info on macintosh, pls refer to audio excellence canada - they post numerous vids on youtube also... sometimes meandering in their lead-ins, but stick to it, excellent info and listening impressions on macintosh gear, driving top flight speakers, fed by top flight sources, properly set up -- now they carry mcintosh as major dealers in toronto, but they also directly compare against meaningful competing gear (which they also carry)... and it is my feeling they are quite honest and balanced in what they report... adrian and vilip are real pros, high integrity, greater intellectual honesty, successful too as a business ...

Outside of the US, McIntosh are a known brand but there is no large fanbase. Generally, if one of their products is good, people will buy it but I've never seen the "wall of McIntosh" installations.

At any one time, a vendor may have a brilliant DAC in their line-up but a weak preamp. In 5 year's time it may be the other way round. I don't know why people don't pick the best sounding product rather than buying everything from one brand. I've never owned more than one product at a time from a vendor.

Drop a large rock into a large fishbowl and watch the fish go frenzy...;)

Yup, Macs'/Rolex is 'bout right.  But that makes anything 'new' like the latest digi- wrist thing or cell...."Hot" with a tag to match, 'till it's not.

...of course, there's exceptional exceptions.

There's a lot between gold and crap.