is McIntosh known for good dynamics?

My first high-end system was just A few years ago I chose the Macintosh MA9000 integrated with focal kanta3 speakers, Puritan power conditioner 

Shenyatta Delta speaker cables, I just had to have more and I upgrade it 

I'm glad I did. 

Macintosh has a very warm sound and it is different 

I end up getting a more higher resolution more detail stereo amplifier with preamp 

( Separates) I'm glad I did I'm not saying that the Macintosh sounded bad 

It served me well for almost 2 years I just needed something with more detail and more dynamics.

I have owned McIntosh and I felt my system had wonderful dynamics. And it certainly can present a wonderful listening experience. 

I also feel the house sound has a slight veil - in auditioning alternative options I preferred ‘house sound’ of other manufacturers. 
 

If you can listen to as many systems as you can - we are in the golden era of music reproduction.  And enjoy your journey. 

The question is the clarity and musical impact of the dynamics. Take clarity. In a live classical concert, I can hear them varying their dynamics, even when a little bit. If they get suddenly quiet, the intensity of the passage doesn’t disappear.. it’s just as intense and compelling. If they get suddenly loud, it has startle factor.

@magon I would call that transparency, which is a function of low distortion; the lower the distortion the more transparent the amp. If its not low distortion it has less chance of revealing the nuances in the recording.

The question is the clarity and musical impact of the dynamics. Take clarity. In a live classical concert, I can hear them varying their dynamics, even when a little bit. If they get suddenly quiet, the intensity of the passage doesn’t disappear.. it’s just as intense and compelling. If they get suddenly loud, it has startle factor.

@magon I would call that transparency, which is a function of low distortion; the lower the distortion the more transparent the amp. If its not low distortion it has less chance of revealing the nuances in the recording.

@atmasphere Baloney!  It’s about noise floor or signal to noise ratio or "dynamic range".  It was revelatory that at CD’s appearance on the scene with a dynamic range of 96 dB or signal to noise ratio which had never been available in a consumer format previously.  It’s best-case distortion is limited to .22% due to 16-bit quantization noise.

@faustuss Oddly, many digital titles do not have the dynamic range of their analog counterparts for the simple reason that the digital release has expectation of being played in a car while the LP version does not.

Distortion obscures low level detail. The dynamic range you're talking about isn't the same thing as 'dynamics' to which so many audiophiles refer. The latter tends to be caused by distortion rather than actual dynamic range.

So as a result lower distortion amplifiers tend to sound less 'dynamic'. This is simply because the ear uses higher ordered harmonics to sense sound pressure. If this is coming in the form of distortion it can have the effect of greater 'dynamics'. This has absolutely nothing to do with the dynamic range of the recorded media.