Mcintosh C220 vs CJ ET-2

That's crazy.

A preamp of this price point should offer balanced input options. Maybe they are referring to phono section only. The CJ may have different options for the high gain phono stage suited for use with low to medium output moving coil cartridges with rated output of 1.0 mV or less. The low gain stage is recommended for cartridges with output above 1.0 mV.

Is it because the store you visited had a CJ and not a Mac?Just a thought.

Q1. They both are great. Quit believing everything a dealer tells you.
Q2. One of them is better. Which, as you said, will depend....

Your curiousa about what others think. I've had Mac's top preamps for several generations from the C28 thru the C200 and tubed C2200. I think they are great. I now have CJ's ACT2.2 and ART 2 and they are the best I've heard.

I don't think you will go wrong with either.

Onemug has good advice. Listen to the equipment not the dealer. I used to go to a local dealer and no matter what I mentioned, if he carried it, it was perfect for what my needs were. If he didn't carry it I got the stories. I used to carry it but too many problems, etc. As far as your concerns here. Q1: I beleive some of the magazines and many owners catagorize McIntosh as audiophile. Q2: there will be a differnt sound both being high quality. The decision will be what your ears like between the two. I have only heard one CJ Pre-Amp and cannot tell you the model. I have owned many McIntosh pre-amps but never tube. You really need to hear the two. One thing I will point out is that it seems that Mcintosh retains it's value better in the used market.
Also the service from McIntosh is impeccable. But that opinion as you may have gleened already is somewhat biased.
Bottom line the CJ dealer was selling CJ that day.