MX119/MX135 Internal DAC Question
 

Sorry for my absence lately. Let's just say the past two months have been a significant challenge to me personally and leave it at that.

On to my question. A friend of mine has an opportunity to purchase a well cared for MX119. He did have a question regarding the internal DAC.

In looking at some past pics of my MX119, and the rear panel of my MX135, the configuration leads me to believe the internal chipset is configured to take a digital signal and process it regardless of whether it's a 5.1 signal from a DVD player or a 2 channel signal from a CD player.

My question is...are there separate DAC chipsets to process multi-channel vs. 2 channel? Or are all digital inputs processed by the same chip?

Thanks.

ps: It's nice to be back.

8 ch single chip dacs were not common if even available back in this era. Very likely one dac chip per each pair of outputs. Again very likely some cirrus logic or burr brown.

Inputs are digitized by one chip per each pair of inputs. I doubt the multi ch input are digitized and processed on these models.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the chip as its the entire implementation of the audio signal that matters and McIntosh gets the most out of a DAC chip...................but its a 15 year old unit. :scratch2:

Pride of McIntosh ownership can have a value though and the MX119 hovers around $1000.

Ron

Yeah...I'm not hung up on my MX135 at all. It does a stellar job.

I was just wondering if the internal architecture was separate for 2 channel vs. multi-channel. It didn't seem to me that it was but I was curious.

I enjoyed my MX120 when I had it. :thumbsup:

Ron

It’s been awhile since I cracked the top of my now long gone MX 135. I remember seeing a bunch of stereo DAC chips. I think they were Burr-Brown multibit, 24 bit 192 kHz. Not 100% sure. They did sound pretty good. I did like the Pure Stereo option which turned the unit into an analog preamp.
Tom

Thank you all for your input, gents. I understand, now, how they are configured.

I use Pure Stereo as well with balanced analog inputs from the DAC. I found the analog pre-amp section to be stellar on the MX135. I also set the crossover freq to 60hZ to take advantage of the 10" woofer in my Aerial Acoustic Model 8 speakers.

Talked with my buddy last night and he's going for the MX119. He found one at Audio Classics and I told him that was a good choice in equipment and a seller.