[jdandy]

Jim.......I have listened to the C50 and C52 preamplifiers through the MC452 and MC601 power amplifiers. With the C52 I believe McIntosh finally dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's. The digital section of the preamp finally functions correctly with all resolutions without hanging up, an issue the C2500, C48 and C50 have issues with, although I believe there are firmware updates that solve the issue. The comments on the moving coil phono stage in the C52 were accurate. McIntosh has provided excellent phono stage preamps for years. I found it interesting that Ray compared the C52 moving coil phono stage to the Pass Labs XP-15 phono stage preamp. I compared the XP-15 with my C2300 preamp's moving coil phono stage and discovered the C2300 to be more musical and quieter. There was no comparison with the XP-15 against my C1000C/P moving coil phono stage. The Pass Labs XP-15 was returned to Reno HiFi. In my opinion, I believe the new McIntosh C52 solid state preamplifier with the internal DAC is a serious contender against the plethora of preamplifiers on the market. It most certainly is the most advanced single box preamp/DAC McIntosh has produced to date. It is feature rich yet those features never get in the way of the music. Were I looking to build a McIntosh system today (I already have three), the C52 preamplifier, at the remarkable price of $7000, would be at the top of my list. I like this preamplifier.