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Old 04-28-2015, 07:46 PM
fritzcurtis fritzcurtis is offline
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Default MCT450 First Impressions...WOW!

Just hooked up the new MCT450 to the D150 and per the manual only ran the new DIN connection between them for audio purity. I collected myself after moving everything around, headed to the beer fridge and cracked a Bass Ale. First up was Pink Floyd-Dard Side of the Moon SACD Master Recording. All I can say is McIntosh has truly amazed me again. The clarity of this record is very good and on my MVP881 which also plays SACDs, there was no comparison.

One thing I noticed quickly is the usual red standby light has been changed to a very light green. So for you picky people out there, it doesn't match the rest of your row of red lights (already emailed Chuck to ask why the change).

The disk tray, which I was concerned about is very solid. A new design that is a little tricky when accepting a disk. It has to sit properly in the tray. I also hooked up a data cable so my remotes all work together and it does accept commands.

Further reviews to come, but for right now, I think I will have to bid farewell tot eh MVP881 which I use rarely for BR anyway. Hello MCT450! Wow!
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Old 04-28-2015, 07:47 PM
fritzcurtis fritzcurtis is offline
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Also, the DIN cable is a 5ft cable not 3ft that was stated earlier for anyone concerned with length.
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Old 04-28-2015, 08:46 PM
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JWJW JWJW is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fritzcurtis View Post
Just hooked up the new MCT450 to the D150 and per the manual only ran the new DIN connection between them for audio purity. I collected myself after moving everything around, headed to the beer fridge and cracked a Bass Ale. First up was Pink Floyd-Dard Side of the Moon SACD Master Recording. All I can say is McIntosh has truly amazed me again. The clarity of this record is very good and on my MVP881 which also plays SACDs, there was no comparison.

One thing I noticed quickly is the usual red standby light has been changed to a very light green. So for you picky people out there, it doesn't match the rest of your row of red lights (already emailed Chuck to ask why the change).

The disk tray, which I was concerned about is very solid. A new design that is a little tricky when accepting a disk. It has to sit properly in the tray. I also hooked up a data cable so my remotes all work together and it does accept commands.

Further reviews to come, but for right now, I think I will have to bid farewell tot eh MVP881 which I use rarely for BR anyway. Hello MCT450! Wow!
I love mine!
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Old 04-28-2015, 08:48 PM
fritzcurtis fritzcurtis is offline
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Last post for tonight on the MCT450. I have had a Dire Straits Japanese Import SACD DSD disk for a number of years that I was never able to play on any system even my Oppo 105 player or the MVP 881 BR. I popped it into the MCT450 and boom. This is the original recording that was made via SBM Super Bit Mapping. This might be the reason it was unreadable on so many other players. Water of Love and Sultans of swing sound unreal. I tested and had the MB100 cue up same songs via TIDAL and have been switching back and forth. No comparison.
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Old 04-28-2015, 08:49 PM
fritzcurtis fritzcurtis is offline
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JWJW...is your power switch green also??
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Old 04-29-2015, 11:16 AM
fritzcurtis fritzcurtis is offline
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Chuck, as always, sent me a quick response. The new green standby light is a new feature McIntosh incorporated into the MCT450. It is an auto off feature, similar to some of the new amps. You can turn it off by holding down power button for 10 seconds to disable and then the all so familiar red standby light comes back on. Love the row of red lights. Disabled it quickly!
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Old 04-29-2015, 11:43 AM
andytts andytts is offline
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Fritz, I dont understand. Can you explain what is the difference between red light and green light again?
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Old 04-29-2015, 01:20 PM
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JWJW...is your power switch green also??
Yep. I was surprised as well.
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Old 04-29-2015, 01:43 PM
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Nice to hear the positive reports re: MCT450 and D150 combination. Sounds like McIntosh has done it again. Or at least us McAddicts will love it. It has me wondering if the 450/150 combo has anything to do with the phasing out of the MCD1100. Has the separate chassis configuration raised the bar?? Would love to read about a shoot out between 450/150 and 1100. How about it Ivan ....or David. Do either of you have a 450/150 in the works???
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Preamp: McIntosh C1100T/C1100C, McIntosh MX180
Amp: McIntosh MC611 (2), MC601 (3), MI254
Digital: McIntosh D1100, McIntosh MCT450, Meridian 808v6, Aurender N20, Aurender ACS10, Oppo 203
Analog: McIntosh MT10, Hana Umami Red
Phono preamp: Simaudio Moon 610LP, 820S
Signal cables: WW Gold Eclipse 7 speaker cables; Shunyata Sigma v2 XLR (2); Sigma v1 XLR (2), Transparent Ref XL (MM2) XLR; WW Silver Eclipse 7 (4)
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Old 04-29-2015, 02:09 PM
Golucid Golucid is offline
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How about it Ivan ....or David. Do either of you have a 450/150 in the works???
Hey Jason. Nope, I do not have a D150 + 450T on the radar yet. Though, I do now, because of purchasing the C1000, nearly have a complete second audio system - less speakers. So, it's not outside the realm of a possibility. However, I do not own and SACDs and I have yet to hear one.

Something I have considered is that after reading Bill's [o0OBillO0o] analysis on the matter, I am not inclined to embrace SACD, DSD or DXD at this time. Though, he did post another thread about the Zen and this has lobbied some interest when considering transferring some of my vinyl to digital and that you can create a DSD file. I do not know the ins and outs of the unit yet and fully understand it's opportunities and limits.

As for the MCD1100. Something I noticed early on is that when I operated the MB100 through C2500 that it would audibly announce track transitions with an annoying click/pop. Liken it to the transitions between vinyl tracks where you hear those snaps, cracks, pops and static sounds.

However, once I did as Dan suggested, connect the MB100 into the MCD1100, and this is while I still used the C2500, is that the click/pops disappeared and this also translated equally well into the C1000.

I PM'd Dan about this and this and I will paraphrase his comments:

"The clicks or snap sounds you were hearing through the C2500 is an issue with the DAC, firmware, and digital circuitry in the C2500 when it changes to different sampling rates. If you are listening to all 24/96 data streams, you will usually not experience any sounds between tracks but if the data stream goes from 24/96 to 24/88.2 or 24/192 the click or snapping sound seems to be noticeable as the DAC captures the new data rate. This was also an issue with some D100, C48, and C50 preamplifiers. I don't know if McIntosh has remedied this issue with firmware updates or not."

"The MCD1100 uses the ESS ES9018S 64 pin DAC and a more robust power supply and far better analog section than any of the other McIntosh digital components...Everything sent through its DAC's will come out sounding spectacular."

"What you are experiencing with your sound system as a whole is the total package. You are listening to top of the line premium components, the best McIntosh makes. Each component is complimentary to the next without acting as a performance bottleneck to any of the other components. Your preamps, power amps, and the MCD1100 source/DAC are fully balanced. This is just one of many reasons why the system is so silent. It has the blackest background from which the softest and tiniest of sounds emerge with clarity and a dynamic range capability well beyond most other components."

There you have it, Sir Dan has spoken! Case Closed.


Last edited by Golucid; 04-29-2015 at 02:26 PM.
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