New to McIntosh... Advice is much appreciated...

[lukou]

I had the MAC6700. It was my first Mc gear and I was satisfied with. I had an opportunity to upgrade to a C2300/Mc601 after having hear a C2600/MC302 in a showroom. The difference is huge. With my new combo, I'm a new planet. So keep your money and wait to a valuable upgrade.

[Elvis160]

As the others said, stick with the 6700. Don't trade in after just 6 weeks. I bet the 6700 hasn't even been broken in yet. The more you play it, the better it will sound.

Like jDandy advised, spend the money on a nice turntable with a moving coil magnet - you will be pleased.

[Josep]

Originally Posted by Vince11281

I'd like to thank everyone for the responses so far! I'm currently running a pair of Paradigm Prestige 95Fs and my source is primarily a Lumin D1 streamer ran balanced XLR to the 6700

Hello Vince, very curious to know your opinion about the Lumin. I have been thinking to buy it to improve my digital circuit. I currently listen to spotify trough my laptop connected to the MA6700.

Do you recommend the Lumin?

[Vince11281]

Originally Posted by Josep

Hello Vince, very curious to know your opinion about the Lumin. I have been thinking to buy it to improve my digital circuit. I currently listen to spotify trough my laptop connected to the MA6700.

Do you recommend the Lumin?

I don't think I can recommend the Lumin emphatically enough! Previous to the Lumin I was running my MacBook Pro via USB or using a Bluesound Node 2 for wireless streaming. My Lumin really doesn't have many hours on it yet, and it's already noticeably better then what I was using previous. I've experimented with running the Lumin and the Bluesound multiple ways as well. Using about the same quality cable, I've found the DAC in the 6700 significantly better then the one in the Node 2, so I chose to run that optical. Trying the Lumin analog and digital I found the Lumin sounds best ran balanced XLR, letting the Lumin doing the converting, as opposed to digital and letting the Mc do the converting. I tried the Aurelic altier and Aurender N100H as well. The Aurender was a really nice piece but I ultimately went with the Lumin. To me it sounded more analog then anything else. The only other recommendations I could make is getting an after market power supply for the Lumin. It really opens it up. I went with the SBooster BOTW. Also if you stream a lot I can't recommend Tidal enough. I hope this was helpful!

[Josep]

Very helpful Vince! Actually my 3 options are Lumin D1, Auralic Altair and Oppo Sonica Dac.

After your comments i guess there are 2 finalists.

[Vince11281]

Originally Posted by Josep

Very helpful Vince! Actually my 3 options are Lumin D1, Auralic Altair and Oppo Sonica Dac.

After your comments i guess there are 2 finalists.

I have never heard the Oppo unit, but I can definitely tell you the Lumin seemed much more musical then the Auralic unit. My wife never notices anything and she even picked the D1 over the Altair

[Josep]

Originally Posted by Vince11281

I have never heard the Oppo unit, but I can definitely tell you the Lumin seemed much more musical then the Auralic unit. My wife never notices anything and she even picked the D1 over the Altair

Your wife picked up the Lumin cause it looks more beautiful

[Lockheed Martin]

Hello Vince, you can pick an McIntosh tubes preamplifier and then change the stock tubes with NOS tubes. It's will make huge difference :-)

[Yamaki]

Congrats on the acquisition, Vince. I'd not be in a hurry to send the 6700 on it's way. It's a fine piece of audio gear and will serve you well.

My recommendation is to upgrade your source material. Streaming music comes in many flavors and you may want to consider looking into a stand alone DAC, some good cabling and some high resolution files stored on a small server. Also, some form of reclocker between the computer and the DAC is an excellent upgrade with a corresponding improvement in sound quality.

When I made those changes I was amazed at the outcome and have been very pleased with the results ever since.

Good luck!

[miner]

As others have stated - upgrade the source. The MAC6700 is a fine piece. I might add to get some form of decent current protection - the electronics are sensitive to surges.