aball: interesting...i have never considered mcintosh to be "highly revealing." in my experience, they are more "musical" than detailed. are you referring to their tube or SS products? i've only listened to the former, which i liked but just not enough to purchase. part of the reason i wasn't thrilled with mac tubes was that they seemed to lack some of the inner detail and spatial information that i heard through other components. maybe their SS stuff is more detailed? just curious.