@stereo5
As per your claim above in regards to your friend’s all Mac 7.1 HT setup that’s simply your opinion or perhaps you haven’t heard true high end HT setup of system. The same applies to your earlier claim that your Mac C2500 tube preamp bested all other preamps you’ve heard in the last 48 yrs. I think you’ve never or haven’t heard all other ultra high end preamps both solid state and tube.
I’ve heard multiple Mac tube stereo preamps and none of them were impressive at all they sounded dull, lifeless too syrupy and lacks of presence, inner details, dynamics, attacks and rhythm and musicality imo. However, Mac power amps are pretty good not great but very decent however within similarly priced amps there are certainly better options out there.
I’ve compared my friend’s Mac C1100 linestage preamp, which is Mac’s flagship stereo linestage preamp, to my Naim Statement NAC S1 linestage preamp in the same setup and system and it was no comparison. They aren’t in the same leagues. My Naim Statement NAC S1 preamp is superior to the Mac C1100 preamp,
I know this wasn’t a fair comparison as my Naim Statement NAC S1 preamp is a cost-no-object design and cost more than 5 times as much as the Mac C1100.
My same friend has a Mac MC 2KW monoblock amps and we had a shootout at my place the other day using my setup and system.
First we paired my Magico M6 speakers with my Naim Statement gears which consists of a Naim NAC S1 linestage stereo preamp and Naim Statement NAP S1 monoblock amps both of which are cost-no-object designs and are statement level gears.
Then, we switched out to my friend’s Mac C1100 preamp and Mac MC 2KW monoblock amps driving my Magico M6 speakers.
There was no comparison. They aren’t in the same leagues. Far from it. It’s expected though as my Naim Statement preamp + monoblock amps cost $270k and his Mac C1100 + MC 2KW cost around $42k altogether, which is only a fraction of the cost of the Naim Statement gears. My digital front end components consist of DCS Vivaldi full four stacks (Vivaldi master clock, Vivaldi upsampler, Vivaldi DAC, Vivaldi CD/SACD transport). My analog front end rigs consist of :
Kronos Pro turntable, 12" Black Beauty tonearm, Air Tight PC-1 Supreme mc cartridge, discrete class A linear PSU, Audio Research Reference 10 phonostage preamp, dedicated Kronos stand specifically designed for the Kronos Pro turntable.
Before recently upgrading to the Naim Statement preamp + monoblock amps I was previously using the Audio Research Reference 10 linestage preamp and 2 pairs of Dan D’Agostino Momentum M400 monoblock amps.
The Audio Research Reference 10 linestage preamp, which is a flagship linestage preamp from Audio Research, is significantly better than my friend’s Mac C1100 linestage preamp.
I know that this wasn’t really a fair comparison either as the ARC Ref 10 linestage pre costs nearly twice as much as the Mac C1100 pre.
Even the lower end ARC linestage preamps perform way better than any Mac linestage preamps.
Anyways, there are great phenomenal stereo linestage preamps out there. Audio Research, Vitus, Soulution, Mark Levinson, Ayre, Simaudio Evolution series, Boulder, T&A, CH Precision, Tidal, MBL, VTL, VAC, Ypsilon, BAT, Frontier, Lamm, Cary Audio, Rogue Audio P5, Parasound Halo JC make spectacular linestage preamps and amps as well.
