I got one this year, fabulous.
clarity lack of harshness , soundstage all wonderful
paired it with the c12000. Yes I’m in massive debt, but best sound I’ve ever had
McIntosh DS200 streaming DAC
Anybody out there have one? If so, impressions? Pros and cons?
Thinking about upgrading from my Atoll MS120. I love it in terms of its functionality and sound. But every time I look over at my equipment rack, which is otherwise all McIntosh, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Drives me nuts. It’s only a couple months old and the dealer I bought it from is also a Mac dealer. He’ll give me 100% credit for the Atoll if I want to upgrade. But it’s a $2,400 hit to do so. That’s an awful lot if I’m only getting the Mac aesthetic. What else would I get?
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@keithjacksontucson Congratulations! And a C12000 too! Fabulous. |
I bought the DS200 in December 2025 from a very good and quite experienced dealer in Berkeley, California. I bought the unit to replace a Cambridge CXNV2. The Cambridge sounded more like FM out of my Tuner than a CD, good sounds but the resolution could have been better. The Cambridge was in my Living Room interfaced to the Internet via WiFi, that connection worked quite well, I had a few dropouts but they were few and far between. I connected the DS200 as per the manual, exactly, I should say this unit has the worst User Interface I have ever been exposed to, or experienced. The result of following the manual, exactly, No Noises. I contacted my very helpful Dealer for technical support, they could not get it to make any noises either. I tried, they tried, a large amount of verbal encouragement was deployed... No Noises of any kind. I connected the DS200 in my office via Ethernet Cable directly to my router and the unit did work, it just would not work in WiFi Mode, the UI did not improve once I got the DS200 to work. Because I needed a WiFi connection, plus I was tired of the really lousy UI, I returned the unit to the Dealer and purchased a different unit that does work in WiFi Mode positioned exactly where my CXNV2 also worked flawlessly. I am amazed McIntosh released the DS200 with such a poorly developed User Interface, my opinion, others my disagree. I am very partial to McIntosh, I hated to return the DS200, no choice. I am running a McIntosh C2200 Pre-Amp and MC2301 Power Amps. |
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