An Audio Amateur's question about McIntosh Audio

Every year for the past two or three decades people have come out to explain why the company Apple is going to fail, or has lost its way.  And every year Apple proves them wrong.  People want to be able to say they were the one who saw it coming first. When you’re a leader in your industry, you’re a target.  Reading about audio equipment is all fine and fun, but it’s meaningless without your ears.

Personally, I've always liked how McIntosh components sound and look. I started my McIntosh journey in 2013, I've tried many different components (including McIntosh speakers) and I love the system I have built. A lot of people dislike McIntosh, but to me it's about the sound, the look, the value (when you buy used, many times you can sell it for the same price if not more) and I appreciate their customer service and the fact the have parts in stock for many old pieces. 

I think McIntosh gear is well built, handsome, and not remotely overpriced given its quality and longevity.

But I’ve also auditioned it many times (tube, solid state, preamps, amps and digital) wanting to give it a fair shake. It’s not my cup of tea.  I have always found something in the category that I preferred sonically.  Indeed, I would say that it has the strongest sonic signature of any brand I’ve auditioned so I’m not surprised that it is also a polarizing brand. 

Is it a high quality brand to be admired? Yes.

Does it offer the resolution and neutral sonic signature I desire? No. 

And does it matter what I or others think of it -  if you like the gear? Not in the least.

But I also think it counterproductive if we all insist that others should like what we like. 

McIntosh amps are good but they don't measure great, even compared to amps that cost MUCH less. You're paying for the look and the name, that's it. 

I've owned 2 Mac amps. A MC402 & MC452. Both are very well built and the 452 was my favorite out of both mainly due it has better detail retrieval.  However,  not enough in my opinion.  I was using Olympica 3 at the time and felt the volume had to be increased quite a bit to get the midrange to open up. I don't know but there was something I could never completely warm up to with these amps. They just lacked subtle details.  Its like i kept waiting and waiting to hear.  Maybe they didn't match that well with that particular Olympica series 🤔.  Afterwards I bought a ARC Ref75SE and the magic appeared. No contest. Just my 2 cents.