Audio Research versus McIntosh tube amps: anyone experience or compare both?

@vinocour

Very nice account of your experience with ARC. Very similar to mine although I have spent the last few years with the Ref 160s and 160m.

Judging by your comments on your main system I must highly recommend the Woo WA5 headphone amp. If you can afford it add a pair of Takatsuki 300B tubes and you will be in the the same headphone nirvana which all ARC does to your main system,

The contemporary Audio Research Reference and VT amps have audio biasing and soft start. So, no fiddling is ever needed.

You have very nice systems.

Before trading amps, have you tried moving the speakers closer to the back wall / corners to reinforce the bass?

The ARC and Mac amps are very different. The Mac’s are heavy bass / midrange with a notable lack of detail / treble, and the ARC amp is detailed, with good midrange bloom and realistic bass as is only achieved by a really good tube amp. Especially given all the ARC equipment you own, you must try a ARC amp. I used Pass amps for decades. The first time I put an ARC amp in my system that was the end of my history with solid state amps and Pass (as great as they are). While the bass slam is attenuated, the bass becomes nuanced and realistic. There was no going back for me.