I love my C49 preamp. The notion that McIntosh is no longer a high end brand is BS. Their gear still consistently gets high marks in the audio press and my preamp sounds great as well as being very flexible snd full featured. It is, on the other hand, strangely antiquated. Having to drive 100 miles to a service center for a firmware update in 2024 when a $200 AVR updates itself over the internet is kind of silly. Mac gear is expensive but compared to other high end brands, it’s not that expensive and still is a pretty good value.
