I find it interesting that many of the competitive brands mentioned here are actually more costly than McIntosh. For years, I've maintained "you can spend more money, but you can't get significantly better than McIntosh" and I still stand by that assertion. The build quality is second to none, the sound quality is entirely comparable to the other "names" and the value is without equal. I auditioned Audio Research, Cary, Classe, Krell, Linn and Mark Levinson before I went Mc, and all of them were quite a bit more expensive. Of them all, only the AR and Classe performed at the same level and were decidedly feature-limited in comparison. The happiest aspect of my purchases has been that I feel absolutely no need to revisit any of them. That one fact has permitted me to concentrate on what is truly the most important aspect of the audiophile hobby: Finding and listening to great music!
Do true audiophiles own Mcintosh gear
It seems like all the high-end dealers I have bought from or talked to think that Mcintosh is living on it's past reputation. The 2 stores that carry it locally are more mid-fi stores than high-end. I have a friend that swears by it but he hasn't listened to his Mcintosh in over 2 years. What do you think?