is McIntosh known for good dynamics?

@ghdprentice 

I've only owned a few headphone amps and stupidly sold one of the best. All my amps have been custom modified by Igor Kuznetsoff of the New Jersey Audio Society, who does great dynamics, high-end extension, musical detail, and other things.

The one I sold was a modified Woo WA6SE. It was good but I wanted to downsize. Now my main amp broke. I decided I want to get an unmodified amp so it's easier to have someone repair it. I have a Woo WA7 + tp here right now and the sound is indeed dynamics and extended. Only problem is that it's rough and high noise floor, which I attribute to the DAC being literally inside the amplifier case spewing RFI.

Good news is a friend is going to give me an (unmodified) Woo WA6SE, so I'll get a chance to try that again.

It seems unlikely I'll ever be happy with the McIntosh. The dynamics and texture delineation are as flat as a pancake.

@ghdprentice Note I'm using a Gustard R26 DAC and the amp only section of the WA7, I'm just saying as far as I know the DAC inside the amp is generating radio frequencies.

I have had MC 501s driving 3.6 Maggies via a C220 tube pre amp for almost 10 years.  I traded gear all the time prior to discovering this combination.  It is all about synergy among your components IMHO.

Everyone has their own journey, as well as taste in sound and primary genre of music.  My path works for me and I love skilled musicianship that shines in the detail I find in my setup.  Eva Cassidy, Dave Brubeck and Duane Allman all get plenty of play in my listening room.

Agree with @stereo5; find a demo that reveals what you are looking for. I have a McIntosh MA352 IA paired with Dynaudio Contour 20s playing mostly Jazz, Classic Rock, R&B, Pop and Classical.

I find that the system adapts nicely to genre, but room dynamics and speaker placement all apply so best the check out live demo systems and see for yourself.  Especially optimal if you can arrange a home demo.

@magon 'Dynamics' is a tricky word. Most of the time audiophiles use it when they are talking about distortion which can cause things to sound more dynamic; IOW if you replace the word 'dynamics' with 'distortion' in audiophile conversations the meaning of the conversation is usually unchanged.

Actual musical dynamic contrast comes from the signal itself. The amp should have nothing to do with it. You'll find that SET owners talk about the amazing dynamics of their SETs but what they are really talking about is distortion (SETs make a lot of that).

So to answer you're question, its no worries insofar as Mac is concerned!