McCormack DNA 0.5 Gold or what?

@jaynemo1962   I just recently had my DNA-1 Revision A+ upgraded to Gold Special status.  Steve said that anyone with a driver board 15+ years old must have it replaced if they send it in for upgrades.  My board was 20 years old and was replaced as well as a free replacement of the soft recovery diodes.  When all said and done, only the case, transformer and Nichicon Gold Tune caps. remained.  Everything else is new.  Biggest improvements I hear are openness of soundscape and dynamic ebb and flow.  Low level detail is superb.  All this for a very reasonable cost considering how much was done to it.

Labtec "Thus, they are near the end of their useful life and will have to be replaced anyway. "

Not true, I have a DNA-1 with a gold upgrade done around 2004 and Steve recommended just plug it in an play. No need to fix anything that's not broken!   

Thank you. I'm in the process of buying the amp. You all have been so kind and helpful, thank you.

OK thank you. I'll do that.

Agree to call SMc Audio in any case to discuss the amp's history.  But I believe the seller of the amp is stating in his description that when he had the Gold upgrade performed part of the upgrade is to take out the mechanism that prevents the thump in favor of better overall sound.

@rick542  Give Steve McCormack or Patrick a call at SMc Audio.  They can probably tell you what's up with it and what it would take to remedy the issue.

Thanks. I think this same one sold (I thought) last week. He says there is a harmless thump on power up. Should that worry me?

If you can find a non working model, SMc Audio will do upgrades. They really only need the case, everything else gets scrapped.
If you are patient, you can score one on Ebay. Keep looking on Hifi Shark everyday, like I did. 
Bob

@hifiman5 Gratz on the recent upgrade.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I recently had a Rev A Platinum updated with similar experience.  I even had him use a smaller version of the Bocchino IEC that he uses on his $20k power distributor.

I've never been disappointed with the mods I've had done in the past, but the delta is even greater now with what he's doing on the power delivery side.  It's an amazing level of refinement and liquidity that is critical to bringing realism and making your toes tap to the music versus just listening to HiFi.

@labtec   Exactly right!! I just had my 21 year old DNA-1 driver board replaced by Steve and Patrick at SMc Audio along with a panoply of other upgrades such as all new wiring,Furutech IEC inlet new Cardas RCA input jacks and new speaker binding posts.  As good as my Rev A+ amp was it is so much more open, sweet, detailed and dynamic now.  If the OP can get ahold of a previously modded DNA or a stock piece, for a modest investment the SMc guys can do their magic to it.

And thanks for the tip on the DNA 1 on ebay.

Thanks, I didn't know he was still doing the upgrades.

I know a lot about these amps.  It's an awesome route to take because you will never have to buy another amp again... Just send it to Steve for whatever next level upgrade you can afford or he crafts.

That being said, you should actually just buy a stock DNA right now and send it to Steve for the most recent updates.  Almost all the legacy updates like the Gold are pretty old and still have the original circuit board. Thus, they are near the end of their useful life and will have to be replaced anyway.

You can still buy the gold now and see how long it lasts you with the original circuit board.  Who knows, it could last another 5 years if you're lucky, but I'm mentioning it so you won't be surprised if it doesn't.

All his current mods start with replacing that driver board which effectively resets the useful life on the amp, so that's your best bang for the dollar, highest performance, and most reliable option.  

Ask  honashagen all about them here 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/how-much-do-i-need-to-spend-to-get-a-preamp-that-sounds-bette...

Cheers George

There's a DNA-1 Rev A Gold+ available now on eBay.