McCormack DNA-1 Gold or DNA-225

Still own a DNA-2 LAE with 2014 Signature upgrades and it sounds great.  Currently using expensive Class A monos that do not necessarily sound better, just different and slightly more to my liking.  Ncore NC1200 monos did not sound better to my ears than the DNA in my system.  You are really going to enjoy your amp.

BTW, who is Pat? Steve's partner used to be Kris Jeter.  Is Pat new?

dyl71 - exciting stuff. Enjoy your "new" amplifier as I am sure it will sound great. Based on your description, it sounds as if you probably had Steve install the Plitron transformer, which I understand should improve dynamics even further. Since you probably discussed the upgrades in detail, you would know whether the input transformers were part of the upgrade, which should be true if the upgrade included balanced inputs. In any event, the stock DNA-1s came with an input impedance of 100K ohms and the upgraded DNA-1s (either monoblocks or with balanced connections - anything where Steve added the input transformers) have a much lower input impedance of 10K ohms. If you don’t have the input transformers, then you likely retained the higher input impedance.

Below is a link to an Audiogon thread where Steve explains this situation. If you have the lower input impedance, you need to be more careful about matching with a preamp and I have found that most (but not all) tube preamps and most (but not all) passives will probably not mate well with the lower input impedance. However, just about any SS preamp, passive using autoformers, and Steve’s own TLC-1, which is a unity-gain, buffered preamp, should mate very well. Steve offers upgrades to the TLC-1 unit that turns a very good sounding older preamp into an excellent sounding preamp regardless of age and virtually regardless of price, IMO. I have tried/owned around 20 well-regarded preamps (tubed and SS) in the $5-12K range, and my upgraded TLC-1 with outboard power supply beat all of them on sonics, ease of operation and just about any other parameter...except having a remote, which I do not miss at all. I have heard he is doing very good things with the micro line drive preamp also but not quite to the level of what he can accomplish with the TLC-1.

Link:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/preamp-impedance-mismatch-with-mccormack-dna2/post?highlight=dna-1%2Binput%2Bimpedance&postid=732291#732291

Good luck with your upgraded DNA-1!

Hi Bob, 
Good luck with the DNA-1 monos.  Please do let us know what you think of them, and how they compare with your MA-1s.  Steve and his crew do great work and he certainly pays attention to the details and does all he can to meet the expectations of his clients.