mcCormack or Plinius

Hey Timunder,

If you can, do an in home audition of the Plinius gear, you will not regret it. I compared the DNA-225 and the SA-250MkIV and the Plinius was far and away better. Of course, the Plinius retails for double the price but I thought the difference was worth it. The Plinius has great sound, tremendous build quality and you can find them on Audiogon at reasonable prices. Good luck and happy hunting..........John

Do let us know what your findings are after comparing the two. I have heard the DNA-225 and found it superior to the Plinius integrated.

I have alot of experience with McCormack products and some with the Plinius. Generally, the big SA series Plinius amps will outperform the stock McCormack amps. Those big Plinius's are some of the best SS amps I've heard. The problem is that they are very expensive, very big and run too hot for my taste.

Now, if you're looking at the integrated Plinius, that's a different story versus the McCormack combo. Both are well above average products and you probably would be happy with either for a long time.

My personal recommendation though would be to go with separates and choose the older McCormack models (DNA .5 or 1 with the RLD-1). Here's the reasons:

1. Separates give you the versatility to change preamps. Preamps are very important to the quality of sound, so the ability to upgrade easily without having to change your amplification too is worth consideration. McCormack amps are very preamp/cable friendly with an input impedance of 100k.
2. The older McCormack models are even less expensive and bigger bargains. They are very reliable, so the age is not a factor. They also run relatively cool and aren't ridiculously large.
3. The older models can be modified up to a performance level that surpasses the current stock models and competes with the bigger Plinius's (and most anything else for that matter.)
4. As for intangibles, Steve McCormack is great to deal with. He is located here in the US and almost always reachable by phone if you need him. I like supporting a guy like this. When you buy one of his products, he supports it for the long haul and even updates it to state-of-art levels.

Hope that helps.

One added note to Labtec's post. Steve McCormack will soon offer mods to the newer DNA models (DNA-125 and DNA-225).

Labtec,

The Plinius SA-250MkIV is switchable from A bias to A/B. In A/B it runs very cool to the touch. Now, when it's running in A, you could cook a turkey in the room with you after about 45 minutes. I've never felt the heat was an issue, especially since the amp auto switches to A/B from A after the absence of a signal for 30 minutes. I keep my amp on 24/7 and when ever I want to do some critical listening, I switch it into A, otherwise, it runs A/B.........John