McIntosh C1000 tube pre vs. ARC Ref 3?

The chances of anyone(reading/posting here) who have auditioned both the REF3 and C1000 in the same system are slim and none.......and slim just left town.

Actually, slim is set forth above. I will add that the Ref 3 throws a huge, deep, wide soundstage. However, the downside is that instruments that shouldn't take up much space (eg oboe, James Taylor's acoustic guitar in relation to his voice) sometimes are not portrayed in proper proportion. Another upside to the drama is great tone color and texture. The Mac, on the other hand, was so pure, natural and neutral, I could not resist. Your taste may vary. Also, if ur into phono, the Mac stage is as remarkable as the rest of the package, much better than the 2200 pre phono stage which was merely above average.

Thanks for the info Gpgr4blu!

Anytime. If you get to A/B these 2, let us know your viewpoint.

Just to keep this thread in perspective, the Mac cost almost double or triple (depending on options) the REF-3. I would hope for the extra spend that the MAC is better.

To me, the Mac is a bit gimmicky. In that they offer both a tube and SS option. So that tells me they admit there is a sonic difference between the two and want to offer the customer a choice in sonic character. Otherwise, they would have offered only one topology which would have been based on a straight wire with gain principal (Pure Accurate Amplification).

I contend when spending this kind of money that all these items are of very high quality and that in critical home listening they both will sound great.

At this price point, I doubt that anything blows any other thing "out of the water". But I am sure that there will be sonic differences that any individual can have a preference for.

I have the REF-3 and feel it is very accurate and faithful to the recording. I do not feel that it adds or subtracts anything from what is on the recording.

I am sure the MAC is a fantastic piece of equipment as any statement product should be. But since both of the products are very well designed and intended to produce the music as accurately as possible. I expect the differences to be shades of gray. Sometimes these discussions sound just like sports car discussions. My Ferrari is better than your Z06.

The bottom line is we become passionate about a given brand and all else pales in comparison regardless of objective thought.

In the end, unless someone with a remarkably high resolution system compares the two together under equal circumstances everything said on this thread is personal speculation....Steve