I haven’t done a lot of serious listening McIntosh equipment. I did recently seriously audition the MA252 integrated. Worked great with a pair of Sonus Fabers. Not good at all with a pair of Harbechs. Okay with mine. My take, though, is that it was overpriced for the sound. But you get good, US service, and that's part of the price.
A lot of this is about equipment matching.