I read a lot of reviews from people expressing regret waiting so long to get a McIntosh. So I splurged and made the plunge. My brother calls it my mid-life -crisis stereo. Whatever, it sounds great and the blue meters add a little panache to the space, like a glowing piece of art. I plan to keep mine forever.
And as far as performance, I can pick out a poor recording or weak mastering technique, and I can pick out the difference between mp3 and CD quality. Beyond that I can’t hear the difference and will am happy to remain blissfully ignorant.
I hope everyone enjoys their audio pursuit, I’m feeling like my system is pretty dialed in at the moment. Cheers!