McIntosh MC402 vs. Bryston 4B SST

It will depend on your personal tastes and how your system sounds now. The Mc has more body and favors microdynamics a bit more whereas the Bryston is a little cooler and more analytical. They are quite different. IMO, the Mc is more refined sounding.

Arthur

arthur's descriptions are pretty accurate. neither is a slouch

Thanks for response,

So, when you say that the Bryston is a little cooler and more analytical, can I interpret that to mean that the sound is a little less realistic than a live performance?

After all the technical specifications - my assumption is the goal is to have something sound as a reproduction of a live performance

I recently upgraded from the 4B ST to the MC352 - each amp is the immediate predecessor of the ones you are considering. While the Bryston is no slouch (I was happy with it for 5 years), I find that the Mac sounds less like audio, and more like live music. I'm definately listening to my system more since I upgraded.

While the Mac warranty is decent (3 years), nothing compares with Bryston's 20 year warranty. On the other hand, Macs are very cool running and long lived amps - there are lots of 20+ year old Mac amps still in service. And if you do need a repair, there are plenty of places that specialize in old Mac gear, and lot of parts are still available from the factory for vintage Mac gear.

The 402 is in a different league than the 4 b sst it almost twice the price so it would make more sense to compare the 14 B SST and in that case the 14 B sst is better.