There is a high-fi dealer that has been trying to sell a new McIntosh C-53 pre-amp for months on Audiogon . When I asked him why his customer traded in this new model so quickly, he replied that people buy Masc for the blue meters but performance in not always that great. I duuno. My firtst "audio level" Mac product was the very versatile MAS-6200 integrated amp. To my ears, it sounded fine, very fine. I now have a MA-6900 integrated and have been pleased with that also. The only difference in SQ is when i moved several times and my room acoustics changed. Now on the advice of an Absolute Sound reviewer, I'm look at the Benchmark amp and intend to use only the pre-amp side of the Mac.
