McIntosh Debuts $2000 MP100 MM/MC Phono Preamp With Built In A/D Converter

—Sardinia, Italy July 29th, 2016: At the WOM (World of McIntosh) Convention, McIntosh introduced a new moderately priced $2000 remote controlled MM/MC Phono Preamplifier with built-in A/D converter.

This is the company's first ever stand-alone phono preamplifier. It features a mono button, front panel adjustable MM capacitance and MC resistive loading plus a clipping warning light for the A/D converter. You can lower the output with the push of a front panel (or remote control) button to avoid clipping.

On the back are MM and MC single-ended RCA jacks, balanced XLR and single-ended outputs and USB, SPDIF RCA and Toslink outputs The sampling rate of the A/D converter is 96/24.

Analogplanet hopes to get one for review by the end of August.

COMMENTS
J. Carter's picture

Were you able to figure out what the A/D converts the analog signal to? 24/96, 24/192 etc?

Michael Fremer's picture
Can't believe I left that out but I did (it's now in the story). It's 96/24
Anton D's picture

I look forward to seeing what you hear.

AnalogJ's picture

Can you see what he hears? Or would it be, perhaps, a representation?

Just asking.

Anton D's picture

Since I don't listen to Stereophile, nor can I hear what Mike writes, I went with a way of saying that I look forward to reading about his experience.

It wouldn't even be a representation, really. More of an impression.

ravenacustic's picture

Mike,

Do you think you will be getting the IFi Phono 2 for review?

Michael Fremer's picture
I have one currently under evaluation.
ravenacustic's picture

I look forward to your comments Mike.

MyPal's picture

Michael,

Recently purchased the Korg and was planning to hook that up to the McIntosh C1000C/P/T to do the ADC from there. Now we have a McIntosh first... Enthusiastic about a shoot-out.

treyroscoe's picture

Will it be possible to do RIAA correction in the digital domain? Hear good things about this approach if the signal is going to be converted to digital (as it is when using my DEQX for speaker and room correction).

McDonalds or Steak's picture

$2000 is not a moderate price for a phono pre.

zzcorey's picture

In the world of high end audio thats pretty cheap, particularly for a McIntosh piece. Compared to the rest of the industry McIntosh itself is relatively moderate in pricing. Now if you want to compare it to some receiver from Best Buy then sure its expensive but compared to almost any electronics high end audio is expensive.

McDonalds or Steak's picture

Yeah, well, Best Buy sells McIntosh, but thanks for your condescension anyhow.

I've been in this hobby for five decades and I've owned Mac stuff. Mac has never been known for being at the forefront of the sound quality per dollar department. (You may be able to justify the prices by the high resale, or the ego-boost when friends see the blue lights and retro looking meters and say, "I don't know what that is, but it looks expensive"; to each their own).

I'm not comparing it to "some receiver" but to other pre's that cost 25-60% as much. The question is not what's cheap "in the world of high end audio" - which is not without rip-off artists-- and includes speakers that are laborious to build, high power amps that have expensive parts, etc., but what's reasonable for a phono pre.

Kirby's picture

I'm thinking $2000 for a phono pre with a built in ADC from McIntosh sounds very reasonable, so long as it sounds good and I'm sure it's more than exceptable. Only problem is it will cost $4000 here in Canada.

Lazer's picture

I'm drooling over this product, this phono preamp. Yet it seems like I would be paying for more than I need. Do I need mm and mc in the same pre amp? Wouldn't it be cheaper if I just paid for a pre amp that serviced the cartdrige of my choice? In the super hi end I understand servicing a turntable with 2 tone arms but at a lower price point I'd rather pay for what I want.

roboss38's picture

I was wondering if your review for the MP 100 is almost complete.

vinylcharlie's picture

Hi Mike, I see that you first wrote about this new phono preamp back in June of last year. Were you able to get your hands on one and check it out? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the unit.
Thanks!

Charlie

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