C, the inventor of planar headphones, are a bit inefficient, but presented no problem for the MHA200. The special order LCD24 from Audeze built by Dr. If there were, with these extremely detailed cans I would have clearly heard them. There were just no shortcomings with the MHA200 that interrupted the joy and flow of the music. Listening to the MHA200 was intended to be critical and observational, but always ended up being entertaining and fun. Images were easily tracked and occupied their own spatial perspectives. The delicacy of the female voice was perfectly produced by the McIntosh. More efficient than most of the other models, they are more expensive than the McIntosh MHA200, and stunningly detailed and alive! A perfect pairing with the MHA200, vocals were utterly stunning and elegantly reproduced. The Grado Labs PS2000e headphones (image courtesy of Grado Labs) This is perfect for the top of the line PS2000e state of the art headphones. The convenient MHA200 impedance load switch with four logical selections is located across from the volume control and next to the power button. I am a fan of the gorgeous cocobolo wood GS3000e in every way. Plus, if you are a Grado devotee, the McIntosh and Grado is a match made in heaven. I can recommend the MHA200 without reservation for balanced cans. Additionally, placing an adapter provided by Grado to enable the GS3000e to be plugged into a 6.5 mm output revealed not one whit of difference musically. Being able to power two pairs of cans with ease is a very useful feature. I was able to plug them into the balanced output while the Grado PS1000e was plugged into the 6.5 mm output with no degradation whatsoever with either pair. The textures were consistently realistic, whether fed either digital or analog sources, and I have rarely heard them perform to their max like with the McIntosh. My balanced Grado GS 3000e cocobolo wood headphones were precisely driven with utter precision and accuracy. The Grado Labs GS 3000e headphones (image courtesy of Grado Labs) With the 16 pairs of headphones that I have on hand here, not one failed to be maximized by the elegantly compact McIntosh. Absolutely garbage in, garbage out, of course: Your source has to be first rate to have first-rate performance. Neutral as a bullet and smooth as a baby's bottom, the unfailingly MHA200 took only about 24 hours of play to completely satisfy me that I was hearing an amazing headphone amplifier in all ways. At $2500, the McIntosh is a stunning design to the eye and ear, and is overall a wonderful addition for the perfectionist who wants the very best performance at home or even in the studio. With seven headphone amps on hand, the McIntosh exceeded the best of the best in all ways price is no object, and closely competed with the vaunted all-tube HP4 Headphone Amp, designed by the recently-passed Tim de Paravicini. These two are soooooo close sonically, I often forgot which unit I was auditioning. It has one peer that is equally detailed and realistic, with a touch more textural definition in the musical images-but it costs 2.5 times the cost of the McIntosh, and does not have a balanced headphone output. As it sits, it is one superbly mellifluous and technical tour du force. but the MHA200 will be at home in any city anywhere audiophile perfection is required and textural musical reality is most important. I am not entirely sure this is entirely untrue. So chief engineer Frank Gulliver, recently returned from his remote laboratory in Lilliput, proposed an elegant time-honored solution: an Mc275 that weighs only 10 pounds and fits in a space just 7 by 10.inches! And by McIntosh magic and Lilliputian creativity, the MHA200 Headphone Amplifier was born. They loved the sound of the Mc275 amplifier and its transformer circuit dating back to 1949, but it was just too big for compact headphone usage. Once Upon A Time, in Binghamton, NY, a gathering of McIntosh engineers decided to produce an all-tube headphone amplifier without peer. Bob Levi with the brand new McIntosh MHA200 Tubed Headphone Amp (all photographs courtesy of Bob Levi)
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