The struggle is real when it comes to deciding whether to go with vacuum tubes amp or solid state amp. But with the new McIntosh MA12000 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier, you need not to decide between the two. You can have the cake and eat it. Although the price it commands will likely be more than enough to buy both with change to spare.
The McIntosh MA12000 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier offers warm nuances of a vacuum tube preamplifier and the speed and raw power of a solid state amplifier. In short, the best of both worlds. And it sure have enough connectivity that will let you take full advantage of it.
Connectivity includes 2 balanced and 6 unbalanced premium gold-plated solid brass analog connectors, a Moving Coil, and a Moving Magnet input. To top that off, it has balanced, 8-channel, 32-bit DAC that boasts 7 digital audio inputs, including 2 coaxial, 2 optical, 1 USB and I MCT, an an audio-only HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) If anyone’s counting, that’s a whopping 17 inputs in total. 17!
Turntable lovers will be thrilled to know both phono inputs has adjustable loading for fine turning the MA12000 to a specific turntable configuration to achieve the right sound.
Digital music, on the other hand, will benefit from McIntosh DA2 Digital Audio Module, powered by next-gen Quad Balanced, 8-channel;, 32-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) via the aforementioned digital inputs.
The preamp features four 12AX7A vacuum tubes – 2 tubes per audio channel, and the MA12000 further touts 1 balanced and 1 unbalanced output to connect to an additional amplifier if so desired.
So many words and yet, we have only scratched the surface of what the McIntosh MA12000 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier has to offer. You can learn more over at the product page where you can also find a dealer from which you can pick up this US$14,000 2-channel hybrid integrated amplifier.
Images: McIntosh.
Source: part time audiophile.
