Those looking for a new DAC in their Mcintosh headamp may be interested in this news.

I'm getting ready to start assembling a speaker rig for the living room and am debating whether the MHA goes into the mix combined with a power amplifier or stays in the office.   Has anyone yet put the MHA's preamplifier section a good enough workout to determine whether it's worth the...

  The MHA-100 is the least solid state sounding amp I have heard.

There is no problem with the DAC. And yes you can.

I'm beginning to think we need to start a separate thread for folks who wish the MHA100 were a completely different product.

    I rather rest my case.

  This not the same thing as saying the DAC section is a "weak link" in the product.   Glad you like your amp.

    It is hardly a "weak" link if you have to pay eight grand to better a five grand product.   It seems most of the MHA's critics are slamming it for being something that it is not rather than the product that it is.   To recap:   - It should have been tube based. - It should have been...

I think my only regret as far as features go is the lack of a DAC out. In my case, I wouldn't mind being able to feed the DAC to my tube amp based speaker rig. I'd still like to give it  whirl paired with a D100.   I still find it amusing to read that the MHA100 should have a five to ten grand...

  But then it would be a different product and, let's face it, Mcintosh have never bothered themselves too closely with trying to be "competitive".

  That's pretty much how I feel in the end.   I've had the opportunity to pair the MHA100 with a small range of DACS, including a PWD MK2 and my much loved ECD-1. These two were the best of the pack but while both offered advantages, they also suffered compared to the onboard DAC IMHO.   It...

    I cannot agree with the first sentence and the second is self-evident.

Not a half-bad looking amplifier really. Maybe doesn't look $45K pretty but what headphone amp does?   I'm not all that inclined to bitch about stratospherically priced Head-Fi kit. As much as it sucks I won't be able to afford them, I appreciate the rocket propelled development of the...

S'funny but no one mentions how great the remote control is. Ergonomically pleasing and it's weeble-wobble base means it's easy to find on my bomb crater of a desk.   I love it.

  Import taxes? VAT? Small UK market and high distributor mark-up? Plus the fact that stuff is just plain expensive in the UK?