[mr-duke]

I received the MHA150 but cant install the usb driver v2.0 to my Microsoft Surface 5 win 10. It cant reconized the device. And not even Jriver media player or Foobar reconize the device. Can anyone help me with the tech part?. Thanks

 

[Lurker0918]

I am using now Sennheiser HD800S and I really enjoy the clarity and warmness of the sound paired with the MHA150.

Curious, if the MHA150 also will get a DAC upgrade like the other McIntosh amps at the moment. I think they can do now DSD512 with a new Quad Balanced, 8-channel, 32-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)

-- WW

I don't think the MHA150 uses the DA1 system in it's implementation which you would need to upgrade. Probably the next generation MHA will.

On a tangent, the headphone stage on the C2600 preamp I feel is really good. It doesn't have the Autoformers nor speaker taps (in case you wanted to hook up your headphones directly to the taps), but it plays lovely and is clearly not just a throw in. I had a C2500 briefly too and I seem to recall the headphone stage was pretty good as well from my brief time with it.

 

[Lurker0918]

I received the MHA150 but cant install the usb driver v2.0 to my Microsoft Surface 5 win 10. It cant reconized the device. And not even Jriver media player or Foobar reconize the device. Can anyone help me with the tech part?. Thanks

Not sure I can be much help (I don't have experience with Surface), but on regular Windows 10, if you installed the driver correctly, there should be an Mcintosh HD icon on your desktop. In the settings-sounds screen, you should see it there as well. Then in Jriver in the Tools- Options - Audio Device, you should select McIntosh-HD HS USB Audio (WASAPI).

I would suggest, make sure your USB cable is working and hooked up properly and that you have the latest driver. If you hook up something else via analog (not digital), do the meters move? If nothing is working, I would suggest contacting Mac, they seem to be pretty responsive. Good luck.

 

[m1911]

I've been wanting a nice all-in-one, easy-to-use, great-sounding headphone set-up for a while.
During the holidays, I pulled the trigger on the MHA150 and MHP1000 headphones.
I will buy a pair of McIntosh XR50 speakers for this very soon.
I'm not qualified to go deep into the weeds of technical specs, etc, but the features that sold me were:

• Single, portable unit to be placed ANYWHERE....office, bedroom, next to living room chair, etc.
• Built in DAC
• Built in output transformers at 50wpc for speakers.
• Ease of use - plug-n-play Mac-Book, i-Pad, i-Phone
• High quality to look at and listen to

I started buying cool gear in the early 1970's, and now HATE huge, multi-piece, complicated set-ups.
This unit is really cool! I really like the fact that McIntosh has built-in DAC's in their integrated Amps and and would probably never buy another brand.

 

[SalR406]

I've been wanting a nice all-in-one, easy-to-use, great-sounding headphone set-up for a while.
During the holidays, I pulled the trigger on the MHA150 and MHP1000 headphones.
I will buy a pair of McIntosh XR50 speakers for this very soon.
I'm not qualified to go deep into the weeds of technical specs, etc, but the features that sold me were:

• Single, portable unit to be placed ANYWHERE....office, bedroom, next to living room chair, etc.
• Built in DAC
• Built in output transformers at 50wpc for speakers.
• Ease of use - plug-n-play Mac-Book, i-Pad, i-Phone
• High quality to look at and listen to

I started buying cool gear in the early 1970's, and now HATE huge, multi-piece, complicated set-ups.
This unit is really cool! I really like the fact that McIntosh has built-in DAC's in their integrated Amps and and would probably never buy another brand.

The MHA150 is a great piece. I've heard it, but I've never owned it. Really nice sounding, and of course, looks gorgeous. Enjoy!

 

[groovyd]

McIntosh amps are unbeatable but the headphones are junk... that amp deserves some nice Audeze MX4 or the likes

 

[teknikk7]

Just picked up the MHA150 used for a great price. I am absolutely blown away from what I am hearing. I've been a tube guy for years. Own several PrimaLunas, Woo Audios etc. I recently picked up the Mjolnir 2 which was fed by a ADI-2, before that the Mytek Liberty. I would say this MHA150 far surpasses my current setup. Even driving a pair of Focal Electra 1008Be with authority. At only 50 watts its besting a PrimaLuna Evo 100 with upgraded tubes.
After reading this thread I am curious about using the speaker taps now, and also trying different DAC's. Would you guys recommend the ADI fed into the MHA150? Also, most of my headphones are very low OHM, so I'm concerned about using the taps. Should I be? I have the LCD-X, Fostex TH900 mk2, Denon AH-D9200, and some Sen 650. Considering getting rid of the LCD-X and Denon's for ??? I hear a lot about the HE-1000. When I searched there were a couple different models. What model exactly? I'm assuming something high OHM?

Thanks guys

 

[groovyd]

My next headphone related upgrade will be the HE-1... finally decided it's time to go big or go home.

 

[alekc]

I am considering using Mytek Brooklyn Bridge with MHA150 or MHA100 but so far I have found very few very short description of such pairing. Can someone using Bridge or Dac+ elaborate a bit more please?

 

[yagislav]

Hey guys, if I want to use the MHA100 as a DAC connected to my seperate headphone amplifier, I have the RCA cables connected from the "pre amp out" on the MHA into the RCA inputs of the headphone amplifier. To get sound I have to put the MHA in "Speakers" mode- is this the correct way?

Thank you

 

[alekc]

Hey guys, if I want to use the MHA100 as a DAC connected to my seperate headphone amplifier, I have the RCA cables connected from the "pre amp out" on the MHA into the RCA inputs of the headphone amplifier. To get sound I have to put the MHA in "Speakers" mode- is this the correct way?

Thank you

While not answering your question, here is my experience with MHA100 and MHA150 - it is amp section that really shines, while DAC is not bad, especially when using together with internal headphone amp, I would not use MHA as DAC only. As an amp-only it is also a bit expensive to say at least.

 

[erik701]

Any chance that McIntosh will introduce MHA200 (successor to the MHA150) in the visible future? With the upgraded DAC module, which can be swapped for a newer version in the future (like DA2 Digital Audio Module) and maybe also with a little bit more gain in terms of headphone power output. Maybe also throw in Balanced Headphone output, just thinking out loud, in case that McIntosh guys are reading this thread

 

[alekc]

Any chance that McIntosh will introduce MHA200 (successor to the MHA150) in the visible future? With the upgraded DAC module, which can be swapped for a newer version in the future (like DA2 Digital Audio Module) and maybe also with a little bit more gain in terms of headphone power output. Maybe also throw in Balanced Headphone output, just thinking out loud, in case that McIntosh guys are reading this thread

If they do, I wouldn't hesitate a second to buy it. For some time I am trying to find a matching DAC to extend one in MHA150 and I had some experience with Mytek Brooklyn Bridge/DAC+ but while both MHA150 and Mytek sounds great alone I've got a perception that in such pairing you could feel some artificial limit imposed by such setup. Maybe it was just me, maybe it was just a feeling based on limited time. However when one stops looking at MHA150 DAC specs (including ESS chip) and forgets about it, it turns out that MHA150 sounds great on its own and for me in musical terms beats easily theoretically and technically more advance dacs/amp combos like ones from Chord. I also don't have much tracks above DSD256 so current MHA150 technical specs limitations are not really worrying me.The most important question is: do we really need a better DAC for MHA150? YMMV, but from my experience it is not that easy to find external one that would extend it in sound quality terms current setup. That is why I would love to see MHA150 successor, but on the other hand honestly speaking for my needs - expect technical specs - I see very little I would like to improve in MHA150. Volume knob would be one thing for sure. Yet I would still buy MHA200 as said above

 

[SalR406]

I recently bought a Benchmark HPA4. The MHA150 was on my original list of possibilities. I needed balanced preamp outputs, though, so that shortcoming disqualified the MHA150 for me. If we're specing out a hypothetical MHA200, I would add that feature to the list.

 

[Lurker0918]

September is usually the month McIntosh releases their new products and they have already done so. So probably no update this year.

When they do upgrade, the DAC will probably be in line with their upgradable DA1/2 platform. A balanced headphone jack is still probably not happening though.