Using the Hugo 2 to the McIntosh as compared to the Hugo 2 alone and McIntosh alone really showed me that the Hugo 2 is an excellent DAC and McIntosh is an excellent amp and then they come together they combine both their strengths for an amazing sounding system. But each in its own shows its flaws, Hugo 2 in its aplilfier capabilities (yes, I know it doesn't have an amp stage, but you know what I'm talking about) and the McIntosh in its DAC section.
Someone mentioned that the MHA100 and MHA150 both have ADC Dac so they digitized anything connected to them. Kinda adds its own flavor. Can you confirm this? I would hate to buy a nice dac only to have it sound similar to the one built in. Thanks.
I used to own the MHA100 and don’t remember reading that anywhere in its manual.
What is remember is trying it’s DAC with USB and Coax of which the Coax was clearly better.
I also compared using the coax digital input and its balanced analog inputs fed by Bricasti M1. The analog input sound using the M1 DAC was clearly better.
Maybe you were thinking about the over sampling it does before decoding the digital signal.
From the manual:
“The MHA100 has Coaxial, Optical, Balanced Digi- tal (AES/EBU) and USB Digital Inputs to decode PCM Signals from an external source. The MHA100 upsamples the Digital Signal to 192kHz with 32Bit resolution before the Digital to Analog process begins.”
I did not see anything about Analog to Digital conversion in the manual.
Maybe you were thinking about the over sampling it does before decoding the digital signal.
From the manual:
“The MHA100 has Coaxial, Optical, Balanced Digi- tal (AES/EBU) and USB Digital Inputs to decode PCM Signals from an external source. The MHA100 upsamples the Digital Signal to 192kHz with 32Bit resolution before the Digital to Analog process begins.”
I did not see anything about Analog to Digital conversion in the manual.
Looking at their manuals and McIntosh site the MHA200 is 100% analog. It dos not have a DAC and unless I miss it the MHA150 does not do ADC.
The main differences between the MHA100 and MHA150 is an updated DAC that can do DSD and DXD and the addition MCT din proprietary connector for their SACD players.
Both the MHA100 and MHA150 have pre outputs so you can connect at external amplifier and the output signal will have the McIntosh “sound flavor”.
I might be wrong but I don’t see any analog to digital capabilities in either piece.
Someone mentioned that the MHA100 and MHA150 both have ADC Dac so they digitized anything connected to them. Kinda adds its own flavor. Can you confirm this? I would hate to buy a nice dac only to have it sound similar to the one built in. Thanks.
Nor do I think analog-in is digitized. Who said this and why? Are they a qualified source? Do they think this simply because it has a digital volume control or digitally controlled bass boost? Because digitally controlled analog volume controls are not new, and very much a thing.
I can't help but think anyone that knew even the slightest about McIntosh would know McIntosh are first and foremost the kings of analog for decades. I would be beyond shocked if analog were to be digitized. Not impossible; tho one could argue 'yes, impossible' as no spec or test has ever mentioned it and/or an ADC chip employed. So, highly improbable.
I'm sure you know this; more for anyone else that doesn't ... Ya. But unfortunately the signal path is either "route to analog preamp out OR route to internal amplifier". There is no way to have both active at the same time.
- So if one wants to use the internal DAC but then output to headphones while at the same time outputting to an amp to drive shakers, you can't.
- And there is no pre-amp out / power amp in loop that is pretty common in pre-amp/power-amp combos. So if one wants to EQ the analog signal, you can't.
So I never use the built-in DAC anymore. I use either a NAD M15, or Gustard X16 for DAC duties. And input analog either balanced or unbalanced (unbalanced when I want to EQ the input with a 3 band Perreaux TC2 tone control, as I don't use a balanced tone control, yet). Plus as you said, the internal DAC is the weak point. M15 is arguably better (maybe not in some's eyes; but I use it mainly for its HDMI-in, for which there are few good let alone better options) but there's no question in regards to the X16.
Yes, I agree with you.
I also did not use the MHA100 internal DAC because my dedicated DAC is far superior so I always used the analog balanced inputs.
Maybe you were thinking about the over sampling it does before decoding the digital signal.
From the manual:
“The MHA100 has Coaxial, Optical, Balanced Digi- tal (AES/EBU) and USB Digital Inputs to decode PCM Signals from an external source. The MHA100 upsamples the Digital Signal to 192kHz with 32Bit resolution before the Digital to Analog process begins.”
I did not see anything about Analog to Digital conversion in
Nor do I think analog-in is digitized. Who said this and why? Are they a qualified source? Do they think this simply because it has a digital volume control or digitally controlled bass boost? Because digitally controlled analog volume controls are not new, and very much a thing.
I can't help but think anyone that knew even the slightest about McIntosh would know McIntosh are first and foremost the kings of analog for decades. I would be beyond shocked if analog were to be digitized. Not impossible; tho one could argue 'yes, impossible' as no spec or test has ever mentioned it and/or an ADC chip employed. So, highly improbable.
Nor do I think analog-in is digitized. Who said this and why? Are they a qualified source? Do they think this simply because it has a digital volume control or digitally controlled bass boost? Because digitally controlled analog volume controls are not new, and very much a thing.
I can't help but think anyone that knew even the slightest about McIntosh would know McIntosh are first and foremost the kings of analog for decades. I would be beyond shocked if analog were to be digitized. Not impossible; tho one could argue 'yes, impossible' as no spec or test has ever mentioned it and/or an ADC chip employed. So, highly improbable.
Pull the button out a little bit. Sometimes for some reason the button gets pushed in and it does not travel enough when is pushed to activate the switch.
It happened to me when I open it up after picking it up from my dealer.
I just pulled the button out a little bit to allow it to travel and started working normal.
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