McIntosh Labs MB100 streamer/Music player

[bmichels]

McIntosh released the MB100.   
 

 
 
At US$6500 in the USA, I find It overpriced (IMO) but at least it includes the wonderful D100 DAC (as opposed to the MHA100 headphone amp that includes an "inferior" DAC)
 
John H. Darko publish a short review of it here.
 
But I have to admit that I do not understand what he means by : " McIntosh Labs MB100 connects cloud services to local libraries.... the smarts arrive with McIntosh’s patented TuneBridge which bi-directionally connects streaming services to your local music library and to each other. TuneBridge allows you to start a Pandora radio station from a single track in your library or, if you discover a killer new tune on Pandora, serve up the entire album via Spotify. That’s something we’ve not seen before ".
 
can someone explain what does that mean ? 
 
OK it can stream, Ok it can play local files, but then... what else can he do to "connects cloud services to local libraries." ??
 
thanks

 

[bmichels]

Seems there is no much interest in this device...

 

[rshuck]

I think what they are trying to get at is that there is seamless integration between local tracks and streaming tracks. For example if you are missing one track from an album, it can find it online and play it in the right order without you knowing. What they reference here is, say I have the song "Trapped" by Colonel Abrams in my library, it can make a new Pandora station based on that song. Then if you find another song that plays and you really like, you can stream that whole album from Spotify. It's really just techno-babble to justify the $4000 that ISN'T the D100, and which can easily be replicated by some scripting on a Mac Mini for 1/8th the price. It's unique in the marketplace, but as usual with McIntosh you pay a lot for the name. I'm not knocking them, I love the company, but the prices are over the top sometimes. They are really casting a wide net recently with the MHA100, MHP1000, and this, and the D100. I think some stuff will do well, but they're bound to have a turd in the bunch.