[BigEat]

I mentioned in a recent post about some new source components that I had been using in my home headphone rig. After some "hand wringing" I recently purchased the McIntosh MS750 which is as McIntosh puts it, there next generation "Music Server".

While not the most user friendly beast in the world, I've been very impressed with the resolution of the FLAC lossless files. And with the 750 GB capacity, there is a ton of room. Why someone would include "lossy" compression files, I'm not sure, but the MS 750 does a great job with FLAC.

To my ear, there is little compromise between the MS 750 and the other sources I'm currently using; most notably Esoteric SA 60. The convenience is of course the primary driver.

A couple of complaints:

1. The MS 750 must be attached to a video monitor, TV or otherwise, as the selection menus and complete functionality cannot be fully accessed on the face plate or through the handheld remote.

2. The MS 750 comes with a separate QWRT keyboard which makes navigation through the various features relatively easy, but it defies definition as a remote (although a standard remote is included). The keyboard is wireless but must be pointed at the unit similar to a standard remote control

3. To fully utilize the MS 750's album art look-up features powered as you might expect by Gracenote, the machine has to be connected to your network. While connection is very seemless and easy (not "Apple easy", but still easy enough), the look up feature is pre-wired and virtually trouble free. Nevertheless, as many of you know, Gracenote is not as up to date as say, iTunes is.

4. Perhaps my biggest complaint is the lack of balanced outputs. I currently use the optical out, which works just fine, but balanced outputs I believe would be a welcome addition.

Anyone else have this machine or the MS 300? What about Olive or similar choices?

 

[euclid]

congrats, the McIntosh MS750 is top of the line server.

my thinking is that one of the main advantages, if not the main advange, of the MS750 would be the high quailty analogue output stage. by sending digital out using optical i think you are defeating the purpose of such a high end unit, it becomes very simlar if not identical to any computer based setup sending digital out.

i assume you are using a high end DAC so you might be better off setting up a SONOS system. basically, you would use a network capable external HDD to store your FLAC files (you can use more than one HDD so predefined storage space is not an issue), the HDD needs to be linked to your wireless network so the SONOS ZonePlayer can access it and then send the digital output to your DAC, then you use a wireless handheld remote with scrollwheel and LCD screen to control the whole system, no external monitor is needed.

i cant see how there would be a significant sound quality difference to the MS750 since both sources ends are sending digital bits to the DAC, there may be differences in the jitter level but id think high end DAC would have a solid method to cope. the Sonos would save you literally thousands of dollars in comparison to the McIntosh. i dont have this personally, i use my desktop as my music server and dont need the wirless capablity, but i have been in a house with Sonos setup and it was seemless.

Sonos Multi Zone Digital Music System - play digital music from PC in any room