When, in January, I reviewed this superb-sounding and relatively affordable D/A processor ($1275), a couple of aspects of its behavior left me puzzled. Fed with a test tone, for example, my sample appeared to go deaf below –67dBFS when driven with 16-bit files by my laptop via the Benchmark's USB connection. I listened to the 500Hz fade-to-noise-with-dither track from the CBS Test CD, ripped to my PowerBook, and the tone vanished about 5 seconds after the start of the fade. This didn't happen when I mixed a high-…
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John Atkinson Returned to the Benchmark DAC1 USB in July 2008 (Vol.31 No.7):
It has a fan, it won't work without a monitor, and it contains a 750GB hard drive—for some audiophiles, that's a trifecta of reasons not to buy the McIntosh MS750 music server ($6000).
There are cheaper ways to incorporate a music server into your hi-fi—hello, Slim Devices Squeezebox. And there are whole-system approaches—the Sonos ZP80-ZP100 combo, for example. The MS750 is aimed somewhere between the two. It doesn't require as much computer savvy as the Squeezebox does, nor does it require you to buy an entire system. It's perhaps the easiest way to add digital storage to an existing…
All in all, it was simpler than setting up a Slim Devices Squeezebox, which itself is pretty painless. I give McIntosh an A+ for initializing the system. After that, it was just a matter of feeding the MS750 music to digest. I didn't relish feeding the MS750 one disc at a time, but fortunately it has an S-Link connection, which allowed me to connect it to my S-Link–controlled Sony CDP-CX400 carousel CD player via the Sony's TosLink output. (Or you could use any RS-232–controlled disc changer via one of the MS750's RS-232 ports.) The Mac then ripped all the digital signals and metadata…
I think he's partly right. No, I don't think we audiophiles would rather hear the warts and spots on recordings, but those last little smidgens of air, delicacy—and, yes, even power—are audible through the Ayre not just with DVDs and SACDs, but with "Red Book" CDs as well.
Christian McBride's bass dug deeper through the Ayre—not deeper into the bass, but deeper into the groove. Lovano's tenor sax bit harder, and the sound of the room was more evident in Tyner's piano sound—not a lot, but enough that when I paid attention, I could hear it.
That said, the pace and timing of Stephen…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Music server with 750GB hard drive, integrated Web interface, CD player/burner, and Ethernet Web interface for remote control and music streaming. Frequency response: 2Hz–22kHz, ±1dB. Signal/noise (IHF A-weighted): 102dB. Dynamic range: 96dB. Harmonic distortion: 0.01%. Channel separation: 95dB (1kHz). Output level: 2.0V RMS. Output impedance: 200 ohms. Video: NTSC, PAL. Video output impedance: 75 ohms. Supported audio formats: Encode: FLAC, MP3. Decode: PCM, FLAC, MP3, WMA, ACC. Hours of music storage: FLAC, 2125; MP3 at 320kb, 5060; MP3 at 192kb,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe and Muse Polyhymnia universal players, Sony CDP-CX400 carousel CD player, Bel Canto e.One DAC3 digital processor.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K-1xe, Krell Evolution 202.
Power Amplifiers: Krell Evolution 600, Portal Paladin.
Loudspeakers: Hansen Audio Prince V2, Vandersteen Quatro Wood, Wilson Audio Specialties WATT/Puppy 8.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research Aries & Altair, Stealth Indra. Speaker: Shunyata Research Lyra, Stealth Dream.
Accessories: Ayre L-5xe line filter, Furutech eTP-609 distribution box, APC…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To test the McIntosh MS750, I ripped the CD-Rs carrying my assortment of test signals as FLAC lossless-encoded "CD Quality" files to the MS750's hard drive, then played them back as needed. (The MS750's CD drive rips CDs at a rate of about 15x.) Measurements were performed with Audio Precision's System One and System SYS2722 setups (see "As We See It" and Audio Precision's website.
The MS750 offers only unbalanced outputs. These turned out to invert signal polarity, but offered a very low source impedance of 1 ohm. The maximum output level was 2.07V RMS.…
I first heard a CD player in my own system in 1984 or 1985, several years before I began writing for Stereophile. I was curious about the Compact Disc medium—I'd read about it, had listened to CDs in stores, and was eager to hear what they sounded like in my own system. I'd even bought a CD: the original-cast recording of 42nd Street, which I already had on LP. One evening, a friend who worked for Sony and knew that I was an audiophile brought over his latest acquisition: a CDP-501ES, the second from the top of Sony's line of CD players. He also brought along a bunch of CDs, including some…
I don't have a copy of the Telarc 1812 Overture—which, whatever its sonic qualities, is possibly the most boring interpretation of the work on record—but I do have a Telarc sampler featuring recordings from that period, and the DX-7555's presentation of orchestral sound was very pleasing, the string sections of orchestras sounding much like . . . well, string sections, and avoiding the squeaky chalk-on-a-blackboard effect that bad digital sound can produce. Just for old times' sake, I also played 42nd Street. That was fine, too, except for the tap-dancing bits, which came across more as…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-box, fixed-output CD player with remote control. Formats played: CD, MP3 CD, CD-R/RW. D/A conversion: 24-bit/192kHz with switchable "Slow" and "Sharp" reconstruction filters. Analog outputs: 1 pair (RCA). Digital outputs: coaxial S/PDIF, TosLink. Headphone jack with volume control. Four-mode dimmer. Frequency range: 2Hz–20kHz. Signal/noise: 111dB. Dynamic range: 100dB. THD: 0.0027%. Maximum output level: 2.0V RMS. Output impedance: 470 ohms. Power consumption: 3W.
Dimensions: 17 1/8" (435mm) W by 4 3/8" (111mm) H by 15¾" (405mm) D. Weight…