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Article: McIntosh D1100 Digital Preamplifier DAC Review - Part  Two


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Just to follow up from my previous detailed review.

 

I have recently tried a number of dacs including the PS Audio Direct Stream and the Chord Dave.

 

Both fantastic by the way. The DAVE is like a microscope to music

 

But the D1100 has that wonderful mix of extreme detail and lush massive sound stage.

 

I am using it as a preamp directly  connected into a Mcintosh MC-302.  System synergy?

 

My only complaint is the pop between some tracks especially when changing bitrate. Does anyone else get that?

 

Still willing to forgive

 

 

Aurender N100H> USB(Darkside Cable) > Mcintosh D1100 Digital Preamp > Darkside Cable balanced interconnect  >  Mcintosh MC302 Amp  > SpectralMH-770  Speaker Cables  >  Martin Logan Prodigys

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9 hours ago, fand1 said:

Just to follow up from my previous detailed review.

 

I have recently tried a number of dacs including the PS Audio Direct Stream and the Chord Dave.

 

Both fantastic by the way. The DAVE is like a microscope to music

 

But the D1100 has that wonderful mix of extreme detail and lush massive sound stage.

 

I am using it as a preamp directly  connected into a Mcintosh MC-302.  System synergy?

 

My only complaint is the pop between some tracks especially when changing bitrate. Does anyone else get that?

 

Still willing to forgive

 

 

 

Yes, I get that on my MAC7200 with the DA1 DAC module as well.

No electron left behind.

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18 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

"Bests" is a very hard thing to describe. They are all different in their own respects. 

 

Thanks for the reply and for exploring the cutting edge for us.

 

I do realize that the Mac is unique in that it is sort of an "integrated digital front end". It does sound like you would put them all on the same overall sonic level even if the presentation varies?

 

When you get time I would be interested in your description of those sonic differences. Perhaps a Part 3 followup?

 


"Don't Believe Everything You Think"

System

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  • 1 month later...

I was told when I was buying my MAC7200 that McIntosh has made a real effort to make their new (recently released) equipment perform to a whole new level, by more scrutiny on parts inside, and more listening tests on those parts, and using higher quality parts.  If my MAC7200 is anything to go by, I think they have certainly been successful.  It's been really hard to resist the temptation to take a drive down Lyndale, ( @The Computer Audiophile will know what I am talking about) and order the D1100.

No electron left behind.

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On 11/13/2017 at 8:11 PM, AudioDoctor said:

I was told when I was buying my MAC7200 that McIntosh has made a real effort to make their new (recently released) equipment perform to a whole new level, by more scrutiny on parts inside, and more listening tests on those parts, and using higher quality parts.  If my MAC7200 is anything to go by, I think they have certainly been successful.  It's been really hard to resist the temptation to take a drive down Lyndale, ( @The Computer Audiophile will know what I am talking about) and order the D1100.

You may want to wait a bit....I seemed to have stumbled on a "hush hush" that mcintosh may be working on something just recently inre the DA1 module. 

 

I called Mcintosh inquiring on differenes between the 5200 and 5300 and when i started asking questions about noise suppression and clocking, they gave me an email to someone better to ask.  After I emailed that individual asking if they have any advancements in noise suppression and clocking, I then got contacted by local mcintosh dealer locally wanting to know where I got that email address, and that it shouldn't have been given out, and they "inferred" that some recent advances may be coming soon.... (soon being relative of course)...

 

just an fyi, i have nothing concrete but it was clear they were very upset that i got the information that i did....

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  • 3 months later...

I'm glad the issue with laptop crashing, popping was resolved with the hardware update.  In part 1 you also mentioned a few issues with delay.  Particularly, missing the first part of the first track of an album, and an issue where the first part of the next track could be muted.  Was that also resolved for you when you got the unit back for round 2 of testing?

 

Joe

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On 2018-02-21 at 9:52 AM, joey_corleone said:

I'm glad the issue with laptop crashing, popping was resolved with the hardware update.  In part 1 you also mentioned a few issues with delay.  Particularly, missing the first part of the first track of an album, and an issue where the first part of the next track could be muted.  Was that also resolved for you when you got the unit back for round 2 of testing?

 

Joe

 

@The Computer Audiophile?

Roon Rock->Auralic Aria G2->Schiit Yggdrasil A2->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301 Monos->Wilson Audio Sabrinas

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On 2/22/2018 at 3:01 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

I don't believe the mute issue was resolved. If I'm not mistaken, it's a design decision.

 

Thanks. At this stage, I have tried Windows with the McIntosh ASIO driver using Roon, Foobar 2000, and VNC, Mac OSX with Roon, QuickTime, VNC, Vox and JRiver, and Linux on a Roon Bridge, and cannot get it to behave.

 

In all cases I lose the first fraction of a second of the first album track and intermittently lose the first fraction of a second when an album naturally transitions tracks.

 

The only exception I found was that if you use JRiver, and enable the feature to add silence at start for hardware synchronization, it solves the first issue. However, that still did not solve the second.

 

If there is no reasonable solution proposed soon, I will have no choice but to return my D1100 and get something that works better with my setup.

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On 2018-02-22 at 1:01 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

I don't believe the mute issue was resolved. If I'm not mistaken, it's a design decision.

 

If a DAC isn't capable of playing an album from beginning to end without possibly muting out parts of multiple songs I don't think it should make your Cash list.  Basic DAC functionality should be a minimum requirement, I don't care how mesmerizing those blue meters are.

Roon Rock->Auralic Aria G2->Schiit Yggdrasil A2->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301 Monos->Wilson Audio Sabrinas

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  • 11 months later...
49 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

The long answer is, if you listen to albums that are not made of multiple different resolution files that problem can be completely avoided.

 

Or cue up multiple albums or different format ro sample rate?

Roon Rock->Auralic Aria G2->Schiit Yggdrasil A2->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301 Monos->Wilson Audio Sabrinas

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