Aesthetic & Powerful - The New McIntosh integrated amplifier MA9500
/McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. have added two new integrated amplifiers to their already distinguished range - The MA8950 and the MA9500. Being the flagship Audio T store for McIntosh, we have had the pleasure of listening to quite a few of their integrated amplifiers (including the top of the range MA12000), so we couldn’t wait to hear one of the latest editions. Here at Audio T Swindon, we’ve taken delivery of the McIntosh MA9500. Let’s take a look…
What’s New?
When comparing it to the award-winning MA9000, McIntosh states that the MA9500 has a 50% increase in dynamic headroom, less distortion and better bass performance. The power supply components have been upgraded, too.
Whilst the MA9000 included the option for the DA1 Digital Audio Module, the MA9500 comes with the DA2 Digital Audio Module as standard (We'll discuss this a bit more a little later on).
MA9500 with eight-band tone control and a high quality headphone amplifier
A little insight of what is going on inside the MA9500
Guaranteed 300W per channel?
An amplifiers job is to drive and to control a pair of loudspeakers. As we know, loudspeakers come with different sensitivity and impedance so it’s difficult to say how much power is required to do the best job. The MA9500 offers 300 watts per channel. Thanks to McIntosh’s Autoformer™ technology this is guaranteed into a load of 2, 4 or 8 Ohms. (The McIntosh Output Autoformer™ is a special transformer that is designed and manufactured in-house by McIntosh.)
The DA-2 Digital Audio Module
As mentioned previously, the MA9500 comes with a factory fitted DA-2 Digital Audio Module which offers 7 digital inputs: 2 coaxial, 2 optical, 1 USB, 1 MCT, and 1 audio-only HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC)1 connection. The DA2 is powered by an audiophile-grade, Quad Balanced, 8-channel, 32-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that has improvements in both dynamic range and total harmonic distortion compared to the DAC in the DA1. The coax and optical inputs in the DA2 can decode digital music up to 24-bit/192kHz for playback of high-resolution audio. The DA2 has a McIntosh exclusive MCT input that offers a secure DSD connection to any of their MCT series of SACD/CD Transports, to deliver the best possible sound quality of the high-definition audio found on your SACDs.
The flexibility of the DA2 means you can connect a TV via the ARC HDMI socket, a CD transport to an optical or coaxial input and if you have a PC, Mac or Music server such as the Innuos range, connect it to the USB audio socket. This allows you to make the MA9500 the centre of your home entertainment system. And whilst the DA2 is factory fitted, its modular design means it's possible to someday replace it with any newer Digital Audio Modules that McIntosh may release.
MA9500 rear panel
There are 6 unbalanced phono and 2 balanced XLR inputs, one fixed-level phono input for integration into a home cinema set-up and individual inputs for Moving Magnet and Moving Coil, both with adjustable loading.
Would you look at those high quality loudspeaker binding posts!
The Solid Cinch speaker binding posts are gold-plated to prevent corrosion
Let’s listen to some music…
We put together a system comprising of the McIntosh MA9500 integrated amplifier, Rega Saturn MK3 cd player, Rega Planar 8 turntable w/ Ania MC Cartridge and the Innuos Zen MK3 music server. We decided to use the Spendor D7.2. and PMC Twenty5 24i as both are favourites here in the Swindon store.
Rega Saturn MK3, McIntosh MA9500, Rega Planar8/Ania MC and on the middle shelf the Innuos Zen Mini MK3 music server
Like a luxury car engine - You just feel it…
In our humble opinion, the MA9500 is a must have for any audiophile. It creates such a big, open and airy soundstage that it simply takes your breath away… It’s like being in the midst of an open air concert!
The bass is tight and controlled without suppressing any of the deep-toned resonance you’d expect from the low-end. It really does allow for incredible sonorance without compromising the rest of the frequency range. Vocals are focused and stand out nicely in a mix.
The MA9500’s volume control is very precise and you can really feel those 300w per channel at work - It’s like the big engine of a luxurious car, not only designed for going fast but also making sure you have the most comfortable ride at the same time.
The built-in phono stage sounds incredible! Whilst we used the Rega Planar 8 for this demonstration, the flexibility of having inputs for both MM and MC, not to mention their adjustable loads, means you can accompany this amplifier with virtually any turntable/cartridge combination.
The USB audio connectivity is a great touch that you don’t find on all amplifiers. We connected our Innuos music server to the DA2 and truly noticed the improved clocking with the increased DSD playback support (up to DSD512).
This powerhouse of a unit also features built-in High Drive headphone amplifier with Headphone Crossfeed Director (HXD®). This crossfeed implementations aims to achieve a more speaker-like presentation. It does this by blending the signal before it hits your ears, as speakers do naturally whilst headphones, by their very nature, do not. It brings a whole new dimension to headphones, which is perfect for a relaxing late night listening session.
It’s safe to say that we are huge fans of the MA9500 Integrated Amplifier, not to mention the rest of the products in the McIntosh range. If you haven’t already, we’d strongly suggest that you have a listen for yourself.
Thanks for reading - Stefan & Andy - Audio T Swindon.
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