The American Workhorse

The McIntosh brand needs little to no introduction in the realm of hi-fi. The blue meters, black front panels and shiny stainless steel chassis sure catch the eye amongst modern audio systems. The iconic look comes with great heritage and decades of audio development, with the manufacturer celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

The MHA200 slots in the middle of the Headphone Amp range from McIntosh at £2995 at the time of writing. The big brother MHA150 retails at around double that, with a lot more functionality and in a more familiar chassis. On the other end, the pocket sized MHA50 at a modest £995 is something that is tailored to be used on the fly.

Dialling into the MHA200, when taking it out of the box, immediately you notice its size, and it feels small. Seeing it online versus in person you realise how compact this unit actually is. Despite its innocent size it still feels like a serious piece of equipment. After taking off the protective foam for the valves you can choose whether to keep the protective casing attached or leave them to sit openly. A decision that should consider the potential of hot components within reach of children and pets, as well as the prying fingers of guests…

At the rear you will find inputs for both unbalanced RCA as well as balanced XLR connectors. The latter being particularly convenient if wanting to move the headphone amp closer to your seating position. Giving less concern about audio degradation with the option of running a long balanced cable from your source.

The headphone connectivity will be plenty for most headphone with 3 options: 1⁄4 '' stereo, balanced XLR (Left & Right), as well as 4-pin XLR for balanced stereo. The MHA200 only has two control dials, volume and impedance selector (32, 100, 250 or 600 ohms)

From the first look, this McIntosh looks and feels impressive. The build quality and design is neat, with a fairly simplistic approach, it is effective in making you appreciate the finish when taking a look at it in person.

So how does it sound and feel?

For this review, I mainly used the trusty Sennheiser HD800S alongside other more expensive and inexpensive headphones such as Meze 109 Pro’s alongside a selection of sources. From a Rega Planar 8 to a number of digital sources such as Naim’s ND5 XS2, Uniti Atom as well as the Bluesound Node, giving some variety in DAC quality.

When turning on the unit, you need to wait 5 to 10 seconds for the valves to heat up and once you get the constant warm green glow, it's ready to go. Selecting the impedance to one that closely matches that of headphones gives the best results. The volume control is non linear and feels a little counter intuitive. Whereby there is almost no volume until you get close to halfway point, from which then it becomes much more sensitive so takes a fraction longer to dial into the volume you want.

This little annoyance is quickly overshadowed by the sound quality. Having listened to a wide range of genres from classical, with acoustic recordings all the way to synthesised electronic music.

The sound quality of the MHA200 gives the headphones a layer of what could be described as ‘colourful depth’. The sonic qualities enhance the listening experience as you’d expect from valve amplification, however it does do it in a discreet way, whereby it still sounds natural but giving it that smooth edge. However the bigger draw is how the recordings dynamically become full of emotion, giving a greater sense of depth. You can really feel the recording environments, picking up tiny details of the reverb tails as sound travels around the recording studio. This puts the listener very close to the performer and is extremely impactful when listening to delicate solo recordings or intimate vocal performances.

Audio Examples:
Agnes Obel - The Curse
Sevdaliza - Human
Daigo Hanada - Dear
FINNEAS - I lost a Friend
Billie Eilish - Hostage
Kiasmos - Looped
Bonobo - Second Sun
Noisia, The Upbeats - Shibuya Pet Store

One of the biggest things that can be felt is the level of spatialisation added to all the headphones that were tested. It creates a wide soundstage, which is coupled with a very detailed sound. It’s not as dynamically sharp as a Solid-State, however valve amplification can be driven harder before it’s prone to distortion and this can be felt, with a lot of headroom left to drive even at higher volumes.

This additional headroom or the abundance of power means each instrument/frequency band feels like it has a lot more space to breathe in the mix and each component has its own space, even when cranked up for a very immersive experience.

All in all, it is a very good product that sounds great. It doesn’t drive the frequencies over the top, pushing the mids pleasantly and drives the lows quite naturally. It works great with vocals, piano and guitars that have complex mid-range that is hard to recreate subtly. The highs seem to be rolled back a bit and the very tingly top end is slightly diminished, which won’t be for everyone's taste, depending on the type of music.

Final words

The MHA200 is not very discrete, this isn’t a product that is meant to be tucked away in a rack, hidden away amongst other gear (not just by preference but also by design). The rather aggressive and raw feeling of a valve based product, along with the stainless steel chassis and a statement look of a McIntosh product is definitely an eye catcher but more so an ear catcher. A very musical and engaging depth that leaves you wanting to listen to more high quality music.

With competition from Feliks Audio and Cayin Audio amongst others, we believe the McIntosh holds its own and more. So is it worth it? Bring your favourite headphones and form your own opinion. MHA200 is available to demo at Audio T Swindon alongside other McIntosh products.

Thanks for reading.
Dan & Andy

For any enquiries call 01793 538222 or email swindon@audio-t.co.uk

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