McIntosh New C2800 And C55 Tube and Solid-State Preamps

All Image Credit: McIntosh

McIntosh Labs has just released two new preamplifiers to celebrate its 75th anniversary, one tube based the C2800 and the C55 solid state model. Both preamplifiers offer almost exactly the same range of features and very similar specifications. They both offer exactly the same impeccable build quality inside and out, extreme attention to detail, that unmistakable iconic McIntosh styling – a black glass front panel adorned with blue VU meters, silver-ringed rotary knobs, illuminated logo, against that familiar black-glass faceplate and aluminum end caps.

The C2800 comes with four tubes; three 12 AX7A’s and one 12AT7, the tube design achieving extremely low distortion and noise levels almost matching those achieved by its solid-state C55 brother. The C2800 preamplifier supports electronic bass and treble controls in precise 1dB steps that is memorized for each input and can be bypassed if required. The C55 differs in this respect providing an eight-band analog equalizer that may also be bypassed as required.

The layout and connector complement of the C2800 and C55 rear panels are identical.

Both preamplifiers use the same DA2 Digital Audio Module that supports a Quad Balanced, 8-channel, 32-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), plus an array of analog 16 inputs. There are 3 balanced and 4 unbalanced analog inputs, plus 2 phono inputs that can be configured for either MC or MM phono cartridges and support adjustable loading. Both phono inputs feature adjustable gain in 6dB steps from 40dB to 64dB as well as RIAA equalization. Digital inputs include; an audio-only HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC), 2 coaxial, 2 optical, 1 USB, and 1 MCT. The coax and optical inputs decode digital music up to 24-bit/192kHz for high resolution audio playback, while the USB input supports DSD512 and DXD 384kHz. While the MCT input provides a proprietary digital connection when paired with the MCT series of SACD/CD Transports. The DA2 module is also upgradeable supporting new digital technologies as they become available.