I happen to have a few McIntosh compents in my system. My MCT450, is my current SACD solution, and it uses (by necessity) my C47 DAC via a special DIN cable. My SACDs are playing back horribly. I listened to three different SACDs this morning and averaged 5 or 6 random pauses during playback. They asked if I was using a fancy power conditioner, to which the anser is yes. I’m using P12 and a P3. They want me to plug the McIntosh gear into something else as a possible solution. Does their argument hold water? Here are their words:
"If the MCT450 and C47 see a different potential to ground, dropouts can occur, try putting the 2 into a simple power strip and plugging that into one outlet.
Many power conditioners and advanced surge suppressors have enough circuitry between outlets that there can be a different potential to ground between outlets."
Thoughts? I was thinking about trying my dectet in place of a power regenerator in an effort to work with these good people.
So, did you do as suggested and was the problem resolved? Did sharing a power strip plugged into the P12 and/or P3 sort things out?
I am not familiar enough with the electrical properties of the equipment involved (Mac or PS audio) but, in a vacuum, the McIntosh folks observation seems plausible.
In any event, good luck resolving the matter and please share the solution with the group.
It sounds like a simple enough test assuming this issue is occurring quite regularly. If not successful you can report back to McIntosh and they may be able to assist further.
EDIT: To me this sounds like a bit of a reach for the cause. I’ve been an electrical engineer for 35 years and this would suggest a fairly weak/susceptible design if that’s the cause.
EDIT2: Has this issue just started after adding PS Audio regenerators? Have you added any other electrically noisy devices to outlets on the regenerator or in your listening room outlets?
My MX150 only plays streamed movies or blu-ray dvds plugged into high current taps of the P20 or the wall. Lucky for me I have a P20 not a P3.
Need more current for MC DACs is my guess. I figured it out after support told me how. To reset the unit by pulling power cord. It worked briefly. So i moved power to the high current. No issues since.
I use DSD from my DS DAC for music and it would go inop as soon as I switched to Mc DAC.
Can you disconnect the proprietary DIN cable and temporarily connect the two components via XLR or optical? Yes I know this won’t stream pure DSD but it is a good a test.
Try connecting a laptop via usb and streaming a DSD file directly to the C47 - this will tell you if it is processing the DSD stream properly.
Previous poster raises a good point. If you have either McIntosh component plugged in to the P3 look for indicators on that regenerator that may show overload (too much current draw). Is it an SP3 (stellar power plant 3)? I tried plugging my OLED TV into my SP3 and it didn’t take long to realize it was not up to the task under certain image conditions (can’t remember if more white or more black).
Watchad which equipment is plugged into your P12?
I’m just wondering if all your gear could be plugged into
your P12…removing the P3 to find out if this could be
a simple solution.
There was a forum member that had 2 Emotiva XPA 1
running class A 60 watts plus all other equipment as well…
Seems like a lot for a P12 but his was handling it all
just fine…
Here is the link to his post…it might help you see
that the P12 might well be up to the task…to go
ahead and give this a try…
I would argue that a slightly better experience was had when I changed my C47 and MCT450 to HC on the P12 where they have both been connected for some time now. I will be putting more effort into these tests very soon, because I still haven’t tried what McIntosh has requested, but it’s finals time for this music student.
Quickly, the experience of Dark Side of the Moon seemed to yeild fewer stops, but it STILL was not perfect (maybe 2 stops or pauses during playback). I might have just been tired, but didn’t think it sounded as good to me last night when I tried HC instead of regen. I have other fun things to try, including using my newer PSA SP3 and a Dectet. I also have a run of the mill power strip that would be more precisely what McIntosh support asked for from me. No dedicated line yet, but have been thinking of that very seriously which might help.
Finals and end of semester projects are having their way with me, but I will be making some for time on Sunday for my PSA DSD mods with my good buddy to break-up the stress. I will know by late next week if any of these possibilities worked to solve the obvious problem with the SACD playback. It’s funny that it has never happened (afai recall) with an old, trusty CD. Anyway, I must digress…
Took a break to explore a bit. Plugged in the new dectet (which was really for a different project) and pulled the new P3 out for a short while. I plugged both the MCT450 and the C47 into the dectet for HC.
Didn’t get a skip until the 4th song, which is a substantial improvement but still…I wouldn’t call it a cigar celebration either. I mean it’s a nice component and a perfectly readable SACD.
Begs this question a bit: How do people decide on regen versus HC? I have aways thought that preamps and amps would benefit the most sonically from regen. Clearly either my MCT450 and/or the DAC in C47 needs HC. What about the several LPSs I’m using? Subs? Is there a proven rule of thumb?
It’s only SACD playback. One of the things that has had me scratching my head, is that I can’t say for sure if it’s the preamp or the transport. I considered getting McIntosh’s newer DAC to solve my problem. Why?
Well, I frequently A/B it with my PSA DSD using Roon/Qobuz, or use the optical out from the MCT450, and I can say it sounds good. McIntosh alone plays louder, so I measure and adjust the decibel differences, turning the Mc down to avoid the old “it sounds better” because it’s louder scenario.
This morning I took an additional backwards step to appease the McIntosh SACD gods. I went to a old power strip that I know nothing about. Still had a skip by song 2, and maybe 3 or 4 on the entire album. It’s hard to focus on SQ when the biggest, boldest problem is a skip in playback.
The solution has been previously planned. PST to my soon to be modified DSD. This is expected to be a win on multiple fronts, perhaps the biggest for me being proper playback.
Perhaps over looked…are your discs even in the minutest manner
marred or scratched …My old favorite AH! 4000 cdp now tends
to skip on even seemingly " pristine " surfaced discs…
I only asked because the initial post was arguably “throwing shade” in that regard. Would be good to know if there is an electrical incompatibility among the Mac kit and the regenerators of some sort.
Thanks davida, scotte1, and everybody for your feedback. Yep, I’ve done everything asked of me at this point by McIntosh, and taken small steps back to the stoneage (i.e. removing regen, and even completely removed PSA (dectet was used between regen and power strip) from the equation).
It’s happening on too many discs, and disc makers to be the disc. My primary sources are vinyl and Roon, so this problem isn’t huge, but it still sucks at this price point.