Positive Feedback reviews the "superbly mellifluous" MHA200 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amplifier
"A contender for the best tube headphone amp manufactured to date."
The McIntosh MHA200 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amplifier is meant for current and aspiring headphone enthusiasts who demand the best from and for their cans. Headphone aficionado Robert H. Levi reviewed the MHA200 for Positive-Feedback.com.
A true headphone enthusiast, Levi already had seven headphone amps on hand, and noted "the McIntosh exceeded the best of the best" in all ways. "It has one peer that is equally detailed and realistic, with a touch more textural definition," but it costs over twice as much as MHA200 – and does not have a balanced headphone output like the MHA200 does. To go along with all those headphone amplifiers, Levi also had 16 pairs of headphones with which to test the MHA200, and "not one failed to be maximized by the elegantly compact McIntosh."
The Grado GS3000e headphones "were precisely driven with utter precision and accuracy," while their PS2000e cans were "stunningly detailed and alive." The MHA200 drove the slightly inefficient Audeze LCD24 headphones "exquisitely and accurately," and their LCD-X model "powerfully and sweetly… You have not actually heard these cans until powered by the MHA200." With the Ultrasone Edition 8, Levi said the MHA200 produced the "best bass I ever heard from these hard-to-drive cans. What an exceptional combination."
After thorough testing with a variety of high quality headphones, Levi came to the conclusion that the MHA200 is "a contender for the best tube headphone amp manufactured to date, and easily outperforms more complex and unnecessarily feature-encumbered designs loaded with unnecessary additional tubes… It has ZERO musical flaws to report and is nearly perfect in execution."
"I am flabbergasted and dumbfounded," Levi said in closing. "McIntosh has done it again." Highly Recommended.
Click here to read the full review.
(Excerpts taken from original review by Robert H. Levi / Positive Feedback / www.positive-feedback.com / May 6, 2021)
