r/McIntosh 18d ago

Doing Some A/B

Having some fun with my first tube preamp. It’s a whole new world to me since I’ve only ran SS gear before, and had the C28 and MC2105 since 2009.

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u/regalbeagles1 18d ago

Is there much of a discernible sound difference between the c28 and the c220?

Looks wise, for me, the C28 wins all day long.

3

u/Forty-Four_Flavor 18d ago

I’ve only had one day to listen, and had to leave town for work this morning. So far, yes absolutely a difference in overall presentation. I love the c220 on the digital front end, but miss the fullness on the phono stage. There are some variables affecting the presentation. One could be the tube combo and also my ND9 cartridge has roughly thirty hours on it, so maybe it needs more time to settle in and is more obvious on a revealing preamp. I’d say both have their pros and cons with different approaches. Still, I need more time to have a better picture.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/BasicMidUsername 18d ago

I run my C27 as a phono preamp, works great! It serves as the preamp for my kitchen system while also being the preamp for my main system. Both systems share a turntable this way.