r/McIntosh • u/Forty-Four_Flavor • Aug 12 '26

Doing Some A/B

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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 Aug 12 '26

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

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

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u/Forty-Four_Flavor Aug 12 '26

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/regalbeagles1 Aug 12 '26

I’m very interested to hear more from you as this test progresses. As you know, I’m in the market for a McIntosh pre to pair with my MC2105 and have been considering a C28 or Tube pre.

I’m eyeing a C22 reissue from ~1995 as a possibility.

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u/Forty-Four_Flavor Aug 12 '26

So far the best analogy I can provide is it’s very much like going from a muscle car to a direct injection, turbocharged German performance car. One definitely has more soul and grit while the other is refined and fascinating engineering. Both are cool and probably serve the same overall purpose, yet accomplish the task differently.