The full stop and the footnote

I put a full stop after my verdict on the MA9500: one of the best integrated amplifiers ever made. Period. And I put a footnote right under it, because praise without a limit is just brand worship.

The verdict first. Bold, authoritative, a colossal soundstage, tremendous energy and jaw-dropping performance, and above all musical: hours of listening without fatigue. I auditioned systems costing far more and kept coming back asking why I would ever need anything else.

Now the footnote. With the Wilson Yvettes at around 95 dB, for the first time in years, I felt it working harder than it ever had. A McIntosh does not struggle, and it did not, but it was pushing its limits.

Specifications never told McIntosh's whole story, but here they explain what I heard: 300 W per channel in one chassis, against 600 W per channel from each MC611 monoblock. The Yvettes wanted that extra authority, and only the separates gave it to them. None of that takes a word away from the verdict.

Great is not the same as limitless. The MA9500 is the first, and it never pretended to be the second.