Greetings Srajan,
I guess you probably get many e-mails like mine so I expect that you may don't read it/never answer but I try anyway because I'm quite puzzled about a purchase and I think you could be the person I need for helping me through this. First I'd like to thank you for your wonderful job at 6moons, with your numerous very precise and well written reviews, which are very useful. Please excuse me for my probably bad English, it isn't my formal language (I'm from France). Well, I own a pair of Coda CX monoblocks, which you had for test with the rest of the Coda European line of amps and preamps several years ago.
I deeply read your review and I think I came to the same conclusion than you: theses amps probably shine in only the right conditions. I've owned them for several years and well, never been totally satisfied. They lack some warmth and liquidity to my taste and I find them to be a bit too much on the neutral side, which brings my Rosso Fiorentino Siena speakers to a bit of harshness with big rock guitars for example. Looks like they need an extremely big amount of power to give their best but my room isn't very big (20m²) so I guess it never happens, even with my quite low-sensitivity speakers. They're not bad but I'm now looking for something with more tube-like sound, something more seductive, even if I'd prefer to stay with solid state amps because I often leave them on all the day. My preamp is a Pass Labs X0.2.
I have the opportunity to get a used pair of McIntosh Mc501. You never reviewed them but I guess that, with your huge experience over the hifi world, you probably know them, or know some other McIntosh amps that are close to them in terms of sound. I always heard that the 501s had this tube-like liquidity and very fatigue-free sound. I'm highly interested in getting them but I won't have the opportunity to compare them side by side with the my Codas CX. Could you please tell me what you think about this change of amps? Am I going to the right way? Hope you'll have enough time to give me an answer, but I'll understand if not. Anyway, best regards and thank you for your very useful work,
Sylvain Dolisi from France
You're right, I never heard McIntosh for myself, i.e. in my system. With their background in valve audio and the use of autoformers for their solid-state outputs, my natural inclination would be to believe that yes, they'd fall into the exact sonic class you're looking for. But that's just an assumption. I'm curious why you've not considered Pass Labs. You already got their preamp. Of course the McIntosh are used so at a good price. If you found one of the Nelson Pass XA.8 models, you'd surely get the sonics you're after. Owning their smallest stereo amp, the XA-30.8, I can say that from personal experience, not just a gut feeling. Being class A, they do get warm. It's perfectly safe to leave them on all day but it does throw away heat and impacts the utility bill. Back to the 501s, I'm in the same position as you are. I've heard the same things about them as you have to entertain the same notion about their compatibility with your desires; but also no personal experience to be 100% certain. Sorry for that.
Srajan
