Усилители для наушников — McIntosh MHA200 75th Anniversary Edition

The MHA200 75th Anniversary Edition is a short production series of the McIntosh MHA200 vacuum tube headphone amplifier, issued in 2024 to mark 75 years of the Binghamton, New York company. The first 75 units carry the hand signature of McIntosh President Charlie Randall, and the anniversary version was announced at USD 2,800. McIntosh now marks the regular MHA200 as retired, with stock limited.

Key specs that matter

A LOAD knob on the front picks one of four headphone impedance bands - 32 to 100, 100 to 250, 250 to 600 and 600 to 1,000 ohms - and output is rated at 500 mW. Harmonic distortion stays at 0.5% maximum between 250 mW and rated power across 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and falls below 0.20% at 1 W. Intermodulation is 0.04% typical and 0.4% at most. Response holds within +0 and -0.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, while noise sits 94 dB below the signal. Voltage gain climbs with the load setting, from 12 dB at 32 ohm through 17 dB at 100 ohm and 21 dB at 250 ohm to 25 dB at 600 ohm. Damping factor exceeds 150 and dynamic headroom is 1.5 dB. The unbalanced input needs 1.0 V RMS and the balanced input 2.0 V RMS, with input impedance of 10k and 20k ohms and maximum input of 8 V and 16 V respectively.

Engineering and use context

A pair of 12AT7 dual triodes amplifies the incoming signal, and a pair of 12BH7A dual triodes supplies the current that drives the headphones. The output passes through Unity Coupled Circuit output transformers, the technology McIntosh started with in 1949 and also fits to the MC275 and MC1502 power amplifiers. The chassis is custom stainless steel with a polished mirror finish, measures 156 mm wide, 232 mm deep and 146 mm tall, and weighs 4.8 kg. A protective cover for the tubes comes in the box. The US version draws 1.5 A at 120 V and uses under 0.5 W in standby, and Power Control inputs and outputs let it switch on together with other McIntosh components.

Pairing

Three headphone outputs are fitted - a pair of 3-pin balanced XLR sockets for dedicated left and right channels, a 4-pin balanced XLR for stereo, and a 6.35 mm stereo jack. On the input side one XLR connector plus one RCA pair take a preamplifier or DAC of either connection style.

Alternatives

The McIntosh MHA50 is a smartphone-sized solid-state headphone amplifier with a built-in DAC, battery power and Bluetooth input.