McCORMACK - brains and good manners

[Dpod4]

Awhile back I bought a McMCORMACK micro line drive and micro headphone unit. Sent to Steve McCormack and his trusted side kick Patrick for mods. Talk about going above and beyond. They treated this like they were building a unit for their best friend. Check out the cool carbon fiber lid they put on the amp. They are now upgrading the headphone amp. Little jewels in audio that they take to insane levels of performance. Headphone amp (modified) is supposed to compete with the best out there. Will report back upon receipt. Shootout between McCormack, ALO Studio 6, Beyer A-1, Pathos Aurium, and Sugden Headmaster. One of them will be sold!

 

[Mike]

Darrin - that looks cool!

 

[Dpod4]

Here are some photos of the micro headphone unit and upgraded power supply. They also made it a preamp with pre-out capabilities, two headphone jacks with different flavor upgraded wiring on each. Very bespoke.

 

[SteveMcC]

Hi Guys!

My thanks to Dpod4 for starting this thread. We enjoyed working with you on your upgrade project and look forward to hearing the results of the headphone amp shootout. It looks like you've got the "care and feeding" worked out well, with good AC power delivery, cabling, etc., all of which is important for getting the best results. Please keep in mind that the equipment will need a fair bit of break-in to sounds its best, so try to give it a lot of use for several days before doing your critical listening. If you are fundamentally happy with the sound of the Micro Headphone Drive, there is more that can be done to improve it even further should you wish to do so. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks again!

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

 

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Steve, thank you so much for joining.

 

[Mike]

Hi Steve - welcome to AS!

 

[SteveMcC]

Thanks for the kind welcome. If you have any questions about McCormack gear or the upgrade services I will do my best to answer.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

 

[Bongo]

Just a compliment here - I have a MAP1 and HT3 which have been a pleasure to use and listen to over the years. They run into Magnepan speakers in our living room HT. wonderful sounding and very dependable at 12 years old.

 

[SteveMcC]

Thanks Craig - much appreciated. There's a lot to be said for reliability and it's nice to hear that your McCormack gear continues to deliver great sound.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

 

[CDLehner]

Wow, welcome Steve! An honor. I had a DNA-225 for a spell...and the thing was just a beast! Never seemed to be taxed.

Enjoy the tank

 

[Dpod4]

Hi Guys!

My thanks to Dpod4 for starting this thread. We enjoyed working with you on your upgrade project and look forward to hearing the results of the headphone amp shootout. It looks like you've got the "care and feeding" worked out well, with good AC power delivery, cabling, etc., all of which is important for getting the best results. Please keep in mind that the equipment will need a fair bit of break-in to sounds its best, so try to give it a lot of use for several days before doing your critical listening. If you are fundamentally happy with the sound of the Micro Headphone Drive, there is more that can be done to improve it even further should you wish to do so. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks again!

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

Thanks, Steve. I will follow that advice. Units are in and being held at FedEx for me. Will pick them up today. I also appreciate the very thorough email you sent with lots of good information and pointers.

Now we need to get someone on the forum to buy your flagship preamp - I had heard from some folks at audio shows that it was the best they had every heard at any price. Great to see solid engineering and exceptional parts / build quality get the praise it deserves.

 

[SteveMcC]

Thanks Chris. You may be interested to know that I have built several sets of maxed-out DNA-225 monoblocks for clients both here and abroad. Really great amps that will drive anything and deliver over 1000W each into 8ohms (if your wall outlet can deliver enough juice!). Those were some fun projects!

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

 

[SteveMcC]

Thanks, Steve. I will follow that advice. Units are in and being held at FedEx for me. Will pick them up today. I also appreciate the very thorough email you sent with lots of good information and pointers.

Now we need to get someone on the forum to buy your flagship preamp - I had heard from some folks at audio shows that it was the best they had every heard at any price. Great to see solid engineering and exceptional parts / build quality get the praise it deserves.

Thanks Dpod4!

Enjoy your upgraded gear and let us know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

 

[joeinid]

Thanks, Steve. I will follow that advice. Units are in and being held at FedEx for me. Will pick them up today. I also appreciate the very thorough email you sent with lots of good information and pointers.

Now we need to get someone on the forum to buy your flagship preamp - I had heard from some folks at audio shows that it was the best they had every heard at any price. Great to see solid engineering and exceptional parts / build quality get the praise it deserves.

Darrin/Steve,

I can not tell you how many times I wanted to pull the trigger on Steve's preamp. Either he was transitioning to another distributor or cash was tight. I hear it is one of the absolute best preamps EVER!

http://smcaudio.com/products/vre-1c/

Oh boy, here I go again

Steve's Flex Connect has been great in my system.

Thanks Dpod4!

Enjoy your upgraded gear and let us know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

Thank you for being here Steve.

 

[SteveMcC]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your kind words, and I'm pleased to hear the Flex-Connect is working well for you. Of course, if you had the VRE-1C preamp you wouldn't need the Flex-Connect ;-) I'll be happy to go over any questions you may have whenever you'd like to chat - just give me a call at 760-732-0352.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

 

[joeinid]

Steve,

Thank you so much. I'll be in touch. I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[BobM]

I had a Rev B DNA.5 for years but upgraded to a DNA500 when I bought my Apogees (hungry beasties). Absolutely loving this combo Steve with some tubes in front. Thanks for making a great product.

BTW - I don't think I've seen a DNA500 up for sale on Audiogon for several years now. They are keepers, for sure.

 

[Zero]

Steve,

Your company makes some excellent gear! It's a pleasure to see you here at the Shark.

 

[MDP]

Steve, welcome to AS! We're very happy that you found us.

 

[CDLehner]

Thanks Chris. You may be interested to know that I have built several sets of maxed-out DNA-225 monoblocks for clients both here and abroad. Really great amps that will drive anything and deliver over 1000W each into 8ohms (if your wall outlet can deliver enough juice!). Those were some fun projects!

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

View attachment 12440

WoW-za!

When I had my 225, I looked up the press. Here is a quip from Stereophile:

With a low-duty-cycle 1kHz toneburst, which generates results that more closely resemble what happens when the amplifier is amplifying music, the DNA-225 was revealed as a powerhouse. ...No less than 303W were raised into 8 ohms, with 575W available into 4 ohms, 1018W into 2 ohms, and 1532W into 1 ohm.

And we all know JA, isn't really into hyperbole The amp had serious cojones...and I can only imagine, what a 250, or 500; or Hot-Rodded 225 must be able to do!