Long time audiophile specialists McIntosh Labs have added a third Super Audio CD player to their line up with the release of the MCD 301. The new high end disc player is a 2 Channel unit that plays Stereo Super Audio CD discs and Stereo CD discs as well as CD-R and CD-RW discs that have MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) music files. It will sell for a list price of $4,500 in the U.S. market.

The MCD 301 joins a McIntosh line up that already includes the MCD 201 Stereo SACD & CD Player (list price – $3,500) and the MVP 871, a “Universal Player” that supports Stereo and Multichannel Audio playback of CD, Super Audio CD, DVD Video and DVD Audio discs (list price – $5,300).

Raising The Bar for High Resolution Stereo Music
McIntosh Labs officials say that the new MCD 301 Super Audio CD and CD Player

“delivers breathtaking fidelity from both standard compact discs and SACD’s, “raising the bar” for both technical and sonic performance. Topping the list of features is a new, super-quiet SACD/CD drive mechanism that is completely enclosed in a die-cast, wrap-around chassis for resonance free operation. A die-cast aluminum disc tray lends a special touch of quality that you will appreciate every time you load a disc. The MCD 301 is an SACD player that truly meets the demands of the most discriminating audiophiles.”

The MCD 301 features “true dual mode” multi-bit DSD and 24 bit PCM digital to analog converters (DACs) with wide dynamic range and low distortion, twin laser optical pickups for SACD and CD playback and 2X speed read on CD-R and CD-RW discs. The player also offers a host of output options including fixed balance and unbalanced audio outputs, variable balanced and unbalanced audio outputs, a headphone output, optical and coaxial digital outputs.

The company also notes that the MCD 301 can be used in 3 modes: as a two channel SACD and CD player (with the fixed balanced or unbalanced outputs), in a “disc-only” configuration that directly drives a power amp (using the variable balanced and unbalanced outputs) or to drive your headphones directly in a standalone system (the front panel mute switch mutes the real panel outputs when the headphone only mode is selected.)

Availability
The McIntosh MCD 301 SACD & CD disc player is now available from McIntosh Audio dealers. The MCD 301 carries a list price of $4,500.