New C47, Love it so far, but some issues...help tweaking?

ericleehall

Active Member
I just got a new McIntosh C47 to pair with my Mc7300, into Wilson WATT/Puppy 5.1 ....

It replaced a fully restored MX110z (Tube) Pre, which was just not a great pairing with the Mc7300.

The first thing I played was thru Tidal, Steely Dan's Gaucho...

Now I'm a huge SD fan, and have multiple copies of all their albums in different formats, including Master Tape backup copies.... and I'm primarily a Vinyl/R2R tape aficionado.

The Tidal stream sounded so damn good I (and my friends who were here for the unboxing) were taken aback. all conversation ceased. everyone sat down, mouths agape. Truly one of those special, rare audio nerd moments. FYI, this was a "Master" software rendered MQA stream.

Since that sounded so good, I surmised, then my new Led Zeppelin digital files, 96KHz/24 bit, from their recent reissues, MUST sound even better.... so I cued up Housed of the Holy, thru VLC on my laptop. (Also there is a Jitterbug in the USB line)

I had my USB Driver settings on the PC to play files 384KHz/32bit as the "Shared Mode" Default, which worked fine for Tidal, with the C47 showing 384KHz/32bit as the source (Is it upsampling?) ...

At first, with VLC, no sound. I had to set the Shared mode driver setting back to 96KHz/24bit (which matches the source file)

It sounded terrible. Tinny. Royally F*cked up. Everyone thought I had accidentally messed with the controls. So we put on the R2R Tape, the LP & the Tidal Master version. Just fine....

What's going on here?
 
Also my firmware is 1.03, and I can't figure out how to update it.

You wont, it something the dealer has to do, its too easy to brick the pre-amp. Unless you are familiar with digital audio products and are regularly updating firmware and are aware of the procedures and problems which can arise, then its best left to someone that does. No offence intended.
Your version of windows has to be correct, and McIntosh only share the update files for firmware and USB audio with dealers.

Why do you think it needs updating?


I just got a new McIntosh C47 to pair with my Mc7300, into Wilson WATT/Puppy 5.1 ....

It replaced a fully restored MX110z (Tube) Pre, which was just not a great pairing with the Mc7300.

The first thing I played was thru Tidal, Steely Dan's Gaucho...

Now I'm a huge SD fan, and have multiple copies of all their albums in different formats, including Master Tape backup copies.... and I'm primarily a Vinyl/R2R tape aficionado.

The Tidal stream sounded so damn good I (and my friends who were here for the unboxing) were taken aback. all conversation ceased. everyone sat down, mouths agape. Truly one of those special, rare audio nerd moments. FYI, this was a "Master" software rendered MQA stream.

Since that sounded so good, I surmised, then my new Led Zeppelin digital files, 96KHz/24 bit, from their recent reissues, MUST sound even better.... so I cued up Housed of the Holy, thru VLC on my laptop. (Also there is a Jitterbug in the USB line)

I had my USB Driver settings on the PC to play files 384KHz/32bit as the "Shared Mode" Default, which worked fine for Tidal, with the C47 showing 384KHz/32bit as the source (Is it upsampling?) ...

At first, with VLC, no sound. I had to set the Shared mode driver setting back to 96KHz/24bit (which matches the source file)

It sounded terrible. Tinny. Royally F*cked up. Everyone thought I had accidentally messed with the controls. So we put on the R2R Tape, the LP & the Tidal Master version. Just fine....

What's going on here?

You need to set your computer up properly. What do you have PC or Mac?
Did you try another Media player other than a freeware player such as VLC?
There wont be anything wrong with the Preamp, its all to do with the way your computer is set up.
My media player plays the file at its original rate, and my C48 responds accordingly. I am on OSX. I can set it to play everything at 192/32, but theres no point in doing that as you are not actually gaining anything.
 
I have a PC , with Windows 10, connected via USB. And I've downloaded the McIntosh App, but it really doesn't seem to do anything, as far as I can tell.

I did manage to get Tidal in Exclusive mode so it reports the correct data on the C47 USB (96khz for Masters) ... so that's a help.

I'm thinking putting VLC in the same mode might be helpful.
 
re: I'm thinking putting VLC in the same mode might be helpful

That seemed to do the trick, by choosing the McIntosh HD as the "speaker", instead of system default, the issues with VLC has been solved, and the C47 is reporting the differing sample rates correctly (I sure wish it showed the bit depth too)....
 
McIntosh app? You mean that media player thing they have?
I don't use it either, setting up a PC is a bit different from a Mac, but sounds like you have it sorted.

My C48 displays the sample frequency and bit depth, I wonder if they have abbreviated the display, seems odd.
Mine says 192/32, 44.1/16 etc etc...does it not display like that?

Might I suggest J River as a media player, I took the plunge and got J-River, it is very very good, I think you can download a demo to see if you like it.
I like the file organisation and the way you can set up the playback parameters etc..

It is built on a PC format although they do make an OSX version too which is what I use.
 
Yes, that odd McIntosh app, it does not play anything just supposed to show the bit depth & sample frequency..

I did download JRiver, but it crashed in the middle of importing, and I noticed there is no easy way for me to add Tidal.. so I left it.

No my new C47 does not show bit depth, and I'm unable to see any way to "add" it.... (FYI, 1.03 Firmware)....

I downloaded a 24bit 352.8kHz version of Alan Parson's IRobot, and VLC wont play it at all!

It will however play in JRiver, once I set it to NOT downsample.
 
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Oh okay that app seems a bit weird, I do not have that, why don't they just have the sample/bit rate displayed on the pre-amp I wonder?

I'd persevere with JRiver, it is really good and will play anything.
 
The C47 will show the data rate that is streamed INTO the USB input. Not sure why you would have your computer's music program change the data rate to 32 bit at 384 KHz???
The original file data rate is best. Putting the file in a bigger digital box will not increase the information in any way. That is the hoax of 'Hi-Rez ', bigger numbers do no improve the master tape.

Thanks,
Ron-C
 
The C47 will show the data rate that is streamed INTO the USB input. Not sure why you would have your computer's music program change the data rate to 32 bit at 384 KHz???
The original file data rate is best. Putting the file in a bigger digital box will not increase the information in any way. That is the hoax of 'Hi-Rez ', bigger numbers do no improve the master tape.

Thanks,
Ron-C
Ron, you mean to tell me that if I took a photograph of the Mona Lisa, it won't put the original to shame?
 
The C47 will show the data rate that is streamed INTO the USB input. Not sure why you would have your computer's music program change the data rate to 32 bit at 384 KHz???
The original file data rate is best. Putting the file in a bigger digital box will not increase the information in any way. That is the hoax of 'Hi-Rez ', bigger numbers do no improve the master tape.

Thanks,
Ron-C

You don't upsample to make up missing information in low res, sheesh. You upsample because your software subjectively has a better sounding oversampling filter and you want to use it and bypass the oversampling filtering in the DAC.
 
Messing around with digital sources with the C47...something I haven't played with in years due to my foundness of physical containers, etc. Anyway, I'm doing shit with Vox and an old macbook pro. So far so good, really, but I'm always seeing 48kHz on the face of the C47, even after upgrading to premium trials on Apple Music, Soundcloud, and Vox. There is so much I don't know about the C47 and this old macbook. Learning from above, I will see what setting I'm overlooking on the OS.
 
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Messing around with digital sources with the C47...something I haven't played with in years due to my foundness of physical containers, etc. Anyway, I'm doing shit with Vox and an old macbook pro. So far so good, really, but I'm always seeing 48kHz on the face of the C47, even after upgrading to premium trials on Apple Music, Soundcloud, and Vox. There is so much I don't know about the C47 and this old macbook. Learning from above, I will see what setting I'm overlooking on the OS.
Applications > Utilities > Audio/Midi Setup> Then select the sound device you want to change the rate at which you are sampling to it, then select and enjoy....its that simple.
 
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