McIntosh MVP-881 Universal Player

McIntosh, the legendary purveyor of stratospherically priced, high-end audio and video devices, is celebrating its 60th anniversary with four new devices that are going to make purebred mediaphiles drool into their double-tall, low-fat vanilla lattes. The most interesting of these new components is McIntosh’s first Blu-ray player. As with all of the company’s products, the McIntosh MVP881 Universal A/V player is just the thing for the man who likes to hear every pin drop, see every bead of sweat and cringe at every boom in his movies. And whose bank account is, um, healthy.  Look, McIntosh stuff is not for the weak of wallet. The company specializes in top-end components for the guy who doesn’t mind building his media room around his system, rather than buying a system for his media room. The McIntosh MVP881 plays right into this field with a gaggle of features that make this the player to own.

OK, it’s a Blu-ray player -- big deal. Except that it’s a Blu-ray player that will also play music CDs, SACDs, DVD-A discs, and, of course, straight-up DVDs. And to make your new Yo-Yo Ma SACD shine, the unit has four 32-bit stereo digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) for the 7.1 surround and a fifth for a separate stereo mix. The result is sound that will bring tears to your eyes. On the video side, the unit uses the Silicon Optix HQV Realta video chipset with 14-bit DACs. This is the chip set that brought extreme-quality video into the realm of possibility for private citizens.

The McIntosh MVP881 boasts all-metal construction, resonance-inhibiting design and a quiet-running R-core power supply. The on-board SD card reader, RS-232 port and Ethernet connectivity open up your networking and media options, including BD Live access and firmware updates. The looks are an acquired taste.  We know: Is the McIntosh MVP881 BR worth eight grand? Well, unless you’re building a home cinema with a mega-size screen, the answer just might be “no,” especially seeing as Denon’s DVD-A1UDCI gives you almost the same feature set (and an identical video processor) for just over half the price. That being said, you can’t beat McIntosh’s rock-solid construction or the fact that this component will likely work until civilization falls. Also, if you are planning a small home cinema (let’s call it eight seats) with a big screen and inhumanly good speakers, then an $8,000 component is going to be a drop in the bucket.
Original List Price was $8,000.  I have original double boxes as well as two unused remotes for this unit.