music hall maven

Has anybody heard the Maven receiver? I was thinking of replacing my McIntosh integrated with something that has remote and video ins to streamline my two channel a/v system. Just wondering about sound/build quality, and what the upsampling feature is about.

Thanks.

I haven't heard the Maven, but I have listened to the Maverick cdp which uses the exact same B-B dac's and Crystal upsampler. The build quality is very, very good. I'd compare it to Musical Fidelity or PSA as far as fit and finish. I can't comment on sound quality because it was running through ARC amps, not MH. I can say the upsampling is really weird. We were listening through a couple of big Thiels and when switching between standard and upsampled via the remote, the difference was readily noticeable. Was it better? That's a matter of taste. The owner of the shop preferred it. I found that on some discs I liked it, on others it seemed to color the sound. The only way you'll really know is to take one home and compare it to your Mac's. Certainly there should be a dealer that will give you a loaner.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Topspeed - I definitely will only buy it if I can demo at home. My amp and speakers were home demos, and it made all of the difference - I'll look around!

Just curious, your moniker suggests you're a drummer as well, no?