The MA12000 combines a McIntosh Tube Preamplifier along with a 350 watt solid state amplifier into one chassis. In addition the MA12000 has the new McIntosh DA2 Digital Audio Module which features multiple digital inputs along with an HDMI-ARC return channel.
The tube preamplification section has four 12AX7A vacuum tubes in it, 2 per channel, and the amplification section has McIntosh Autoformer's on the output allowing the MA12000 to output full power into 2, 4 or 8 ohm speakers.
The MA12000 has a total of ten analog inputs including an MM and MC Phono stage. For outputs, there are 1 balanced and one unbalanced for connection to a secondary amplifier.
The MA12000's DA2 digital output section has two optical inputs, two coaxial inputs, one USB, and one McIntosh MCT connector, which is for use with a McIntosh transport such as the MCT500. The DA2 has quad balanced 32 bit DAC chips and supports (via USB input) DSD512, and (via coax/optical) 24/192 PCM.