McIntosh MB20 | Stream to a McIntosh of Any Era
McIntosh MB20 Bluetooth Transceiver
The MB20 Bluetooth Transceiver is an easy and simple solution to add McIntosh quality Bluetooth® streaming capabilities to virtually any McIntosh (or non McIntosh) home audio system of any era.
Stream to a McIntosh of Any Era
The MB20 can quickly turn a vintage McIntosh system that you've treasured for decades, or a family heirloom system that you've inherited, into a modern home music system capable of playing the digital music stored on your phone, in your cloud accounts, or from your preferred streaming services. It is a small (its footprint not much bigger than a smartphone), stand-alone, complete Bluetooth streaming solution.
Superior Bluetooth Connectivity
As a transmitter/receiver, the MB20 has been designed to provide a superior Bluetooth connection to audio equipment that lacks Bluetooth connectivity. As such, it has been engineered as a Class 1 Bluetooth device. Class 1 devices can typically operate at a range of up to 150 feet (45.7 meters)1 in ideal conditions with limited obstructions
Reception Range
As a Receiver, the MB20 employs an extremely sensitive receiver for better reception, even from Class 2 devices, with the maximum range determined by the capabilities of both actively paired devices. An external antenna helps maximize its range for better performance. As a Transmitter, it has a range 10x greater than that of a typical Class 2 Bluetooth device.
Inputs & Outputs
The compact MB20 comes with a variety of analog and digital inputs and outputs to connect it to your home audio system – most notably amongst them being balanced inputs and outputs, making it one of the only Bluetooth transmitter receivers to offer these superior audio connections that help deliver top-quality audio performance.
The MB20 uses Bluetooth 5.0 with support for both the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) standard as well as Qualcomm® aptX™ HD for hi res playback. It also features Qualcomm aptX Low Latency to deliver sound in sync with visual media. As a Receiver, the MB20 uses a 32-bit DAC with 192kHz internal processing; when used with a separate outboard DAC, the MB20's digital output is fixed at 96kHz to be compatible with most third-party DACs. When in Transmitter mode, it uses an equally capable high-performance Analog-to-Digital Convertor (ADC) with 110dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).
Use Cases
As a transceiver, the MB20 can function as either a Bluetooth Receiver or Transmitter (but not both at the same time). Simply set the switch on the back panel to the proper setting for the desired Receiver or Transmitter usage.
In Receiver mode, you can stream to the MB20 via Bluetooth from any compatible device; this audio can then be played through your McIntosh system regardless of when your amplifier or preamplifier was made.
In Receiver mode, you can stream to the MB20 via Bluetooth from any compatible device; this audio can then be played through your McIntosh system regardless of when your amplifier or preamplifier was made.
When in Transmitter mode, you can stream from the MB20 to any device capable of receiving Bluetooth streamed audio. In this setup, you could stream the music stored on physical media to your wireless Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
If you have more than one audio system within range of each other, a third option is to add an MB20 to each system and set one to Transmitter mode and the other(s) to Receiver mode. Then you could stream music stored on a physical medium, such as from a CD player or turntable, from one system to the other. Or if you have the need for a high-performance audio link from one part of your house to another, but running cables is not possible, then two MB20s wirelessly connected could create a full wireless encode/decode bridge.
Availability
The McIntosh MB20 is available for pre-order both in-store & online. We estimate unit to begin shipping in June.
