McIntosh DS200 STREAMING DAC

The McIntosh DS200 is a streaming DAC: a network source and digital-to-analogue converter that feeds an existing amplifier, with no amplification of its own.

McIntosh is the American manufacturer with the blue output meters and the black glass fascias, and the DS200 is designed to sit in a rack of that equipment and match it. Where most streamers are anonymous black boxes, this one is meant to be seen alongside the amplifiers.

What Apple Home actually does with it

This is an AirPlay 2 device rather than a HomeKit accessory.

• It appears in the Home app as a speaker you can play to, and as an AirPlay target in Control Centre.
• You can put it in a room and group it with HomePods for synchronised multi-room audio.
• Siri can send music to it by room name.
• It can be the audio output in a scene or an automation.

Power, input selection and volume stay with the unit, its remote and its own app. The Home app does not control those.

Before you buy

McIntosh equipment is bought as a system as often as a component, and the DS200 is designed with that in mind, including the connections and control links that tie a McIntosh rack together.

If you want the streaming and the amplification in one box, the MSA5500 does both.

Specifications