McIntosh never does things by halves, but even by its standards, the MX124 is quite an AV receiver. Its 13.4-channel arrangement means it can connect to four subwoofers at once. This thing is not meant for your spare room.
Rather it's aimed at "today's most advanced home cinema systems", whether that's a pro-level viewing room setup or whole home entertainment system.
Support for 8K video comes as standard, and it's compatible with room correction software to optimise the sound to your environment.
Inside is updated processing architecture, promising advanced audio and video processing.
Its 13 audio channels support speaker configurations up to 7.4.6 or 9.4.4. And its four subwoofer outputs is twice as many as its predecessor, to support more sophisticated system layouts and more precise bass management.
McIntosh is positioning the MX124 as a way to extend the lifespan of your home cinema setup. That's thanks to its support for immersive audio formats like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X Pro, Sony 360 Reality Audio and MPEG-H Audio, as well as its versatility in outputs and next-gen processing architecture.
With nine 32-bit digital-to-analogue converters, it promises "exceptional detail, dynamic range, and sonic accuracy", and it has bass and treble controls for tweaking the sound to your liking.
Room optimisation smarts comes courtesy of not only Dirac Live, but Dirac Live Bass Control and Audyssey MultEQ XT32. So it should sound its best in pretty much any room, with optimised bass performance, imaging, tonal balance, speaker integration and overall clarity, and all while preserving McIntosh's signature musicality.
On the video front, you get seven HDMI inputs and three HDMI outputs, one of which has eARC. They all support 4K/120Hz (and 8K/60Hz) as well as Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HLG and IMAX Enhanced. Gamers will enjoy the addition of ALLM and VRR.
Streaming? You got it. As well as Apple AirPlay and Bluetooth, it supports Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, and Roon Ready, with support for high-resolution streaming up to 32-bit/192kHz.
You also get four digital audio inputs, one balanced and eight unbalanced analogue stereo inputs, component and composite video inputs, dual analogue stereo outputs for two additional listening zones, and support for Bluetooth headphones.
And if you're looking to install it professionally with custom integration, you'll welcome the web-based configuration, pre-configuration and file upload capabilities, back-up and restore support, RS232 and IP control, and certification for Control4 Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP) integration.
The McIntosh MX124 is out now, and costs £16,900 (around $23,000 / AU$32,000).
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