McIntosh Introduces the CS7500 Streaming Preamplifier
On August 26, 2026, McIntosh Laboratory introduced the CS7500 2-Channel Streaming Preamplifier — a single chassis that puts a full network streamer and a McIntosh preamplifier behind the same black glass, blue meters and gothic logo the company has been building at 2 Chambers Street in Binghamton, New York since 1951.
The point of the CS7500 is not that streaming is new to McIntosh. It is that the streamer and the preamplifier stop being two boxes, two power cords and one more interconnect in the signal path — and that the power amplifier stays your choice, today and whenever the system changes.
The digital half
Conversion is handled by a Quad Balanced 8-channel, 32-bit DAC. Over USB the CS7500 accepts PCM from 44.1kHz to 384kHz, DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256, and DXD at 352.8kHz and 384kHz. Coaxial and optical inputs run to 24-bit/192kHz, as does the network input. The MCT input connects a McIntosh transport directly for CD at 16-bit/44.1kHz and SACD as DSD64.
Streaming is built in rather than bolted on: Apple AirPlay, Bluetooth, Google Cast, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect and TIDAL Connect are all supported, and the CS7500 is both Roon Ready and Roon Tested. An HDMI ARC input brings the television into the same system, so the two-channel rig becomes the sound for what is on screen without a second set of electronics.
The analog half
Two balanced and three unbalanced high-level inputs cover the line-level sources. A dedicated phono input is configurable for moving coil or moving magnet, with gain selectable at 40, 46, 52, 58 or 64dB — a wide enough spread to sit correctly under a low-output moving coil cartridge or a moving magnet without an outboard stage. Signal-to-noise measures 100dB at high level, 80dB moving coil and 82dB moving magnet on phono, with THD of 0.005%.
Bass and treble controls are there when a recording needs them and can be bypassed entirely when it does not. Input levels can be matched within ±6dB so sources do not jump in volume as you switch between them. A 1/4″ headphone output carries McIntosh’s Headphone Crossfeed Director.
On the output side there are two pairs of balanced variable outputs, two unbalanced variable outputs and one unbalanced fixed output, plus subwoofer connectivity — enough to run biamplified, to feed a subwoofer, or to drive a second zone from the same preamplifier.
The chassis
The CS7500 pairs a polished stainless steel lower chassis with a hairline-brushed black titanium stainless steel upper chassis, custom-machined brushed end caps, precision rotary knobs, the black glass front panel and the illuminated logo. The blue meters are the familiar ones. It measures 17.5″ wide by 6″ high by 17″ deep, weighs 25 lbs, draws 30 watts, and carries McIntosh’s 3 Year Limited Warranty for home audio electronics.
Hear it at LMC
The CS7500 is on its way to both the Scottsdale and Tempe showrooms. Until it arrives, McIntosh is set up and playing in both rooms — the tube and solid-state preamplifiers, the integrated amplifiers and the full amplifier ladder — and that is the honest way to hear the house voicing the CS7500’s preamplifier section is built on. Walk in during business hours, or book ahead if you would like a specific comparison configured and the room warmed up against your own recordings.
LMC Home Entertainment has been an authorized McIntosh dealer since 1999 and was named McIntosh Dealer of the Year six consecutive years, 2011 through 2016. Contact us to be told the day the CS7500 lands, or to talk through where it fits against the separates path — a C49 or C2800 preamplifier with a dedicated streamer — for the system you already own.