Firstly, thank you. I'm extremely proud to own this gear, mainly because it's the first time I ever purchased something in this hobby brand new. There is a special fuzzy feeling (at least for me) that you get knowing you are the first time owner of something, getting full manufacture support, and that you will be taken care of by your dealer. Perhaps most importantly, is establishing a relationship with that dealer with the possibility to home audition gear at no cost in the future.
I chose the C2700 instead of the C53 because I wanted to try a tube preamp. I heard both the C53 and C2600 at my dealer and I couldn't hear a difference. I spent an hour switching back and forth on a pair of B&W 803 D3 and I literally couldn't tell a difference between the two. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to hear difference on a single Stevie Ray Vaughn track, swapping back and forth over and over. So based on that, I just choose the 'cooler' looking one.
I bought McIntosh for reasons that have nothing to do with performance. It was for the pride of ownership, mostly, and my extreme attraction to the McIntosh blue meters. I fell in love with the brand, the marketing, and the looks of the gear many years ago, before I was even into hifi. It is just a bonus that the MC462 has great specs.
If I'm able to hear distortion and I come to regret owning this tube preamp, time will tell. I can always trade the C2700 in for a C53, which does have much better distortion numbers. At the moment, I'm guessing when musical content is playing, I won't be able to hear the distortion. Maybe I will even like the distortion if I do hear it. But anyway, distortion numbers aren't as important to me as you guys. That's your judgement call if you want to say I don't actually care about high fidelity. I know I like music just as much as any of you.