Pass Lab owners - Check in!

[ozy]

That is the result of Magico speakers being so transparent. Could you describe the differences you heard?

peter, the soulution gear, to my ears, always sounded clinical, anemic and halcroish. yes, transparent and clean, but not musical. that said,
the pass lab i heard recently was quite the opposite- "meat on the bone", lush and very engaging. almost ying- yang correlation.

 

[PeterA]

peter, the soulution gear, to my ears, always sounded clinical, anemic and halcroish. yes, transparent and clean, but not musical. that said,
the pass lab i heard recently was quite the opposite- "meat on the bone", lush and very engaging. almost ying- yang correlation.

Thanks, ozy. Yes, that captures some of the Pass sound. I have only heard Solution a couple of times in unfamiliar systems, so I can't really comment. Solution and Magico is a common pairing. This stuff is so subjective and people either like it or not.

 

[jackelsson]

Just replaced my XP-20 with an XP-30. A much bigger step up than I expected it to be. And it works very well with my XP-25.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Just replaced my XP-20 with an XP-30. A much bigger step up than I expected it to be. And it works very well with my XP-25.

Yes! That's what I will do one of these days.

 

[Bruce B]

Just replaced my XP-20 with an XP-30. A much bigger step up than I expected it to be. And it works very well with my XP-25.

+100.. anyone with a XP-10/20 owe yourself the opportunity to hear it in your own system. You will be amazed!

 

[audiohippo]

Have any pass owner compared against Ayre VX5/KX5 twenty? I am looking for a compact pre/amp for my office bookshelf (DIY) system. The Pass XP20/XA30.8 is a good combination and sounds great, but then so does the Ayre VX5/KX5 twenty.

Choices choices.

 

[alfa100]

Which preamps have you tried and not liked being in the chain as compared to the MSB Analog DAC direct into your amp? Also what's your amp and speaker if you don't mind my asking? Just curious...

My speakers are Wilson Sasha. I tried Audio Research, Modwright,Pass Labs and Valve Audio Genesis . i cannot recall the others

 

[alfa100]

i just realised that I have not listed my upgrade on this thread.
i upgraded from XA 30.5 to Xa 100.8..

 

[slowGEEZR]

i just realised that I have not listed my upgrade on this thread.
i upgraded from XA 30.5 to Xa 100.8..

Nice!

 

[Illinimax]

Thinking about replacing the CODA amp driving my Legacy Whispers. Would like a wider, deeper sound stage. Don't really need a lot of power as the built in amps power the woofers. Does the imaging get better as you move higher up the power levels within the various Pass series?

 

[PeterA]

+100.. anyone with a XP-10/20 owe yourself the opportunity to hear it in your own system. You will be amazed!

Bruce, I have an XP20 and XP25 and did have an XP30 in my system for almost a week. I heard differences, but I'm not sure I preferred it to my 20. They are voiced differently. The 30 may have slightly more resolution, but I found the 20 to have a more neutral tonal balance in my system with the XA160.5 amps. I also tried the XA160.8 amps in my system for a week and preferred the .5. Perhaps the XA160.8 and XP30 would be a better combination than the XA160.8/XP20 or XA160.5/XP30, but I never had the 160.8 and 30 together at the same time.

My friend had the XP30 and when he switched to the XS Pre, the sound became more neutral to my ears. I have found which combination of Pass gear one prefers is very system and taste dependent. There is no right or wrong, and I don't necessarily think the newest is always the best.

The various models in the .5 and .8 lines all have different sounds. Same with the XP pre amps. I do think the XS is clearly superior, at least based on what I have heard in various systems.

 

[jackelsson]

Peter, it's interesting to read that you found the difference between the XP-20 and the XP-30 to lie mainly in the voicing and not in a general difference in quality. I had them both here in parallel for a couple of weeks before I sold off the XP-20 and did quite a bit of comparison.

And here in my system I had the impression that the XP-30 shows not only a bit but actually significantly more detail and resolution on both the macro level (i.e. size and especially depth of soundstage, air between the instruments, three-dimensionality of instruments and singers, and realism of the presentation as such) as well as on the micro level (i.e. sheer amount of details to be heard). Also the bass was stronger, deeper and more powerful. I must admit that to me and in my system it seemed like a significant difference in quality and not only like a difference in the way of presentation.

On the other hand I agree that the XP-20 seems to have a slightly brighter voicing and sometimes even a bit more punch compared to the XP-30. To me it seemed to be that way because the XP-20 is quite a bit more compact in its presentation and it is what I would call more "transistor-like" compared to the somewhat "tube-like" quality of the XP-30. And this compactness combined with the slightly brighter presentation creates the impression of a somewhat speedier and punchier sound. Maybe not the worst way to go if you are into pop and rock or if your system is on the darker side of voicing.

Also, in my system the XP-20 puts quite a focus on singers in the middle of the stage while the XP-30 tends to accentuate more the stage as a whole and all that's going on there. In this the presentation of the XP-30 is definitely the more realistic one but the way the XP-20 does it is definitely fun.

All in all for me I prefer the way the XP-30 is doing things. I love the sheer amount of detail and the gigantic soundstage and also - mostly - prefer the greater musical flow of the XP-30 to the punchier way of the XP-20.

And I definitely believe that the Xs Pre does take all that quite a notch further up maybe even combining the best of both worlds on an even higher level. But the price of it is also definitely in nosebleed territory.

 

[PeterA]

Peter, it's interesting to read that you found the difference between the XP-20 and the XP-30 to lie mainly in the voicing and not in a general difference in quality. I had them both here in parallel for a couple of weeks before I sold off the XP-20 and did quite a bit of comparison.

And here in my system I had the impression that the XP-30 shows not only a bit but actually significantly more detail and resolution on both the macro level (i.e. size and especially depth of soundstage, air between the instruments, three-dimensionality of instruments and singers, and realism of the presentation as such) as well as on the micro level (i.e. sheer amount of details to be heard). Also the bass was stronger, deeper and more powerful. I must admit that to me and in my system it seemed like a significant difference in quality and not only like a difference in the way of presentation.

On the other hand I agree that the XP-20 seems to have a slightly brighter voicing and sometimes even a bit more punch compared to the XP-30. To me it seemed to be that way because the XP-20 is quite a bit more compact in its presentation and it is what I would call more "transistor-like" compared to the somewhat "tube-like" quality of the XP-30. And this compactness combined with the slightly brighter presentation creates the impression of a somewhat speedier and punchier sound. Maybe not the worst way to go if you are into pop and rock or if your system is on the darker side of voicing.

Also, in my system the XP-20 puts quite a focus on singers in the middle of the stage while the XP-30 tends to accentuate more the stage as a whole and all that's going on there. In this the presentation of the XP-30 is definitely the more realistic one but the way the XP-20 does it is definitely fun.

All in all for me I prefer the way the XP-30 is doing things. I love the sheer amount of detail and the gigantic soundstage and also - mostly - prefer the greater musical flow of the XP-30 to the punchier way of the XP-20.

And I definitely believe that the Xs Pre does take all that quite a notch further up maybe even combining the best of both worlds on an even higher level. But the price of it is also definitely in nosebleed territory.

I think it can be very system dependent and perhaps which amps one mates these pre amps with. What amps do you have?

I heard slightly more resolution in my system with the 30, but I thought the overall tonal balance was more neutral with the 20, but there is no hint of brightness with the 20. I thought the 30 sounded slightly more warm and rich. I did not notice a bigger soundstage, nor differences in bass extension or image focus. To me the differences were fairly minor, so I decided not to upgrade. I may one day revisit the comparison.

 

[jackelsson]

Well, you are probably right in that the differences are very system dependant.

I can't comment on the influence of the amps unfortunately because I'm running active midfield studio monitors. So no separate amps I'm afraid.

 

[Sammy T]

Just picked up a XS Pre amp , it replaced my 5 year old Ayre KX-R pre. Happy boy.

 

[joeinid]

Congratulations. Did you think about upgrading the KX-R to Twenty status? I am hoping to buy the KX-R/20 at some point to go with my MX-R/20 monos. I love the Ayre gear and do love and own Pass XA60.8 amps having replaced my XA60.5's.

Just picked up a XS Pre amp , it replaced my 5 year old Ayre KX-R pre. Happy boy.

 

[Sammy T]

Yes, looked into upgrading my KX-R to the new "Twenty" model . Read some recent reviews comparing the Twenty to the Pass Labs XP 30 pre. Some listeners liked the XP 30 over the twenty .

 

[microstrip]

Yes, looked into upgrading my KX-R to the new "Twenty" model . Read some recent reviews comparing the Twenty to the Pass Labs XP 30 pre. Some listeners liked the XP 30 over the twenty .

Can you point us these recent reviews in a more explicit way? I would appreciate reading them.

 

[PeterA]

I prefer the XS Pre to the XP30. To my ears, it is more tonally neutral, more transparent, and has lower noise and more resolution. I have not compared the XS Pre to other statement preamplifiers from other designers.

 

[BlueFox]

The XS is also $22k more than the XP30.

I have thought of upgrading to the XP30, but don't care for the three boxes.