Pass Labs amp on the way

As unusual as it may seem, I really didn’t need another stereo amp. But having been a strong admirer of all things Pass Labs I often read online reviews and magazine reviews of their products. Once in awhile I’ll see a Pass amp on eBay for a decent price and think hmmmm? So last week I checked out a Hi Fi shop online in Reno and looked at the used and demo and refurbished Pass products and found an X250 refurbished by Pass Labs in excellent condition.

I should have it this week and cannot wait to hear what it can do for my system. And I have been very happy with my Parasound A21 amp since buying it so the inevitable comparisons with that should be enlightening.

 

Would be interested in the results.

 

congrats. i think that has a few watts in class a too. i owned the xa30.5 for a while and it was probably the best amp i ever owned.

 

Pass Labs amps are excellent. I can’t imagine you won’t happy as your profile suggests you know a thing or two about good equipment. Mark at Reno Hi-Fi is also first rate.

 

Thank you. Yes I was fortunate to speak with Mark Sammut at Reno Hi Fi. Any concerns I may have had vaporized after a not too lengthy discussion with him. Buying used is one thing, buying reconditioned and set to factory original specs, by the factory, is another.

 

Mark and Reno HiFi are terrific. I hope you get a lot of pleasure from the X250!

 

It is my belief that Pass products are very special. Enjoy!!

 

16 W peak according to Pass's specs.: https://www.passlabs.com/sites/default/files/Point8_specs_6.pdf

Congrats. to Pythonman! I've used X.600s with a number of speakers. Love them!*





* - except for the heat dissipation!

 

Congratulations! We never need, but it's damn fun. Enjoy!

 

Nice score, looking forward to your feedback. I have been lusting after some XA160's for many years now. One day !

 

I've always lusted after Pass Labs amps.
Built literally like tanks.
X250 is biased at Class A for the 1st 25 watts which will be the majority of time.
16 MOSFETS PER channel, 1.2 KVA Transformer, 20 10,000 microfarad caps.

A drool, a drool.

 

Looks like you still have the Athena speakers? Those are from the old Audio Products International group of products. (Athena, Energy, Mirage). I still have my Mirage M7si's. I rebuilt the surrounds on some of the drivers. They will be 25 years old next year! Congrats on the new Pass Amp.

 

It probably will get pretty toasty with that much class A running!

 

Congrats, I wish more dealers would carry Pass Labs.

 

Yes still running my Athena’s bought new in 2004. They’re not my endgame speakers but I do find it interesting how my upgrades in the signal chain have had a very positive impact to the sound of them. They image well and soundstage quite nicely. They don’t exactly disappear but I wouldn’t expect them to. The Parasound A21 took control of the bass drivers and gave these speakers a sense of solidity and anchored the lows for the first time since I have owned them. The high damping factor of the A21 may be too much for these smaller speakers to let them function ideally however.

But it doesn’t matter, sometime in the near future I’ll
get speakers that will do justice to the rest of my system.

 

Got it today. It was double boxed in new factory boxes. I’m not kidding when I say this amp is in NEW condition. There’s not one mark or scuff or wear sign of any kind. The back looks like it never was attached to cables or anything. Oh, and it’s heavy. Crazy heavy.

Came with a new cable, instruction manual and the best factory foam packing job I’ve ever encountered with a heavy plastic wrap around the amp itself.

She’s been playing a steady stream of Beatles , T Rex, John Scofield, Charles Mingus and Hendrix so far.
This amp is showing some great promise already. It’s nowhere near broken in but, the amp is showing its prowess at textures already. It’s far to early to comment further but, I’m digging so far!

 

So far I can say that although my A21 and X250 both have the same horsepower so to speak, the X250 has massively more torque lol. All kidding aside, the A21 is a fantastic amplifier. It was helping produce the most awesome sounds from vinyl I ever heard. Cymbal crashes had real power and body to them. Separation beyond anything I've owned and tight control of the bass freq's of my speakers. Made my cd's sound rather 2D and flat compared to vinyl. Matched to a better pair of speakers I still think the A21 would be unbeatable at the price.

The Pass X250 OTOH is even making CDs played back on my ancient Sony CD recorder sound interesting! How the heck that ever happened I'll never know but seeing as I probably have 5 CDs for every vinyl record in my collection that makes me very happy. Snare hit's, cymbal crashes, soundstage depth and imaging from CD now rivals my records in SOME cases. The Pass amp and I have a lot of material to play through before I can fully assess what it does and does not do, accurately. But so far I can say the highs and upper mids are extended and gloriously smooth, never fatiguing. The midrange is startlingly lifelike and clear and soundstage depth, height and width are much more abundant than anything I've ever heard. Bass has been good from the start and it's started to stretch it's legs and sprint as of this afternoon. Just amazing the transformation there. I can feel the weightiness of the lows reflecting up from my concrete floors to the armrests of my listening chair, at moderate volume with the P5 preamp set to tone bypass.

That's about it for now.
Rick

 

congrats! by most accounts Pass amps are among the best available.
i was hoping to hear then at AXPONA this year but they were on display WITH NO SYSTEM ! Audio devices at an audio show that you can't listen to. How wrong is that!

 

A few pictures. Still breaking in so I'm leaving it on 24/7.

 

That's a beauty of an amp, congrats!

 

If it's running class A for the first 10 or 15 watts and you leave it on, I'd be curious to know how warm it is in the morning.

Congrats on the monster purchase.

 

She's a beaut. Congratulations! Pass Labs has been on my wish list for quite some time now, to me they make the most tube sounding SS amps. I'm a little jelly!

 

It’s runs warm but it’s nowhere near excessive. It pulls like 300 watts at idle. But yeah you can definitely feel the heat rising a foot or so away from the amps top or sides. Once it reaches a certain temp it levels off.

 

Desirable gear on display but no play is just audio porn.

 

I would also like to add a question to this one; will it affect the electric bill?

If you would please let us know what the electric bill is at the end of the month and how it differs from the previous month. I have heard the bill can really rise particularly if you leave it on or play music a lot. This info may be misleading since last month was a high air conditioning month and September isn't, but still this info would be helpful. I am sure no matter what it will go up, but by how much? Hopefully not too much. The amp is certainly a beautiful looking monster with a sweet growl and an amplifier many people would love to own. I would love to try one out in my home, maybe someday.

Once broken in a detailed comparison between the Parasound and the Pass Labs would be interesting since many people when I was interested in go after the Pass Labs suggested the Parasound Halo JC-1 mono-blocks as a good alternative.