I tried the M2 a few years ago and while my experience didn't exactly mirror yours, the result was the same. My take on the amp was a big yawn.
I have no experience with Pass Labs, but I do run two First Watt amps. J2,and an F5. I love what they do. I hope you get the same pleasure with your new baby. I definitely love the tube pre, FW combination. To my ears ,true magic.
Just a quick follow up, I gave the M2 a second listen with a four hour warm up, rather than 1 hour previously, and it was better. I still prefer my tube set up but it is probably less accurate than the M2. As to my main amp, the MC275, which I have had about ten years, I don’t run stock tubes.
I know he's having a lot of fun with the Pass in the house.......but I'm sipping my fav....Highland Park and Eddie Higgins Trio spinning on the PE 4040!
I've listen to Pass amps, and Its a very fine machine....but just don't know how one can make a claim about it being the best SS amp in existence. Just too many amps in the world to make such a lofty boast. In-fact I know for sure that's not a universal agreement but a subjective one or my buddy would not have sold his Pass amps for Levinson amps. I've listen to both amps extensively and would have to agree with my buddy in the Levinson is cleaner, faster, more accurate, and more transparent. But unlike my buddy, I prefer the Pass sound 100% over the Levinson sound. But that's not saying either are the best in the world...that would be too much of a claim for anyone I believe, unless you've heard all the amps in the world.'..and there are some very fine amps in teh world....especially amps from Europe.
Agreed. Some people have said this though and opinions run especially high for the XA25 out of all of the Pass amps. We shall see....
After half an hour it sounds like an amp... definitely slow and occasionally edgy out of the box like most new amps. Letting it play for most of the day today but not much listening (NFL Sunday and other commitments). Word is that it needs a few hundred hours of burn in and at least 1 hour after power up. The manual states to leave it on all the time. It will get a good run in this week as I continue to work from home....
Agreed. I generally prefer the Pass sound or the Rogue sound to most others. It really depends upon the speakers being used at the time, and how they interact with the room. The right amp can really make a speaker sound significantly better as opposed to the "wrong" amp. Personally, I think it's a bit silly to stress of the difference that a Pass or a Levinson would make once you have one or really anything else at that level in your system. It's simply going to sound great. I get it when you are building a system for the first time, it's then a good idea to hear a particular amp with a particular set of speakers or at least to get the opinion of a dealer who has heard them together in comparison to some others. That significantly reduces any chance of regrets. -Bill
I was with you up until that comment. I need a bit more clarity, Kindly flesh that idea out a bit for me please?
Well, I guess as it specifically referred to your buddy, he likely changed amps due to his speakers benefiting from more power. Some folks that have larger rooms and speakers, typically that can present more difficult loads, opt for a powerful amplifier in terms of wattage output capability, especially when they want to crank it. That makes for a typically better bass control and higher headroom, less compression. The sound can open up and become more effortless in that situation. In a smaller room, like mine and in a couple of demo rooms which I have visited, I really like the Pass Labs sound. They deliver a lot of current and have a very liquid sound with excellent transparency and very little harshness. Any crappy sounds emitting from those systems are in the recording. So you have an amplifier that can really deliver the details, but in a way that makes it easy to listen to all day. The only penalties are cost, heat, and a limit on the total amount of power available. I still have a Pass Aleph 3 amplifier which I recapped. It sounded wonderful when I last used it a few years ago. I also have a couple of Rega Exon 3 monoblocks in storage that I will likely recap and press into service at some point. As well as a Rogue Audio Stereo 100 vacuum tube amplifier. I have heard all of these in my space before, and they all sound very sweet; warm yet detailed, and will plenty of power for my space and tastes. I have driven all of these amps with a Rogue Audio tube preamp for the most part. I have also used a Rega Cursa 3 a bit too. These combinations all provide very clear and yet easy to listen to amplification stages, which also have excellent phono stages incorporated. And yes, my wife sometimes asks me to turn it down. The general point about me finding chasing down amp after amp looking for Nirvana, when you already have one of the top 10% (probably the top 1% in any local community) amplifiers, is that they will all sound great at that level of quality. I have my faves for different applications, but I could live with some outside of that very easily, including a Levinson. I find at that level, the limitation becomes the recording itself, and many of my favorite titles are not so well recorded or mastered. I am not buying an amp just to hear Patricia Barber sing some cheesy, well recorded song once. -Bill
Peaked in on it for a while during burn in (which according to Reno HiFi is 5 solid days of power-on). Very promising !
Thanks for the kind thought-out reply! But nope. Those aren’t the reasons he’s settled on the Levinson. My buddy is legally blind. Can’t see at all. But he can hear, and has above average hearing….he can hear things most people can’t. He can sit in a listening session with you and describe what the amp is doing or not doing or what speakers are doing and not doing. I met him about 12 or 13 years ago. He had Krell amps at the time. From that point up to today he has gone from Krell amps, to Conrad Johnson amps, To Threshold amps. To T+A amps, to Levinson amps, to NAD Master Series Amps to Hegel amps, to CODA amps, to Pass amps back to Levinson amps. He simply likes the speed and transparency of Levinson better than anything. At one point he used a Pass preamp with Levinson power amps. But after a while removed the Pass preamp after buying a Levinson preamp and he was set. Nothing to do with speakers, room or anything other thing else.. And I must admit…if you listen to Pass and Levinson side by side, the speed and transparency of Levinson is obvious. But to my ears, Pass offers more life….flesh and bones to music as Levinson puts me in a recording studio. Pass Labs is better in my hearing.
Now that is a wall of silver gear! And congrats on the XA-25 and hang in there by all accounts burn in takes a while and the amp needs to be run for at least a few hours before at it's best. Class A is nothing if not inconvenient sometimes but boy it sure does sound good!
There is no such thing as the best amp in the world and all that matters is the best amp to you. Assuming you can afford it!
Well, OK, if that's the way he hears it. I guess one man's transparent is another man's sterile. I was describing why someone might prefer a more powerful amp, but really I agree with your ears more than his. I like transparency, but I also like it either neutral or just on the warm side of neutral. That's why I choose the gear that I do. It sounds great and also allows me to listen longer without feeling that I am always on the edge of my seat. Amps that are clear but lifeless can bring on listening fatigue, and at the end of the day, I want to enjoy myself. -Bill
I hope I didn’t leave you with the notion that the Levinson is sterile. It wasn’t that at all. Just sounds to perfect to my ears. The same reason I hate the sound of Raidho speakers….to perfect sounding. I don’t think Pass is polished in such a way and Pass breaths life….like a great tube amp. A recording studio seeks perfection….Thats all I hear in Levinson and don’t like it. I like a great Marantz Reference amp for the same reason…breaths life to music the way I like it. I know…it’s my twisted idealism….But I totally get your dialogue in your two postings and agree, but those situations does not correspond to my friends reasonings, nor how I hear the Levinson.
That was my own take. I have heard a Levinson preamp and mono blocks (maybe circa 2000) with Thiels. That was a popular pairing, yet I found it dry and unmoving, considering the price. Now, if it was a lot more affordable, then I wouldn't have the same complaint. I just had much higher expectations after hearing some other nice systems. -Bill