I got to hear a lot of different Pass amps at a show, and at a local audiophile’s home.
Erik, it would be nice to know what generation of Pass amps you listened to (and the rest of the system); i.e. are you saying the current .8 line is across the board “scratchy”?
I've actually had folks say my recent speaker choices sound "scratchy" (Spendor D series, and Magico S series) along with other names, but when I did use both the XA.8 and X.8 series of Pass amps with those speakers, I didn't hear any such noises :)
For what it's worth I compared the X250.8 in my system to the Bryston 4B3, and Benchmark AHB2, (I currently own the AtmaSphere Class D monos) and I thought it was warmer, fuller, and less forward/resolving than those models. I would say it is slightly more forward/resolving than the AtmaSphere, but then the latter reminds of tube sound, just with a super black background and a death grip on the woofers...
Cheers.