going Pass Labs, do I need "Class A " ?


for Wilson Audio Sophia 2

May be someone did face to face comparisons XA60.5 vs X350.5 or any general thoughts?
sergeik

Showing 3 responses by french_fries

the X- AMPS are going to be a better choice for music with more dynamic
properties; the XA-0.5 AMPS would perform better on subtler material- acoustic guitar, chamber music, female vocals, solo piano. if harmonics is- or will become- the most important factor in choosing what to listen to most of the time, then the choice is obvious. OTOH, in this forum some people have clearly become disappointed with their XA-0.5 amplifiers over time due to their changing of tastes, wanting more power and control across a wider bandwidth.
So you should ask yourself which path you're on.
dear mr. peterayer,
i am going by one person who put his XA-0.5 100W mono blocks up for sale. a lot of people questioned his decision in the forums, so
he explained at length regarding his changing preference for
a different design. apparently he felt the bass was lacking something in his system even though i don't think it was a lack of power.
just for an example i have levinson amps which don't inspire much emotion-
that has to come from within. but they do reproduce bass about as well as it can be done. i would think a pass X-.5 amplifier properly matched to your speakers would do the same thing. and bass can have a dramatic effect over the sense of depth / 3-dimensionality of the stage. OTOH they might fall a bit short on reproducing textural details of acoustic instruments or sound a bit flat on a Diane Krall album.
i have only heard pass aleph amplifiers - the 30 and the 1.2 mono blocks.
they were beyond reproach to my ears, especially on piano and jazz.
but i never tried them out on Bach organ pieces where i might have been
less enthusiastic. but i am easy to please when it comes to this level of audio gear,
so i could go either way without a 2nd thought and learn to be happy.
I believe i have a pretty good handle on what pass amps can do, and i listen closely to those who have bought (and sold) different models, as well as the reviews of those same models. based on the mere fact that Pass Labs would offer two parallel amplifier lines where one would be (IMHO) way more musical than the other, indicates that the NON-XA amplifiers have some VERY important features that certain listeners are going to prefer.
a close friend has a pair of ALEPH-1.2's (as well as an aleph preamp) and i have heard them on many occasions. i absolutely love them. but they don't have much power below 4 ohms. that has never affected the sound any time i was over there, but some people will say that is unacceptable nonetheless, and needs "fixing".
Nelson still makes First-Watt amps as well. wimpy perhaps, but very short
circuit paths. he has good reasons for making those, too. beats the heck out of me...