Pass labs upgrade path

When I owned the XA60.8 followed by the XA160.8 paired with the XP20 I could not understand why two fantastic amps could be so underwhelming. I replaced the XP20 with the XP30 and still was far from impressed. Could it be the Pass preamps?! I inserted the XP30 into a friends system that consisted of an AR Reference 5SE paired to Parasound mono’s which at the time sounded great until I heard it with the XP20 and too fell flat and lifeless. Out went the Pass preamps and in went a tube preamp, in my case the original Aric Audio Motherlode tube preamp and then and only then, the big Pass amps sang with detail, richness, body and weight that the anemic Pass preamp failed to pull out.

Pass-great amps, not so great preamps, I am afraid. All of my fellow audio brethren who have convinced themselves that the Pass pre and amp pairings afford them the most ideal combination are, in my humble opinion, have been duped. Get a tube preamp!

Just to make certain that I was not out of my head prior to ditching the Pass preamp, I inserted a borrowed McIntosh C2300 into my system to see how it would behave. Even with the "homogenized" sound profile of the Mac Preamp, the Pass amps came to life.

Consider this...I(personally) have never heard(or read) of anyone using a Pass preamp with amps other than that of Pass. If they were truly any good, one would think that you would learn of more people using them in non Pass amp applications...

The Motherlode has single ended outputs that fed the Pass amps, now a Coda Model 16. He also has gain control on all of his preamps I believe so it pairs well with most solid state amps.

@jc4659 I do not want to hijack this Pass thread and muddy it in any way and give the impression that I am not a fan of Pass amplification, which I am indeed. I was hesitant to move away from monos, which I have employed for a very long time. With the Coda what I gained most was space on my rack. I also have a Coda Model 11, so I am familiar with their sound. There are far more similarities than differences between the 160.8's and the Model 16, but if I had to make a statement, I would suggest(to my ears and listening environment) that the Coda has a bit more of that, "tube bloom" and "richness" without compromising on detail and dimensionality.