If you want more dynamics better bass detail and impact and better highs stay with Pass 250.8.If you like lush midrange get tubes.It also depends on the speaker and the system as well.Tubes will definatly run hotter than Pass 250.8.Good luck.
Pass Labs x250.8 vs tube amps
I have a beautiful system. Lumin X1 > BAT Rex 2 pre > Pass Labs x250.8> Sound Labs M545 (ESL) in a tiny room (9x 11 ft). This system has the most glorious SQ: smooth, detailed and powerful , along with great bass. I would say this sound equals or betters any ultra high end system. HOWEVER, I have a problem. My system takes 6 hours of music playing to sound this good. I had X250.5 and I had the same issue. Leaving it on idle overnight doesn’t solve the problem. It is 15 W class A, so it generates quite a bit of heat, and yet I have to still play music. Because my room is small, I don’t crank up too much- maybe this is the problem, but the temperature doesn’t complete stabilize for 5-6 hours. The top reaches 107 deg in 2 hours, but the front plate doesn’t reach 107 until the 6 th hr when it starts to sound glorious. I have never had a tube amp and I am wondering if I can reach that thermal equilibrium and the glorious SQ faster with a tube amp? I worried about the heat generation with a tube amp in this small room, but X250.8 generates 450 W just idling. This is no worse than tube amps like Audio Research 150 Se, which I demo’d and was impressed by. BTW, I need power in the amp because of the esl speakers.
What do you all think?
What do you all think?