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pass labs xa30.5 vs aleph 3

Stereophile reveiwer Erick Lichte has done a head to head review of these pass amps in August 2009 issue. Erick uses the aleph 3 as his main amp feeding a pair or Revel f30 speakers, he also uses Benchmark Dac1 to feed the alpeh as I do as well. He was asked to do a comparison between the pass amps as a follow up to the great reveiw of the xa30.5 which was reviewed by Brian Damkroger in which,I quote "absolutely, positively,and enthusiasticallly recommended" the xa30.5 and, Brian sounds like he perfers high powered amps in the review. In the review Erick thought the Xa30.5 sounded more resolving and a little bit better bass control and can sound louder than the 30 watts. It was leaner in the midbass than the aleph 3 but, had a slightly more presents in the top three octave. he still is in love with is aleph 3 and sound like he is not planning on replacing the aleph 3 with the xa30.5. Anyways I have been waiting for a head to head review of these pass amps since the xa30.5 was released. If anyone would like to see the head to head review send me an email and I will take a high res pictures of the artical and send it to anyone. Also Erick Lichte did a head to head review of the Musical Fidelity's 550k supercharger amp and the Aleph 3 in a December 2008 issue. He concluded the aleph sounded better than the 550's by itself. He then supercharged his aleph 3 but did not like the sound. Very interesting articals about my beloved aleph 3, and a great read for aleph 3 owners. In my opinion the aleph 3 is still a giant killer and is a legend when it comes to amps.
tiverson2000

Showing 3 responses by zybar

zybar's avatar
zybar
104 posts
 
FWIW, I own Atma-Sphere MA-1 amps and recently have borrowed my friend's Pass XA30.5 amp to see how it compares sonically.

From a heat perspective, there is absolutely no contest in which produces more heat - the MA-1's produce WAY MORE heat!! The MA-1's easily raise the temp 7-10 degrees in my 3500+ cubic foot room with two big openings, while the XA30.5 barely impacts the temp. Accordingly, the XA30.5 doesn't require anywhere near as much cooling as the MA-1's. So you play less to run and cool the XA30.5 than the MA-1's.

Unfortunately for me (and lucky for the power the company) the MA-1's sound a lot better and do more of what I like than the XA30.5, so they aren't going anywhere.

George
zybar's avatar
zybar
104 posts
 
I think Madfloyd already summed up a lot of my thoughts on the sound differences between the XA30.5 and MA-1's, so there really isn't much more for me to add on that front. Simply put, the system lost a good deal of its "magic" when the MA-1's were taken out and replaced by the XA30.5. For the majority of my listening, I didn't see the meter move on the XA30.5, so I don't think it was running out of gas or being pushed out of Class A mode. As such, I don't think it was an "unfair" comparison with the MA-1's.

While Tvad is certainly entitled to his opinion (and I do respect his opinion) I am in full agreement with Madfloyd in
that we both heard so much of the Pass sound of his XA100.5's when the XA30.5 was put into my system. While Madfloyd would have no issue with bringing his amps over to my place, I did indeed tell him that I didn't think it was necessary. Maybe one day I will take him up on the offer, but for now my curiosity has been satisfied.

Getting back the to the Atma-Sphere amps...I don't think the improvement of the MA-1's over the M-60's is so much about the extra watts, as it is about the ability to work better with a 4 ohm load. With the M-60's, I felt that I had to use the Speltz Autoformers with the 5A's to sound their best, while the MA-1's didn't require them.

I plan on talking to Ralph next week about upgrading my MA-1's to Mk 3.1 status (from Mk 3) and will ask him his thoughts on this subject.

George
zybar's avatar
zybar
104 posts
 
Glad things worked out for you Earflappin.

George
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