What's a good alternative to Pass Labs?


Owner of the x250.5 (pass labs). It's a remarkable amplifier, it just doesn't seem to synergize all that well with my speaker. Something a little less bright (a little more forgiving) and something slightly less warm. It seems to get warmest in the mid-bass (bloat), and brightest of course in the higher treble. The mid-bass warmth/bloat exists at lower as well as higher volumes, the brightness starts to get bad at louder volumes. I think they that Pass is a warm neutral, so perhaps i'm just looking for something that's just neutral. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

budget less than $10k. used or new ok.
coloneltushfinger

Showing 1 response by tls49


I'm in agreement with the others, as I find it hard to believe the Pass amp is the problem. This review on the Pass Labs X250.5 describes the high frequencies as natural, which has been my experience with other Pass products.

This may be the review for your T+A Criterion TCD 110 S that Tom is referring to. The part about being "shouty" is toward the end, but prior to the "Conclusion" section.

IMHO, the issues you describe are not related to each other, so making a single change will not solve both problems. As Peterayer suggests, speaker/room interaction may be a problem.

If you don't use the subs, do you still have the mid-bass bloat? Also, curious as to the cables you are using, digital, IC's, and SC's.