X250.5 vs X250.8

Thanks 
I’m actually waiting till Monday to try to get both the X250.8 and the X22 from Reno. I have left Mark a couple of emails and hopefully we can work something out on Monday. My X250.5 and X1 sound pretty good however. It would be nice to upgrade all these years later. I’ve just upgraded my dac and all my power cables with good success. Next week I upgrade my interconnects and speaker cables to Audio Art Statement to replace my Cardas Golden Reference cables. I’ve had good results with the Audio Art Statement e2plus power cables.

As my system is sounding good with digital upgrade and power cable upgrade and with further cable upgrade to follow in a few days I decided not to change my amp and as the XP22 does not do balanced tape outputs necessary for my balanced headphone amp setup I decided to leave my electronics alone.My X1 and X250.5 sound quite nice just the same.

Tomorrow I expect my new XP-32 preamp and in a couple of weeks I expect my new X250.8. It’s funny but as I wait my new electronics my X1 and X250.5 combo have been sounding very good. I’ve actually been loosing sleep from excitement. In these crazy times people have been getting puppies and stereo systems.

I’ve been listening to my new XP-32 for hours now and it keeps sounding better as it is warming up. At 3 in the morning I am listening to my headphones which I did not expect to sound this much better but they do. The X1 is a good preamp but the XP-32 is amazing. In a couple of weeks I will have my new X250.8 which will be nice but the X250.5 is no slouch. I think I have pretty much reached endgame. My Hales Transcendence 5 speakers are the last original component in my system but they are worth keeping.

I just received my X250.8 and it sounded good cold and new out of the box. I believe that the Pass Labs combo I now have with the XP-32 preamp and  will be the last amp and preamp I will ever own. I now have my retirement system with my Hales T5’s being the last original component. I’ve been enjoying Pass gear for the last 20 years so G-d willing I will enjoy Pass gear for another 20 or 30 years.