For my Thiel 2.4s with an Aesthetix Janus front end: I received a Pass x150.8 yesterday and I have to say this amp and the Bryston 4B3 are entirely different sonically. The Pass is very liquid, three dimensional and palpable whereas the Bryston is very analytical and revealing. While the Pass also retrieves a HUGE amount of detail from recordings there are some that will find the Bryston preferable. Since I'm only one day into the audition of the Pass I haven't quite decided yet but for people who believe all SS amps sound the same as long as they are high current and have plenty of power reserves compare these two because there's a huge difference. I would say initially that I favor the Pass but the problem I'm having with the Pass is that on orchestral music and particularly loud orchestral swells the Bryston is simply more accurate and conveys more information...i.e. its more analytical whereas on the Pass I get a bit of a homogenized sounds on orchestral peaks. I DO find the Pass amp far less fatiguing when listening to loud orchestral music. One interesting tidbit of my experience is that the Pass idles at a far higher electrical draw than the Bryston even though they're both Class A up to 10 watts for the Bryston and 15 watts for the Pass. The Bryston hardly ever got really warm even when it was driven hard while the Pass does produce about the same amount of heat as four KT88 tubes I would say. The heat from the Pass is not bad but just be prepared to use your air conditioning more.
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do yourself a favor and get the best of both worlds: the PS Audio 250 BHK amp. here is one for sale here on audiogon for under $4000 https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis931cg-ps-audio-bhk-stereo-amplifier-stereo-power-amp-solid-stat... |
Hi All, This may be a dumb question based on earlier responses to my post about treble glare at high volumes. Is it possible to improve the treble sound by using an amplifier that stays in Class A longer? My Coda CS stays in Class A for the first ten watts. If another amp stayed in class A, say, for 20 watts, could it sound better in the treble at high volumes? Does anyone possible know the bias for a McCormack DNA-500 amp? Thanks for the help! Dsper |
Well after listening to the Pass 150.8 on my Thiel 2.4s all weekend it still seems true that the Pass is a little thick in the lower midband (kinda like me) during orchestral swells. There's that little bit of homogenization there but on everything else it seems to be a great combo. On vocals in particular its an amazing combo. So I'll probably still try an ARC amp this week but I'm less inclined to try the expensive Ayre monoblocks. I'll report more later...stay tuned. And yes I was tempted to try the new PS Audio amp but only the stereo amp is really within my budget and its a similar topology to the Aesthetix Atlas which I already have and like "okay" but that one is probably going to get sold. |
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