My exp. with Focal Sopra No.2 , Harbeth 40.2, Passlabs XA30.5 and Hypex NC400


Hello. Long time reader here.

I want to share my listening experiences since i bought my Sopra No.2’s last year. I think it may shed some light on people who suffered from brightness on their system. Please excuse my English as it is not my native language.

My other components are Primaluna Dialogue Premium Preamp and Gustard x20pro Dac with Singxer SU-1 via HQ-Player and Roon. Interconnects are DH Labs Silversonic and speaker cable is Kimber 8TC. My room is 45m2 and not treated. I would say my room has some echo and can sound harsh on higher volume levels. (I will deal with this later hopefully.)

I will try to keep it short below:

Sopra No.2’s with NC400’s:
Pros: Extreme clarity with huge sound stage , speed&timing , dynamism , attack , total control on bass , good instrument separation. NC400 allows all this without breaking a sweat.
Cons: Fatiguing after some time , especially with higher volume. Bright and forward on almost half of the music i listen to and neutral on the other half but never warm. (I listen to almost every kind of music though it’s mostly Jazz both with vocals and instrumental only.) Mids and low-mids(esp. on vocals) were not rich and full as i wished.

The fatiguing alone bugged me to change my speakers and my dealer sent me Harbeth 40.2’s to try at home.

Harbeth 40.2’s with NC400’s:
So compared to Sopra No.2’s it was less hi-fi and more of a live music experience with the midrange of Harbeth’s as we know it. Non-fatiguing , just slightly warm ,sweet sound and overall a wonderful match with the speaker and the amp. Believe it or not it was more than just a glimpse of when i listened to 40.2’s with Dan D’Agostino MOMENTUM LIFESTYLE AMPLIFIER. Last weekend we tried the NC400’s with my brothers SLH5’s and i think he is now considering selling his Naim setup which is 6 times more expensive then NC400’s :)

I wanted to keep Harbeth 40.2’s but we could not agree on price with the dealer so i kept my Sopra’s and decided to try a well regarded amp with it. That was Pass Labs XA30.5.

Sopra No.2’s with Pass Labs XA30.5 :
Brightness and fatiguing gone for good. You get the magical warm sound of Pass Labs , suddenly Sopra’s are different speakers now. The amp really has it’s own color as they say. Bass is less controlled and almost too slow compared to NC400’s. I was worried about 30w is not going to be enough for my room but i never miss 200w’s of NC400’s unless i listen to electronic dance music.

I am never selling my NC400’s as they will come handy when i want to listen instrumental tracks or EDM.
For example , Chuck Mangione - Children of Sanchez or Charles Lloyd & The Marvels - La llorona gives you goosebumps when listened through NC400’s while with XA30.5 they won’t impress you as much.
They are really more than their money’s worth but the XA30.5 is still a better match with Sopra No.2’s.

I guess i couldn't keep it short. Oh well..


tonediary
This post and it’s replies are wide ranging, so I will just stick to this- if you use digital as a source (streaming, cd, etc.), a class A amplifier is the way to go. Hence the OP’s conclusion using the Pass Class A amp...
Digital is sliced and diced and reassembled for your listening pleasure. Class A amps have one less major slice and dice added to the end result. As Wally Malewicz (look him up) said to me at RMAF, analog is steak, digital is hamburger. 
Having said that, I am currently using a CD player as my source. This is not an endorsement of analog as the be-all end-all of listening pleasure. 
Adding a class A Integrated (Luxman L-590AXII) was the best and most obvious sonic improvement I have ever made in my 40 years as an audio enthusiast.
Enjoy whatever you have at this moment!
I have enjoyed a pair of the Sopra No2's since they first came to the U.S. and have them paired with a McIntosh tube preamp and solid state power amp that sounds a lot like a tube unit (an MC452).  I have heard the Sopra's powered with a few other amps, one's that sound "fast" and did not enjoy the result as much as the smoothness of the setup I have at home.
I own the Bob Carver Raven 350 Tube Mono blocks. They are rated as 350w 8 ohms and 400 w 4 ohms.
Anyone have an opinion as to how these amps might work with the Sopra 2"s?

I ask this because, in one of the rag reviews they claim that the Focal Sopra 2 (8 ohm) speakers have an impedance dip that goes down to 3.1 ohms at around 90hz and in the review they question whether the use of a tube amp would exhibit brightness with these speakers. But, aren’t most speakers rated as 4 ohm anyway, so why should that matter?

ozzy
Post removed