Pass Labs XA25

Hey Charles that sounds like one of the most unhelpful posts I've ever seen on this forum - if you have nothing to contribute perhaps find another thread.

Ya you are probably right about that…

To @mfb33 I use to comment its best to be the 3rd buyer of a Pass Labs amp at a discount after the first two owners did not take time to let it settle in at least 300hrs, some say 400hrs. The first week or two, leaving it for 24-48hrs over a few days in a row warming up before each play time. This use to happen a lot with the older Pass amps fwiw. Like Avanti and others shared give yourself time to get through the first two weeks, and I’d say 3-4 weeks to be sure. 

Lots of people run the XA-25 with many speakers with success. So, this begs more questions. If I had to guess, something else is constraining the situation to hear the amp at its best. Maybe a few more questions can help get extra eyes on this with you here. 

Speakers:

Are you aware your Dynaudio 360 Focus are 4-ohm impedance, and your XA-25 doubles at 50w, and a few reviews report up to 100w for 2-ohm dips. It’s no slouch. 

SLP-98 Pre-amp:

I own one, and use it with different amps.  None of the 6SN7 tubes on your list, except maybe the RCAs would be used in my preamp, and it’s not complicated. There are new 6SN7s you can buy that sound good. For now, maybe try the RCA if they are well tested 6SN7 blackplates. This alone in an SLP-98 makes a difference. 

Assuming the 6SN7s in your preamp are good, and you run your XA-25 for 3-weeks of real burn-in, I’d be surprised if the sound did not become more favorable to you. Lots of debates on different forums about this whole break-in time, fwiw. 

1. How many hours do you have on the XA-25 amp in total, right now?

2. How many hours do you have on the 6SN7s tubes in your SLP-98?

3. What interconnect cables are you using for your source to the SLP-98?

4. What cables are you using between the SLP-98 and the XA-25 [length]?

5. What speaker cables are connected to the XA-25, and how long are they?

Wondering, what OTHER things are "recently new" that might be connected in/around your SLP-98 and XA-25 right now when you started listening to this new amp, anything else, new, recently?

Most importantly:

What does not sound good to YOUR ears right now?  (detail, depth, tone, texture, sound stage, too closed in, bass response lacking or not snappy, too bright, too soft or dull, etc) can you describe what’s "missing" right now...more details help isolate this more. Id stick breaking-in with those DA Focus 360s for now.