Anyone auditioned Pass Labs XP-30 preamp?

Zen, I have not had the opportunity to here the Hegel P30. It must be quite something judging from your raves here and on other threads. I have heard the XP-30 in my system for ten days and it is the best pre amp that I have had in my system.

Have you heard the XP-30? I know how specifications can mean everything to some readers. Listeners, on the other hand, form opinions about how components sound relative to each other.

"Old school engineering" is why people still love horn, tube, vinyl components. Specifications are great, but listening is what matters to most of us.

Your missing the point..the less noise and distortion thats achieved in a well designed Pre-amp means far less interference to the music signal that is passing through. Feedback designs have more vibration and noise problems which is why we use heavy isolation/absorbtion racks and shelfs and isolation feet to help control the vibrations in the components to improve the quality of the music. The idea that we stick to the past designs of 35 years ago is silly. Audio engineering always improves as the years go by due to better science and technical innovations that were not applicable 35 years ago. The reason why some Preamps are made up of two or three cabinets is to isolate the power supply from the control boards to keep the noise floor and distortion lower because these Preamps are using feedback designs. The best single unit Preamps in the world that have S/N ratios over 125db's using feedforward designs are actually quieter than two or three piece Pre-amps resulting in superior musical performance since obstructing the music signal is kept to a minimum. I have not heard the Pass XP-30 but use to own the X0-1 back in 2004 and at the time also owned the Musical Fidelity 308 Preamp and the Parasound PLD-2000. The Parasound was faster than both but thinner sounding. The Pass was fuller and more laid back and the Musical Fidelity was a piece of crap.

No. I got the point. I personally prefer lower noise and less distortion too. However, I also have to like the way a component sounds in my system. That's why I have the components I have. I have not heard the Hegel P30 and can not comment on its sound. Sorry.

Peterayer..I have heard the Hegel P-30 and the H-30 mono-blocs hooked up to a pair of Amphion Argon7-L speakers. Stunning..rich..full..warm..very organic..very tight with outstanding bass. Have you noticed how different solid state Pre-amps sound bright, some with loose bass, muddy midrange, lack of 3D dimensional space? Heres why. Feedback looping in different Preamps creates more noise in certain frequency bands and less noise in the other bands. So the noise levels varies in different bands from one Pre-amp to another. If you have a Pre-amp that has very little to no noise interfering with the ten main bands, then you have a Pre-amp that will sound absolutely wonderful which is why feed forward Pre-amps will always sound better. The Hegel premium line came into the U.S. in August 2009 and have already picked up over thirty retailers in three years which is impressive.

>>08-05-12: Audiozen
The idea that we stick to the past designs of 35 years ago is silly.<<

For example vacuum tubes vs. solid state and analog vs. digital?

Yeah, that's silly.