Pass Labs XA25 without preamp (from a variable output source) vs INT25

+1. And if you want designer colouration, play around with DSP. Most audiophiles would turn their noses up at something like this:

But I dare them to try it

My Experience- I had the XA25 with no Preamp-Ran thru the Oppo 205.

Loved it and shopped preamps with a tube. Decided the INT25-designed

to mate with each other-might be wisest so I moved up to the INT25.

I never felt the SQ improved with this move however.  I Added an AudioMirror

R2R DAC (with tubes) and fell in love again.

Bottom line- Use the XA25 sans pre if you can do it. 

Sorry I can not elaborate the differences as I sold one before receiving the 

other. (Rookie mistake)

@avanti1960 Have you tried to drive the XA25 directly bypassing the Cary in yor system? I´d love to hear your comments if you try it. BTW I owned a SLP98 many years ago driving Cary 300SE monoblocks. Nice preamp but with awful sounding signal caps inside (oil1 caps). I replaced them with Hovland Musicaos and the sound improved tremendously in every possible area (transparency, detail, timbre, soundstage, bass control, etc)

Thanks!

UPDATE: Ok, I listened for about an hour. I think the preamp is needed. (Mine is in the shop.) Why? The dimensionality of the soundstage is much reduced and there is a raw quality to some of the recordings where before there was a smoother and more liquid quality.

In short: I retract my earlier claim that it sounds good. With my relatively inexpensive streamer (but nice DAC), I still want my tube preamp back.

Also, it couldn't play above about 78 db.

@chorus Thanks for sharing your experiences. 🙂 When you replaced your XA-25 for the INT25 you say you didn´t notice a SQ improvement but, did you feel you loosed "something" with that move? Which speaker do you have?

Thanks!