Pass Labs XP32 or XP22?

re-lar-kvothe

I won't own another Rogue Audio, it isn't that the products are bad, but the owner was a jerk to me.

I have direct experience of both preamps paired with 60.8s. Unsurprisingly, the 32 is better than the 22. It's more refined tonally, and more organic sounding. But at this level, the differences are relatively finely graded, not night and day. The 32 is better, but both are excellent.

One thing that can throw people with these preamps is that they are designed to use the full range of the volume control which operates in fine increments. So unless they are played at a setting on the numerical display that seems to be "loud" (visually, but actually isn't sonically) then they can seem a bit underwhelming.

I'm another vote for the Backert Rhythm 1.3. My amps are AGD, not Pass, so I can't speak to the interaction with Pass amps, but the Backert is superb. I replaced an ARC 6SE with the Backert and that was a big improvement. 

@muaythai 

That's unfortunate.  How was he rude to you?

I also use an ARC preamp (REF 3) with Pass amp (XA30.8). Tried others but this is best combination.