Does anyone own the Pass Labs X1 preamp?

How expensive is the Spectral DMC30S?

The DMC-30S lists for $6500. It is just slightly more expensive than the X1, which lists for $5990.

This is just my opinion so please bear with me. But I have heard several all spectral set-ups in an ultra-high end store and yes they are very transparent and offer high resolution, but I found them very dry, analytical and non-musical. It might have been the associated components, but I did not like them at all-I prefered Pass and Rowland. Again, JMHO

I had never considered Spectral myself because of hearing other opinions similar to yours Platsolos. What changed my mind was hearing a Spectral system at Overture in DE. That system was anything by dry and non-musical. As a result I couldn't help but to purchase a system for myself. I can say for sure that my system is more musical now than ever.

The Spectral stuff is very revealing of what is going on upstream. Bad sounding CDs and LPs sound a bit worse than they did with my previous system. Use of compression on recordings, for example, is much more noticable (and more annoying).

On the plus side though, recordings that previously sounded just average have taken on new life. Removing the layer of noise that was present in my other components has allowed me to better appreciate the sound of average recordings.

I would imagine that Spectral might not be everyone's cup of tea. I do think though that their stuff is worthy of an audition. JMHO

Ken

Quinn, your X-1 review was right on. Keith Yates is a renowned designer for big bucks theater systems and always has an eye open for the best. This is what he has said about Nelson Pass products:

"I typically specify the speakers, subs and processors that go into my
projects. I'm increasingly being called on to spec the power amps and
source components, too.

Pass Labs, in my opinion Nelson Pass is the only real genius circuit
designer in high-end audio. There are a few others whose parts- and
build-quality are at least as good (Burmester and Rowland come first to
mind, and maybe Spectral, Levinson and Boulder, too), but no one
combines execution and sheer circuit-inspiration as completely as
Nelson."