Bryston BP26 with Pass Labs

"02-17-15: Bob_reynolds
Well, I guess it's time for rest of us to pack it in and go home. ZD has spoken. He has the only opinion of merit. Just ask him. He's convinced that his experience somehow controls the audio reality for all of us. It's hard to take him seriously when he so easily flies off attacking everyone."

Just to clarify, I don't attack everyone. Sometimes I attack you, but definitely not everyone. These are your words, are they not?

"British mini monitors derived from the BBC LS3/5A have a mid bass hump to make up for the small size. The Zu Druid comes to mind as a design that puts dynamics over textbook frequency response.

If you have never listened to any particular component, you can't have an opinion on how it sounds.

I don't agree with that. Measurements provide a fairly good indication of how something will sound. That's the beauty of science -- it's not necessary to have first hand experience to make reasonable judgments. You likely disagree and that could be a difference in our background and education."

That's clearly not just your opinion, but something that you're trying to push off as fact. To be honest, that's just plain embarrassing. If that's not an example of ignorance fueled by arrogance, I don't know what is. Any opinion that I give is based on actual experience. You can't say the same. And that's not my opinion, that's a fact.

I've heard the Bryston BP26 many times. It decent unit that doesn't do much harm. It's a little overpriced, though. Imo, the Pass Labs preamps (XP series) which I've also heard, are a bit richer sounding than the Bryston, which sounds more on the leaner side. I've never heard Bryston and Pass Labs together, and it would be interesting to hear that combo. IfI were Chad, I would also audition the Pass Labs XP10 as well.

ZD, my point is that well-designed Preamps should sound neutral and not color the sound. Neither the Pass XP series nor the Bryston are known to have this characteristic (as opposed to, say, an older Conrad-Johnson or similar tube pre). No, I'm not saying all SS Preamps sound alike, but good ones shouldn't impart much of their own unique sound. I have direct experience with Pass products myself and I'd be quite surprises if the Bryston preamps had issues.

Why must so many audiophiles magnify the relatively minute differences between high quality, great sounding components?

This article says it in a more eloquent way than I can: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/tested-pass-xp20-preamplifier-and-xa1605-monoblock-power-amplifier/

"Why must so many audiophiles magnify the relatively minute differences between high quality, great sounding components?"

Because the differences are not always minute. Especially when it comes to preamps. They have a very big effect on sound quality. If you have a different personal experience, that's fine. But not everyone has the same experience.

"ZD, my point is that well-designed Preamps should sound neutral and not color the sound. Neither the Pass XP series nor the Bryston are known to have this characteristic (as opposed to, say, an older Conrad-Johnson or similar tube pre)."

How do you make that judgement? If you were to test both of the preamps we are talking about here, how would you know what one is less colored?

Zd
"Any opinion that I give is based on actual experience. You can't say the same. And that's not my opinion, that's a fact."

Yet you assert Bryston and Pass preamps are polar opposites without ever having had a Bryston pre in your system. What is your actual experience to back up that assertion?