OK, as I promised - reporting on Pass XA30.5.
Listened to it for more then 2 weeks now
It is definitely better, then W4S. The difference is not "night and day", definitely not like AYON CD-5 vs OPPO-105. That was night and day, with Ayon blowing me really out of the water. This is more like "night and dusk" so to speak.
I am not reviewer and cannot describe all in audiophile terminology, but sound is more "natural" for my ears, and more detailed at the same time. Especially on small classical quartets, music I heard live very often - cello is spot on, which I never was able to achieve in my system for years.
Imaging is actually very close call - may be W4S ST500 II amp is pretty good indeed, as some other people say. It is just not Pass Labs.
With my GoldenEar Triton 1 needle on a meter almost never moves. I have to crank sound to level I feel uncomfortable to see it start to move slightly.
Two additional observations -
1. I can hear more details with lower volume then before, surprise.
2. In HT settings (I recalibrated system due to different amp gains, I use Anthem 720MX as a processor) and for 5.1 recording sound improved quite a bit, more then I expected. the whole presentation became way more organic, and I gave my collection of awesome Steve Wilson classical prog remixes a new spin. Dunno if it is amp or recalibration or both.
At the end I would like to thank everyone who participated in this thread and pushed me into decision to switch amps - money well spent.
