Bryston or Pass Labs

Absolutely. Thanks to all for your input on this subject.

I went 4b3 but did consider Pass X250.8 and X350.8, one main reason did not go Pass is the class A heat.  As for the sound of the 4b3 its very, very good match with my 20.7s

I am not familiar with most of the gear that you have, but I have had several Nelson Pass products, including the Pass XA100.5, XA60.8, the First Watt M2 and J2.  I also own a pair of Lamm tube amps.  They each have their own character, but I have to say that all have these things in common: accuracy, good dynamics, and most important, they are musically superior to everything else I have listened to over the 15 years I have been an audiophile   I had a Bryson amp, 4bt I believe, several years ago and I found it to be very analytic. It was accurate and it had good dynamic presentation but it was not very musical.  Just my “2 cents” worth.

These new cubed series are very nice. The Bryston could be more analytical, transparent, and neutral than the Pass, and personnally I would not want that with the Focal. I would go straight Pass !!

I know this is a old thread but I'm finding myself with a loaner 4b3 which I like very much but I also like what I read about Pass and am contemplating buying on approval from Reno or finding a used unit.  I'll note here that if you can go to the X150.8 that amp actually competes price wise with the 4b3.  The Pass products are generally grossly underrated power wise and perform 25-35% higher than their stated output.  So while the x150.8 is not as underpowered as you think it might be in comparison to the 4b3.  The 4b3 is FAR FAR more musical to me than the "squared" series, much more delicate upper midrange and highs, beautifully detailed but not etched.  It still is a little lacking in the presence department but only slightly and my suspicion is that's where the Pass will exceed the Bryston.  The Bryston is however an exceedingly "fast" amp without being etched and is also totally dual mono with two stacked transformers (one for each channel).  The build quality is astonishing and the thing can just put out a huge amount of power with no compression.  I can easily listen to 110 db peaks on large orchestra recordings on the Bryston with no compression or odd things going on at all so I am impressed.  Any further thoughts from anyone are welcome.  My front end is largely digital (Bryston BDP-1) using Audirvana and a tubed Aesthetix Janus preamp with Thiel 2.4s.