Pass Labs “House Sound” vs. McIntosh “House Sound”

@toddcowles Congratulations on the XP-20 purchase. Though I don’t have direct experience with your McIntosh preamp, I believe you will find your system ’sound’ with your new Pass Preamp in it will be different than with the McIntosh Preamp. This is based on my hearing of the ’general’ Pass and McIntosh ’house sounds.’ Do share your findings with the Pass pre and any differences / preferences between the two preamps.

I have the XP-20 and am very happy with it. Isolation did help, but it wasn’t as major of a factor as with some of my other components. Pass strongly recommends keeping the factory supplied power supply umbilical. I do have an aftermarket pc into the Power Supply..... Pass doesn’t feel a great need for one and I generally, but not totally, agree (with their assessment with respect to the power supply).

Keep us posted -Todd
enjoy massaging the XP-20 into your system.
Happy Listening!

@david_ten Thanks for the input.
@jafant I’ll post up after I’ve had for about a month.

@almarg Hey Al, I’m going RCA/sub preout from the DEQX into the REL.

I’m going RCA/sub preout from the DEQX into the REL.

OK. So presumably you are using the volume control of the DEQX to change volume, rather than the one in the preamp.

Assuming that is the case I would reiterate my suggestion of trying an unbalanced connection of the DEQX directly to the power amps. Given the experience I mentioned earlier that was reported to me by another member (who also used a Premate), it seems very conceivable that you might obtain better results that way than with the balanced interconnection I assume you tried previously. And if so, perhaps you can eliminate both the DAC and the preamp altogether.

BTW, I use the unbalanced analog outputs of my HDP-5 directly into my power amp. I’ve never tried its balanced analog outputs, as neither of the power amps I presently have provide balanced inputs.

Best regards,
-- Al

@almarg I do use the DEQX volume control for the sub.  I put in a set of RCA's, but just get AC hum.  I unplugged the unit, let it sit for about 10 minutes, then plugged back in and turned on...same result.  Read through the manual, I didn't see anything that indicated one needed to select an output, other than the analog, analog/digital pulldown.  Switched between those, same result.  Possibly, the analog jumpers are set to high?