Are Pass Labs amps probably the best ever you can buy ?

jafant9,950 posts
12-07-2018
11:19pm

melbguy_one

Good to see that you are still enjoying the Vitus Audio gear.

Happy Listening!

Cheers!

One of the things you want to consider is not only build quality but service after the fact. I have a Pass Labs X250 sounds wonderful bought it second hand if I have questions I can call Pass Labs and they will answer questions as if you just made the perchase yesterday.
Have communicated with Kent English a number of times always willing to help.

I also just bought a PS Audio Signiture 250 amplifier best I have ever herd for the money.
Also CS is outstanding have communicated with Founder ( Paul M) he responded to my email within hours. Call an 800 for Marantz took 3 weeks to get a call back and it was the USA sales line 

Also in my opinion Luxman and Macintosh do not have the build quality they had years ago. I have also heard repair on Macintosh even from a certified repair shop sucks.

Also not sure why one of the people that responded would want to keep his amp on 24/7 if someone has the answer please respond 

I like Nelson Pass. His stuff is good. Are and Spectral stuff is better. If you are going to spend in that range. You owe it to yourself to listen first.

You may want to consider Krell. I’ve had several models pushing B&W 802 and KEF. Currently, I have Krell’s 575 Solo coupled with Martin Logan 13a. A reason I mention them is that they just upgraded their line, “XD”, which has been well received by both Stereophile and Tone Audio. Like Pass, friendly and great service. 

@cakyol The cost of the amp does not quantify the improvement in sound you are getting. If class A/B is what you are considering then getting a good implementation with first 20 watts of class A into your speaker given the impedance would be nice. The rest can be class A/B, make sure the amp never reaches clipping. Some speakers need high current and good voltage swings, so amp that can do that is what you should consider.

I was looking for same and was considering the significantly less expensive and some not so famous amps by Coda, Odyssey, Parasound, ATI and ATC P2 etc. 

I did settle for Benchmark AHB2 however. 

I would wager that if you level match the above amps you may not hear any difference at normal listening levels. My preamp is Legacy Wavelet which is more expensive than the amp, it comes with room correction and are integrated to work well with Legacy Speakers.