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


I have about 15k to spend on an amp/preamp/integrated amp.

I mostly listen to smooth jazz like Dave Koz, Rippingtons, Brian Culbertson etc.... and loud.

I have yet to hear any amp that comes close to Pass Labs.

Your experiences pls ?
128x128cakyol
Mr. Pass makes very nice Solid State amps, among the best out there.  Hes a cool guy !! Unfortunately, solid state amps typically require a certain amount of negative feedback, which adds an OUT OF TIME component to the music's playback.

Fortunately for music lovers, there is an inherently better device called the triode vacuum tube, that  when done well, can operate without feedback and can become a better-sounding amplifier than ANY solid state device can be made into. 

There are two problems with tube designs however 

(1)  The best performing amps will be 3 Watts or less

(2)   99.90 percent of the tube amps built, past and present, simply don't cut the mustard 


The solution to number (1) above, is very easy :  select the best sounding amplifier ( which is THE weakest link in the system ) as the FIRST priority in your State of the Art Hi Fi system.  Then, find a really good high-efficiency speaker .  I am thinking of a simple two- way, ALTEC, GPA and ALE. 

The solution to number (2) above, which tube amp to buy, is very easy.  There is only one person, known to me over the past dozen years, who builds the best performing tube amps ever made.  He is out of Livingston, Montana , USA, and his name is Dennis Fraker.  His small company ( one man ) is called Serious Stereo. 

I would simply suggest, anyone who seeks the best listening experience, to visit Dennis at his place in Montana, and allow him to demo his late-2018 system for you.   You will know, right away, from what you hear !!   

Also, he is a very nice person to interact with, smart, caring, and honest.  Look him up on the web, you can call and talk to him !!   But most of all, visit and listen for yourself.  The proof of the pudding .

Well, now you have the truth, at least as " I " see / experience / hear it.   Go visit and listen for yourself.   You will be educated.

Jeff Medwin 

Cakyol,

  Look NO!  @ all of these response why. Speakers love the very best Amp driven them to Nirvana.  Pass/TA Arc/etc,etc.  If your eye's on a PASS LABS own it.

Guess what!  Not the exact SOUND YOUR EARS WANTED. No problem. To cool, to warm

to hot of top end, To lose bass. What to do. Well interconnects, power cables, fuses,

all of these can be GAME changers. The Cable Co online will loan you al box full of each

to dial in your Nirvana return the rest you pay UPS both ways only.. All of these tweats
are nothing more than than ear tuners!!

Trust me my first Audio serious system back in 1969.

 Been through all of THIS is the best BS suggestors...

Tubes 444


I heard Cary SET's at a show and the sound was anemic. Little speakers
naturally.  I heard a demo at an audio meeting of a small-scale tube amp company (SET's) on a Livingston Taylor LP. They sounded very good, maybe a tad loose in the bass. It was very nice but I still like Rowland, Levinson, etc. VTL makes great amps but they are not SET's. Some accuse them of sounding like SS! I can only vouch for Pass Aleph amps
since I have heard what they can do in person. You can hear in a few minutes the "warmth" to the presentation. It's unmistakable, but you may not personally like them, which is fine. But you can fry an egg (well almost) on the surface.