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

I agree that Pass customer service is second to none. 

Due to the influence if the "me too" movement, I can't support a product line named T&A.

Hi wolf_garcia....

Best comment made on this thread so far :-)

Women deserve respect AND equal rights, but they may not have enough "warmth" in the midrange...

From 7-3-18 to 12-31-18, I designed and developed a SE two stage directly-coupled tube amp for my ALTEC speakers.  It must do 0.3 Watts.  It had a power supply to support a 100 Watt amp.  It was hard-wired internally with wire with having silver content.  Unlike any Pass amp, there is no feedback in the amp.

In December 2108, a friend sent me a PASS ACA 1.6 version, professionally built, to sell for him on eBay.  I allowed the Pass amp to warm up for 24 hours.  When I put the ACA 1.6  in my system , ( compared to my much lower powered tube amp ), the ACA sounded thin, anemic, un-dynamic, two-dimensional, removed from the music, and uninspiring.  My DIY tube amp design - easily and simply trashed the ACA.   That .............was my recent listening experience.

If a triode tube amp is done well (  sadly for the public, 99.9% are NOT !! ) you can not match it, with any low-powered transistor amp, IMHO.  YMMV, fine with me !! 

Dowto1000