Pass Labs AMP’s- What is the best Pass Amp Sound for You from past 10 years

Hi teajay, did you mean above that the XA25 is your favorite .8 series amp or your favorite of all pass amps? If its not your favorite and I am not inadvertently putting you on the spot do you mind me asking which is? Thanks

I'm thinking this may not be a fair question.

Hey Jetter,

When Nelson Pass has been asked what is his all time favorite amplifier that he created/designed he says all of them!

As I stated it's my personal favorite of the .8 generation of amplifiers.  However, I have a soft spot in my audiophile heart for the Threshold SA-1 mono-blocks because they too were warm,full, and sweet sounding but with great dynamics.

I forget to mention I also own a First Watt SIT2 that's also a wonderful music maker.  Each of Nelson's creations offer slightly different "flavors" and the matching of the amps with the right speaker load also is very important.  I loved the XA-25 on Tekton Double Impacts-pure magic, but found that my much larger 21 driver ULf's, that are easy to drive but love high current, did not match up as well with the XA-25 that's were the X-250.8 sounded better.

So, it's not the amplifier in isolation, but the matching/synergy to different speaker loads that tells the tail of the sonic tape.  Still, the XA-25, with the right speakers is a "gem" of an amplifier at a reasonable price.

Jetter,  you need to call Pass and Mark at Reno HiFI, then go listen to some amps...

Hey Teajay...you owned so many of Nelson's babies, you don't even remember them all :o)

Don't forget you also own(ed) the...
Threshold Stasis 1
Pass XA100 (prior to the .5 that you had)
Pass X350.5
...and the SIT2