A partial listing of the equipment in my system includes: Vandersteen 5A Carbons, Pass XP-22, PS Audio Directstream DAC, PS Audio P20 power regenerator, VPI Classic 4, a Roon server and currently one gaping hole because I have no amps since I sold my Pass XA60.8s. I’m going to be getting a loaner amp in a day or two to tide me over.
Compared to the XA60.8s, I felt that the M5-HPAs sounded smoother and instruments sounded more natural. I had mentioned somewhere else the saxophone on the "The girl from Ipanema". When it hit, it just sort of jumped out at me as sounding like it was weightier and almost right in the room with me. Massed strings are less emphasized and more as part of a cohesive top to bottom presentation. I was pretty happy with XA60.8s when I had my Quatro CTs, but the more open midrange on the 5ACs made me feel something was amiss that no room treatment, positioning or Roon DSP tweaking could ameliorate. Essentially, there was a glare in the upper midrange - at times. On good days, when I wasn’t too fatigued from other things and perhaps the AC quality was good, (P20 is only on upstream components), I could be floored with my setup. At other times, trying to get through an extremely difficult piece to do well on a system - for example, Brahms 3rd symphony, especially the opening, was a bit fatiguing. RV himself chalks this up to the XA60.8s having global negative feedback, which causes time smear and is especially evident with his time and phase correct speakers. Also, I’m sure something could be said for the simpler circuit path in his M5-HPAs. All I can say is that once I heard the M5-HPA’s, there was no going back. Now, my Pass XP-22 sounded great to me and I plan to keep it in the system. It is exceedingly neutral and very low in distortion. Is feedback an issue with it? I can’t say, but I’d be curious to know what others think. I suppose some would say for a system like mine especially, that you should banish all traces of it.
Compared to the XA60.8s, I felt that the M5-HPAs sounded smoother and instruments sounded more natural. I had mentioned somewhere else the saxophone on the "The girl from Ipanema". When it hit, it just sort of jumped out at me as sounding like it was weightier and almost right in the room with me. Massed strings are less emphasized and more as part of a cohesive top to bottom presentation. I was pretty happy with XA60.8s when I had my Quatro CTs, but the more open midrange on the 5ACs made me feel something was amiss that no room treatment, positioning or Roon DSP tweaking could ameliorate. Essentially, there was a glare in the upper midrange - at times. On good days, when I wasn’t too fatigued from other things and perhaps the AC quality was good, (P20 is only on upstream components), I could be floored with my setup. At other times, trying to get through an extremely difficult piece to do well on a system - for example, Brahms 3rd symphony, especially the opening, was a bit fatiguing. RV himself chalks this up to the XA60.8s having global negative feedback, which causes time smear and is especially evident with his time and phase correct speakers. Also, I’m sure something could be said for the simpler circuit path in his M5-HPAs. All I can say is that once I heard the M5-HPA’s, there was no going back. Now, my Pass XP-22 sounded great to me and I plan to keep it in the system. It is exceedingly neutral and very low in distortion. Is feedback an issue with it? I can’t say, but I’d be curious to know what others think. I suppose some would say for a system like mine especially, that you should banish all traces of it.