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Confession of a poor power cord pairing for a Pass Labs XA-25

I recently purchased a Pass XA-25 to replace my Nuforce STA-200. I had replaced the power cord on my Nuforce with an entry level Silnote power cord which made a tremendous difference in sound for the Nuforce. However, when I received my XA-25, I apparently was in an extreme hurry and did not install the cord that Pass Labs included.
This evening as I was sorting through a big box of interconnects and power cords, I discovered a power cord that still had its factory twisty tie intact. After a few minutes of deliberation, I realized that this was the power cord that was included with the XA-25. I hooked it up and wow!.. Detail and Bass that I didn't know this amp was capable of.
Moral of the story.... Just because it's factory power cord.. doesn't mean it can't be good.

128x128coachpoconnor
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Thanks for sharing this experience, Coach.  I too have an XA-25, which is a wonderful amp as you know.  I've never tried using its stock power cord because it is too short to be suitable for my setup.  Instead I use a 12 foot Signal Cable MagicPower Digital Reference cord, and I've been very pleased with the results.

That cord is nominally intended for use with digital components, but I selected it because (a)I wanted the double shielding it provides, to prevent possible coupling of amplifier-generated noise into my phono stage which is in close proximity to the cord, and (b)the 12 gauge conductors it uses are fine in terms of voltage drop, given the 2 amperes that are drawn by the amp as long as it is not asked to supply so much power that it leaves class A (which means the vast majority of the time in my case).

Enjoy!  Regards,
-- Al

mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,992 posts
 
+1 Al.  I've tried quite a few and always come back to the Signal.  Not just "good for the money", but excellent overall.
jl35
4,016 posts
 
According to Stereophile and others, Pass uses the very expensive Silent Source power cords to voice their products. I find my Pass mono blocks sound better with Cerious Matrix power cords than the included ones...
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cal3713
1,421 posts
 
I experienced this exact same result with my power cords in the amp. Have some custom furutech based cords that greatly improved my coincident Frankenstein mono blocks. The same cords made the xa25 sound worse than stock.
gadios
94 posts
 
As there is no real question here, may I ask the XA-25 owners:
-Did you buy thru RenoHiFi?
-Any deal to be had? (doubting that)
-How is the SQ? (As compared to whatever you replaced)

I am considering  the same amp.
I have 94 Eff. rated speakers so the 30 wpc should be okay.

My debate is whether to buy a used set of 60.8 monoblocks
or simplify with the Int. option. Cost close to the same either way.

Dave10- What did NP say? Confused by your comment. Thanks.
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