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

Confused by your comment. Thanks.

@gadios Pass’ guidance (at the time) was to run my 30.8 direct into a wall outlet and to use the stock power cord. Performance is good doing so. They were not ’crazy’ re. power supplies/power conditioners and were hesitant (grudgingly, slowly moving forward in this area) about aftermarket power cables.

I eventually introduced SR’s PowerCell 12 SE into my system and using it with the 30.8 resulted in significant improvements in system sound quality and elevated overall performance. Same with an aftermarket power cable, in this case a Triode Wire Labs Obsession.

Had I addressed these areas first, I would have been much less likely to audition other amplifiers. Since other amps outperformed (to my needs/preferences) the 30.8 in my then system, the 30.8 is no longer my primary amplifier. For reference it was paired with the XP20.

To summarize, the Pass stock power cable can be surpassed. If you have a Pass amp you owe it to yourself to try different power cables with it and come to your own conclusions and select the one (inclusive of the stock cord) that works best for you.

compared to many others, Pass includes a good quality stock cord...but it can be bettered and Pass uses better cords in shows...which cord you prefer is based on many factors, but well worth searching out...

@gadios, in response to your three questions:

1) I purchased a new XA-25 from Reno HiFi. Consistent with their outstanding reputation I found them to be a pleasure to deal with.

2) Yes. I don’t think you would be disappointed.

3) My XA-25 replaced a VAC Renaissance 70/70 MkIII tube amplifier, which uses four 300B tubes per channel and provides 70 wpc. I use Daedalus Ulysses speakers, specified as 97.5 db/1 watt/1 meter, 6 ohms, and which have an extremely flat and benign impedance curve. While the two amps sound somewhat different, of course, I found that the Pass comes remarkably close to the VAC with respect to dimensionality, imaging, liquidity, and other traditional fortes of high quality tube amps. It’s a bit less rich sounding than the VAC, but I interpret that as an increase in accuracy and transparency, which is fine as far as I am concerned.

Among the various glowing reviews of the XA-25, the one by Terry London (Audiogon member Teajay) in hometheaterreview.com was particularly consistent with my findings.

I have 94 Eff. rated speakers so the 30 wpc should be okay.

Note that after leaving class A the XA-25 can produce much more power than specified. Stereophile measured 80 and 130 watts into 8 and 4 ohms respectively. The extremely tight distortion tolerances upon which Pass bases the 25 and 50 watt specifications also factor into the difference between the specified power capabilities and Stereophile’s measurements.

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.

The 60.8 and the Pass integrateds (if those are what "Int." is referring to in your statement) are different animals than the XA-25, of course, and I would not infer much if anything about the sonics of those models from experiences that are reported with the XA-25.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

https://www.passlabs.com/amplifier/int-25

Hi coachpoconnor, I currently running a pair of 86db sensitivity speakers with a nuforce sta 200, and also very interested to get a xa 25. First great to know it's a definitive improvement! But I was wondering what speaker are you driving and if you think the pass will be enough for my speakers, they are scansonic mb1. Thanks!