Stereophile, Pass Integrated and personal taste


Stereophile has reviewed another Pass product, the Int-25, and again I found the distortion signatures super interesting:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pass-labs-int-25-integrated-amplifier-measurements

I wonder if it is possible that such a signature could be something some fall in love with and some are pushed away from?


Best,

E
erik_squires
I find eric's posts to be very interesting. -Certainly not 'Flame Trolling'.
Me too. Not that i always agree, but at least he posts informed comment and asks interesting, if to some provocative, questions.  Maybe if i spent more time i'd feel differently, but that's my two pence.

heck, its fact, not speculation that one part of tubes' allure is the euphoric distortion. Oh yea, same can be said about Pianos (sounding boards), Violins (cases), .....
I will admit to choosing to leave some distortions and vigorously banish others. And often, the trade off is a natural one is circuit design, so choices simply one's task.
Do we want accurate or "nice sounding".  They may be very different. I can argue either side.  Side out :-)
G
Nelson Pass is a Great designer . he not only builds a very good 
sounding product but takes a lot of his free time  and gives free 
schematics and helps many  other DIY on several of his amplifiers . He even sent me a pair of winged  heat sinks for free from one of his class A 25wpc amplifiers
minimal parts and very respectable specifications and very musically satisfying. Thank you Nelson Pass.
wlutke374 posts01-25-2020 1:50amGive it a rest Eric, for God’s sake
+1 and some
Ditto, Eric starts new Pass threads when he has the chance to be negative about them. This is around the 4th or 5th thread started by him that focuses on the negatives in it’s context that he pulls out of his head usually.
Someone must have drop’ed a Pass Labs amp on his foot/head at one time?
I don’t particularly like them either being Mosfet, but I don’t have this kind of unhealthy obsession with them to go out of my way to start these kinds of new threads about them.

Cheers George
@OP New here and sometimes struggling to keep up but I think I get what you're getting at.  Example.  Jitter etc aside, CD source often considered cold, clinical and uninspiring.  Too perfect perhaps? Consider too that some added noise allows for our ears/brains to resolve better (just like certain algorithms and digital processes converge better) so maybe a similar relationship exists for amp likability.  An ultimately neutral, perfect amp may end up leaving many feeling less passionate than one with "color".  Perhaps one man's natural-sounding is another's imperfection.  Perfection may actually leave one less excited (amps).  But I get it since speakers and room nuances aren't going anywhere and total system matters.  No one ever "listens" to just an amp.