Should I Sell My ARC REF 6 and Get A Pass Labs XP-32

@moto_man my speakers are Wilson Audio Sabrina. You can see my system with pictures in my profile.
One other finding worth mentioning…the preamp section of my Bricasti M3 DAC is very good. Yet the XP22 beat it in soundstage and musicality/engagement factor and it sounds more natural top to bottom. Running the DAC direct into amps was all about transparency and detail. But it was flat with less body and not as engaging compared to running the preamp. There’s synergy with running all Pass Labs amplification.

Also, I changed the Sovtek 6550 power tube to EH and that cleared things up a bit but I still preferred the XP22.

Hope this helps.

I love my 60.8 monoblocks and the XP-32

I’ve had the XP20 and I currently have ARC SS gear, the LS10 and D240.

The XP20 was honestly a straight gain tool no features to speak of, ultimately I sold it and moved to the musicality of the ARC set.

You may find you like both because they do different things to their music signal. Try to demo the XP32 without selling your ARC gear.

Good luck with your tests.

@OP. Given the way geopolitics are evolving, I would be concerned about the availability of 6H30 tubes. For what it's worth, I recently did an extensive A/B comparison of an AR Reference 2 Phonostage v a Pass XP 27. The Ref 2 was good - especially on simple material where it had that slightly larger than life presentation that I often hear in tube gear. But on anything more complex, the XP 27 was better - more detail, more refined tonally, and more dynamic.

That's a limited comparison in terms of the preamps, but it does give a bit of insight into as the AR Preamps and Pass Pres have a fairly consistent design philosophy, respectively. I have an XP32 and it's an excellent preamp and, obviously, works very well with the Pass power amps.

@OP

WOW - And there’s me thinking I had ’Valve (tube to you guys) Anxiety’! You’re worried about replacing them every 5→10 YEARS?!?!? I wish! Sounds like (no pun) you hardly ever switch you system on! I have a Ref 3, which I believe uses the same tube complement, and, using ARC recommended replacement period of 4000hrs for best SQ (although recently a correspondence from ARC said 2000hrs is best!!) I need to replace my set every TWO YEARS!! That costs me MORE than it does to run my car! 6H30 EH are c£70 each at the moment here in the UK, which is why I bought from VivaTubes over there at $60 each, and 6550WA’s are also becomming scarse and rapidly going up in price, mainly due to the ’Russian Problem’!

Back to your dilemma - due to my continued valve anxiety, I too am considering a change to an XP-20, even though I love the sound of the Ref 3 into my Threshold Stasis S300 II, and maybe a good or better match with an XP-20, into my Maggie 1.7i’s. But I cannot hear an XP-20 first, as I cannot buy an XP-20/22 before I sell the Ref 3 due to being a cash strapped pensioner. So I have a very similar situation to you, except I use my system a LOT more than you seem to do in that tiny tiny room of yours.

Good luck, and please repport back once you’ve listened to the XP-32.