What Power Amplifier Should I Buy?

@kevemaher Last year I was considering the same amp you have. I talked directly to Bryston about my room and they said the 2.5 should have plenty of power. Your room is slightly smaller than mine. Based on that and your updated comments about improved transients I would consider scrutinizing the pre. I saw a well regarded poster on here one time respond to the question "What does a pre add" and the answer was "Richness". I couldn’t agree more after my testing.  Could that solve your SQ improvement needs?

Another thing to consider is the BDP-3 is now out of production. Although Bryston has a solid reputation of supporting OOP models there is no guarantee the BDP-3 will support the new OS3 that is in the works. The BR-20 Pre should have the hardware to support the new Bryston streaming OS. Then you pick up the synergy between the Bryston Pre and Amp. Fair number of reviews out there on the BR-20.

I am surprised at your experience with the Pass XP-12, I added one to my system this year and it is an excellent pre, with zero grain or sibilance that I can detect. I suspect that it is only exposing some issues with your source(s) that the ML is glossing over. I would try the Bryston preamp, and if you have issues there, then look further up the chain for issues. 

@zlone - I agree.  I have an XP-22 and it's outstanding.  I have zero sibilant.  I also had a ML pre prior to the XP-22 and bottom end is much more pronounced.

I am surprised at your experience with the Pass XP-12, I added one to my system this year and it is an excellent pre, with zero grain or sibilance that I can detect.

@zlone  @hkfan  Yeah, that’s why I’m throwing my hands up on this one.  Something’s just outta sync here along with an insufficient description on what the OP is looking for.  Sometimes ya just gotta punt, and hopefully someone else can help unlock this cryptic riddle. 

@soix Hi, I can understand your frustration.

Please tell me how I can clarify. I would like to keep seeing your inputs to my questions, even if it is not complementary. I value what you have to say.

I cannot explain why this XP-12 was a failure in my system. I did swap out other preamps such a couple of vintage APT/Holman ones. I had no problems with either. I even sent the XP-12 back to the factory. I live 30 mins from the Pass facility, so I hand carried the preamp to them and explained directly to the tech what I heard. He did find a problem with the older gain modules. He replaced them with modern ones and retested OK.  However, when I put the XP-12 back in the system. the sibliance was still there, unlike all three of the other amps. So I just don't know why I had this experience with the XP-12. I did everything I could think of to make it work.

The suspicion that the 38s preamp is masking a different problem may have some traction. The problem with the XP-12 occurred with all inputs, two phono cartridges Koetsu RS and Shelter 901, the Paragon as Phono preamp and the SUT, one Technics SL-1200G TT, a re-aligned Sansui TU-X1 tuner, and the Bryston BDP-3/BDA-3 combo. I can't see how each of these could separately create the same sibilance.

I have looked at the Bryston BP-17 cubed before. Perhaps I should pick one up and give it a try.