Pass INT-25, split decision and maybe option?

I recommend a Prima Luna tube integrated. It’s the easiest way to own tubes, and they sound amazing. You can roll tubes easily without worrying about biasing or flimsy tube sockets. You can choose the tubes that work best for your speakers. If you want the most functionality, go for a PL EVO 300 or 400 integrated. I have a little EVO 100 integrated in my second system, and I’m running a set of TungSol 6550’s to drive GoldenEar Triton 1’s. AMAZING midrange, clarity, and a soft, beautiful top end. The bass drivers in this speaker are powered, so I don’t need to tax the amp that much. Your speakers are pretty efficient, so a PL EVO 100 may be all you need. I love PrimaLuna. I have an EVO 400 pre-amp hooked up to Pass Labs XA 60.8’s in my main system, and I’m driving Dynaudio Confidence 20’s with a Dynaudio Sub 6. It sounds great! PL and Pass make an amazing combo, and I can listen to this system for hours and hours. No fatigue. By the way, I would recommend staying away from ARC products. I’ve had 5 of them, and they were all flimsy, noisy, and terribly overpriced. The best ARC product I had was an old VSi60; it was built like a tank. However, even this amp had a problem with the mute function. It was annoying. But I digress. Make it easy on yourself. Enjoy the music. Contact the folks at Upscale Audio, and they will get you all set. Cheers!

Try Lavardin.  Detailed, but rich tube like sound.

The INT-25 has been returned. It was just not working correctly. I truly tried everything I could think of to make it work, but I'm sure there's something wrong with the gain stage of the amp. With efficient speakers, I shouldn't be able to say in the room with full output of the INT-25, yet I barely hit 90dB at that point. DAC was set at full output (tried both fixed full output at 96, which is max, and variable output which then goes to 100, both set to High output) and nothing... Tried a phono stage (Andover SpinStage) which has an output of 71dB with the Shelter 501 (according to Andover, hence for most applications, I use inline attenuators which I removed for testing of the INT-25), but even with this I couldn't get the volume much more than 90dB at full output.

I spoke to Pass Labs and they're just as stumped as I was as to why it doesn't get loud enough.

I also think this is the root cause why I was so indecisive with this amp to start with... loved certain things about it, but it was lacking something. Bet that was the super low gain in the front end of it...

Did the shop you borrowed it from have the same problem? Are you going to track down another one to listen to?

To @audiojan - There are plenty INT-25 units out there running perfectly well. Well tested they are leaving the factory. I live 15 minutes from Pass Labs btw, tons of it around me. Never heard of this kind of failure before, so once they check it out, will be interesting to understand what they find inside. Bad part or did something come loose inside.

So whoever you got it from or possibly some kind of dropped-box issue during shipping can happen. Would likely require a pretty heavy drop to loosen anything inside - one other guess.

Ask:

Was it brand new or used, and did it come in the all original Pass Labs box and internal packing inside when you received the amp?