Who did hear the new Pass Labs .8 series amps?

I have the XA160.8's (to potentially replace my 160.5's).

They are very different from the .5's. Much deeper bass, thicker presentation. Much darker sounding overall.

Mine have about 280 hours on them and may not be fully broken in.

Madfloyd

not liking your description of the new XA160.8's. who wants darking sounding amps?

hopefully they will improve

^People who might have otherwise have bright sounding systems?

My guess is transparent cabling a poor match for the amps.

You need at least 400 hours to hear were you are heading to. I said earlier that I never would choose for only copper in a set. Silver is essential in every highend set. It is about the extra air around instruments and voices. Often a bigger stage and more decay. And a sharper individual focus of instruments and voices. In one year of time I did compare a few sets with MIT copper with Audioquest silver. Audioquest was superior in every single part you Judge a cable for.