The Pass Labs is good stuff. The X-1 and X2.5 are two of the better preamps I've owned.
My guess is it's not the brutal honesty of the music or even the recording at issue here. Most likely it's the brutal honesty of inferior or no AC line conditioning and ics and scs that induce time-smear. Either of these shortcomings will induce an ear fatiguing presentation that makes one run for cover.
Everybody has dirty AC to one bad degree or another and everybody incorporating a cd player (and dac) is subject to bi-directional digital noise that will make its way back into the AC, even back to the service panel and then contaminate your other components. The only line conditioners I can recommend are the Foundation Research passive, dedicated, and bi-directional (for digital noise) line conditioners which I've been using for 5 years and recently took on that product line when I became a dealer. If you do not have proper line conditioning and start to shop for it, be aware that some of the most popular line conditioners actually induce sonic harm rather than purify it. Proper is the keyword here.
Time-smear in cabling (ics and scs) is very common regardless of price. But cables that induce little or no time smear are out there and they make a world of difference. Several that come to mind include Audio Tekne, BPT's, Audience, and Speltz. And none of these will cost an arm and a leg.
Assuming these are two areas that need addressing and resolved you will hear a pristine musical presentation that will catipult your system to levels you did not know were atainable.
If these shortcomings do exist and you choose not to address them it really doesn't matter what else you do.
BTW, with proper line conditioning, the performance of the X-1 should be near identical to that of it's single-chassied little brother the X2.5 which I actually preferred because I did not want the seperate power supply and 6 ft umbilical cord that comes with the X-1 if I could not hear any audible differences.
-IMO
