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A review Bound for Sound for Pass Labs fans

I take all reviews with a "grain of salt" perspective. After all, their just someone's hopefully honest and somewhat informed opinion regarding the sonics of that piece in their system. However, I cut Martin G. DeWulf, publisher/reviewer of Bound for Sound, a little more slack then most for at least two reasons. 1) He has no ads so he does not have to "suck up" to any manufacturers for $. 2) He often prints negative reviews, if that's what he hears.

In the most recent Bound for Sound, DeWulf reviews the Pass LabsX-350.5, the first "professional" review that I'm aware of, regarding any of the .5 amps.

He states the following:

1) He thought that in the past that the X-250 was a great piece, but did not care for the performance of the X-350. DeWulf gives great credit to Pass Labs for not getting defensive regarding his past review that was negative towards the X-350 and being more then happy/fearless in sending him the new X-350.5. for review, he believes many other companies would not, if they recieve a negative review from him in the past.

2) He states that even with all the "Buzz" regarding the new digital amps, class D amps, class LMNOP amps, when people come over to hear his system, they all first get caught up in the "eye-candy" regarding the X-350.5, and then respond with, "That thing sounds awesome!"

3) He goes into great details regarding the build quality and new design changes that filtered down from the XA amps into the new .5 series.

4) DeWulf has auditioned many highly regarded Solid State amps such Ayre, Edge, Parasound, PBN Sierra Olympus and does a fine job of comparing the 350.5's sonics to these other reference single chassis or mono-blocks.

5)His final verdict regarding the 350.5's place in the hierarchy of world class solid state amps, "This is the finest solid state power amplifier that I've had in the Big Rig to date-long live the new king.

Well, I'm a big fan of Nelson Pass and the other guys at Pass Labs, I had the 350.5 as my reference (did a review of it here on the GON) only to be replaced by XA-100's, and am glad that this amp finally got the credit it deserves in a well done and through review.
teajay
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
TeaJay, did the friendly crowd at Pass indicate to you if any member of the XA family could power the MG20R speaker by themselves comfortably, or if a byamping configuration is always recommended when applying XA amps to Maggies?
teajay OP
1,694 posts
 
Guidocorona, the opinion was that if you were going to run MG-20's or 20.1's with their passive crossover and not bi-amp you would have to go up to the XA-200's. However, Peter believed that a pair of 600.5's might sound better because of the loading of the speaker, but no one I know has run the experiement comparing a pair of XA-200's to a pair of 600.5's on either MG-20's or 20.1's run in a passive mode.

I think its apparent that I believe the 350.5 is just a wonderful sounding amp, if I was not a nutty audiophile/music lover looking for that last bit of "magic" I could have lived with the 350.5 for a very long and happy time. However, the XA-100's are the most beautiful sounding amps I have ever had in my system.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hrrrumpf, we truly need someone to run the experiment. . . in the meantime. . . I'll be checking real estate listings in Juno Alaska! The idea of being kept nice and toasty by a pair of X600.5s, listening to Herbert Von Karajan conducting Sibelius's 2nd Symphony whilst pulling up Whitings in my very unique music-room-ice-fishing-hut-combo sounds mighty attractive all of a sudden. . .
audioari1
128 posts
 
Mr. DeWulf also thought that the DK Design Group VS-1 Signature sounded just as good as the Pass, except he thought the Pass was MAYBE a bit better in the bass:

"I had to insert the Pass X350.5 with the Symfonia Opus 8 preamplifier to improve on the bass response of the Signature. That’s about $14,000 worth of solid state to surpass the bass performance from $6,000 of hybrid LSA Signature. And that’s not figuring in midrange and treble performance, where the Signature sounded more up front and immediate than any solid state system I could put together (including a solid state system incorporating the $25,000 XLH M-2000). "

I thought this would be interesting for all you avid DK bashers out there.
gandme
212 posts
 
Irish65
Nelson Pass said he thought the X-600 was the best in the series, confirmed by many owners of the X-series. But Nelson Pass never said the 250 outdid the 350. I think the 250 could matchup better in some systems & rooms...but not in most, including mine. I am not saying the 250 is not a capable Amp...but I enjoyed the match w/my equipment useing the 150 and 350. Tighter Bass, rich mids and detail galore at the top end!
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