Pass Labs XA-160 vs Levinson 33H

newbee, thanks. I am actually trying to arrange a demo of the ARC Ref210 amps. Lets hope I dont like it!

Tboooe,
Have you considered auditioning a McCormack DNA-500:

http://iar-80.com/page5.html

Tboooe,

I remembered from another forum you were pretty happy with the Parasound Halo A21 some two years ago or so... Why don't you say "STOP" yourself and simply - enjoy the music...?

Friendliest,

Zoran, Macedonia

Zoran, you are right but what can I say, I like to upgrade a lot. The A21 was a pretty good amp though. Two years ago seems so long ago....Thanks again!

LOL. just how many pre's are you going to go thru before you find your soulmate ? why not give the vtl 6.5 a try, or the 7.5 mk 2. with the right PC and ICs, the synergy with the pass amps is really nice. By the way, the occassional distance i heard with the vtl 6.5 in my intense audition of the 6.5 / ref 3 a/b was COMPLETELY solved when i moved away from the cardas GR ICs to TA ultras. in the audition i used the TA ultras only on the ref 3 due to a miscommunication of advice for the vtl. had i used the TA ultras for the vtl as well, the audition would have been 4 hours rather than 4 days. i am sure many other excllnt ICs would have revealed the same results in my system. see my review \on this site. there is most likely an impedance issue with the ref 3 and pass amp. placing both in the same system may compromise the potential of each very excellent component. if your amps+speaker combo does it for you, look into the vtl pre and keep an open mid regarding ICs. speaker/amp synergy is the first priority, though i am sure there are a handful of superb amps for your speakers should you want to keep the ref 3. call up brooks berdan in pasadena for the vtl. cheers,marc