Pass Labs xa - .5 amps

Congratulations. I think you have a very, very fine piece. Some might argue the best sounding amp out of the Pass shop (assuming sufficient power of course).

Anyone compared the XA-30.5 to the Aleph 3? I had an Aleph 3 and an Aleph P many years ago and thought the combination was fantastic. I sold the Aleph 3 because I purched new speakers that required more power. Somtimes I wish I still had the Alpeh 3 and other speakers.

I imagine the xa-30.5 is a more dynamic with wider soundstage and better grip on bass. I would like to trade my aleph 3 for one but my budget will not allow it right now. I wonder how it would compare to a first watt aleph j? one thing tho I would have to agree with Pubul57 about low power amp sounds better. I listened to a friends aleph 1.2, it sounded nice & sweet but didn't seem to sound as sweet as my aleph 3. maybe it has to do with more transistor in the signal path or something, it did not sound as pure as the low powered aleph. I also listen to a pair of bk mono blocks that were 200 wpc and, if did not sound a good as my aleph 3, or the aleph 1.2. I have been wanting to listen to aleph j but don't know any near me to compare and when I read the review on 6 moons on the xa-30.5, I have been drooling over the xa-30.5

I'm not a believer in the blanket statement that lower powered amps always sound better. In my experience amps should be reviewed case by case. While I have heard some lines of amps where a lower powered one sounded better to my ears, I have also heard the opposite to be true. All other things equal, I think higher powered amps do have their advantages.

I owned the Aleph 3 and 2 and I think the XA is more dynamic, and obviously so. I owned the Alephs so long ago that I can't say more about other specific comparisons, but the XAs are real current monsters and they have a lot of bass drive and pace. The high power/low power argument is proabably endless and subjective to some extent, but I still think that the same basic circuits with the differences based on output power will sound better IF the lower power is sufficient to drive the speaker to the right levels. IF not, than more power will have an advantage since insufficient power is proabably more of a liability than the benefits of the simpler lower power version of an amp. But I don't mean to sidetrack, other than to agree that overall the XA is an improvement over the Aleph in that it maintains the former's virtues while adding improved bass and dynamic performance (the Aleph is still a great sounding amp, and with certain speakers the difference in drive might not even be noticeable)