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pass labs xa30.5 vs aleph 3

Stereophile reveiwer Erick Lichte has done a head to head review of these pass amps in August 2009 issue. Erick uses the aleph 3 as his main amp feeding a pair or Revel f30 speakers, he also uses Benchmark Dac1 to feed the alpeh as I do as well. He was asked to do a comparison between the pass amps as a follow up to the great reveiw of the xa30.5 which was reviewed by Brian Damkroger in which,I quote "absolutely, positively,and enthusiasticallly recommended" the xa30.5 and, Brian sounds like he perfers high powered amps in the review. In the review Erick thought the Xa30.5 sounded more resolving and a little bit better bass control and can sound louder than the 30 watts. It was leaner in the midbass than the aleph 3 but, had a slightly more presents in the top three octave. he still is in love with is aleph 3 and sound like he is not planning on replacing the aleph 3 with the xa30.5. Anyways I have been waiting for a head to head review of these pass amps since the xa30.5 was released. If anyone would like to see the head to head review send me an email and I will take a high res pictures of the artical and send it to anyone. Also Erick Lichte did a head to head review of the Musical Fidelity's 550k supercharger amp and the Aleph 3 in a December 2008 issue. He concluded the aleph sounded better than the 550's by itself. He then supercharged his aleph 3 but did not like the sound. Very interesting articals about my beloved aleph 3, and a great read for aleph 3 owners. In my opinion the aleph 3 is still a giant killer and is a legend when it comes to amps.
tiverson2000
tiverson2000 OP
14 posts
 
Danielk141

the aleph 3 is the amp that Erick uses for his main amp. I think that is the only aleph amp he has. He was a good canidite for the follow up reviews. I have been thinking about trying out aleph J which is suppose to be the best aleph yet. I have family in mesa and, I know how hot it gets in Phoenix, I'm surprise you use the aleph 2's in the summer. I have a smallish dedicated music room in my basement. the aleph 3 gets hot but not bad. My basement is cool year round. I live in Michigan so it does not get that hot here. I've been tempted to get a pair of aleph 2 but I think the heat would be too much for my small 2 channel room. I believe the only difference between the xa sereis and the xa.5 series is that the xa.5 can drive harder loads, i don't know this for sure.
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
I have had the Aleph 3, Aleph 5, Aleph 2, XA160 and now the XA100.5. I wrote a review here on Audiogon detailing my impressions of the evolution. I briefly heard an X250 at a dealers, but was not moved. My current XA.5 are by far my favorite, though I did keep the Aleph 3 for my separate TV system. I agree that the Aleph 2 represents an incredible value in today's used market. I just found the bass somewhat lacking. I too would like to read a comparison of the Aleph J with the XA30.5.
tiverson2000 OP
14 posts
 
One thing I noticed is that when an aleph 3 is listed for sale here, they don't last very long. there was one for sale just a couple days ago and it's gone already. someone here has a really nice review of the aleph J, these don't last long either, they go pretty quick.
danielk141
489 posts
 
Peterayer,

I'm wondering how hot your XA100.5 amps run?
I know everyone thinks Class A is Class A.
I have seen amps that run even hotter than my Aleph 2s.
My (former) Pass dealer had a Plinius stereo amp several years ago, on demo from the distributor. It was one that runs Class A or Class A/B with a switch on the faceplate.
In Class A that amp ran so hot nobody would touch it.
We speculated the amp needed more heatsink area......
I bet the caps in that amp fried sooner than other amps.
lickt
1 posts
 
Hi all,

Glad you enjoyed the review. Though the Aleph 3 is not my only amp, it is the amp that I listen to the most. I thought the comparison between the Aleph 3 (Pass' 30 w/p/c, Class A amp from the 90's) and the XA 30.5 (Pass' current 30 w/p/c Class A amp) would illuminate the evolution of Pass' sound and design. The article is in the August Stereophile.

Erick Lichte
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