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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
zybar's avatar
zybar
104 posts
 
FWIW, I own Atma-Sphere MA-1 amps and recently have borrowed my friend's Pass XA30.5 amp to see how it compares sonically.

From a heat perspective, there is absolutely no contest in which produces more heat - the MA-1's produce WAY MORE heat!! The MA-1's easily raise the temp 7-10 degrees in my 3500+ cubic foot room with two big openings, while the XA30.5 barely impacts the temp. Accordingly, the XA30.5 doesn't require anywhere near as much cooling as the MA-1's. So you play less to run and cool the XA30.5 than the MA-1's.

Unfortunately for me (and lucky for the power the company) the MA-1's sound a lot better and do more of what I like than the XA30.5, so they aren't going anywhere.

George
earflappin
87 posts
 
George, as you are one of the few people I've come across that has heard both of these excellent amplifiers in the same system with speakers which were compatible with the Atma-Sphere, could you provide a more detailed summary of your impressions? I take it your friend's XA30.5 was fully burned in and you listened to it fully warmed up? Thanks.
earflappin
87 posts
 
George, as you are one of the few people I've come across that has heard both of these excellent amplifiers in the same system with speakers which were compatible with the Atma-Sphere, could you provide a more detailed summary of your impressions? I take it your friend's XA30.5 was fully burned in and you listened to it fully warmed up? Thanks.
madfloyd
411 posts
 
While waiting for George's response, I can tell you that the XA30.5's were fully burned in and warmed up (George had borrowed them for a while).

I can also attest that the Pass doesn't come anywhere close to the Atma-Spheres in terms of texture and depth, imaging etc. In fact, when I first heard George's system with the XA30.5's I thought it sounded a lot like MY system. I have the XA100.5's (but otherwise completely different speakers and electronics). Sort of a Pass 'house' sound maybe.

In any case, I think the XA series could use more body. I have to use a tube preamp in order to get a satisfying sense of weight to instruments like sax, piano etc (at least with my Wilson Sophia 2 speakers).
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