Pass X1??

I meant to write I am using anm X1/X250.5 combo. I traded up my 250 for the 250.5.

I don't think any of the Pass Labs stuff is ever obsolete. It all sounds really good in my book. The build quality is amazing.

I agree with Macdadtexas

Just yesterday at my friend Carlo house I listened his Pass Labs X20 with two Pass XA100 behind Harbeths HL5
I absolutely didn't find my X1 obsolete! .. On the contrary I suspect the X1 is more neutral than the X20 (great preamp but slightly romantic mids compared to the X1) IMHO
In few words I don't perceive the demand to trade my X1 for the new X20

I had the Pass Aleph P which I traded in for the X-1. The X-1 is much more neutral with better bass. I now have the XP-20 which I find to be quieter and more transparent. All of the Pass gear is great. They sound good, are very reliable and built to last. With the XP-20 I hear more inner detail resulting in more accurate timbre, more texture and better harmonics. Having said that, the X-1 is an outstanding value for $2,000. I have heard other preamps in my system, both SS and tubes. I have found that nothing sounds as good with a Pass amp as a Pass pre amp. You could consider trading it in at RENO HIFI for a used XP-10 or 20, but it would be expensive. I would hold onto it. Oddly, I like the looks/simplicity of the old remote. It was perfect for the Aleph P but became complicated to use for the functions of the X-1. The new remote works well, but is a bit too conventional for my taste and the buttons and print are tiny.

Over the last fifteen years or so, high-end two-channel amps and preamps have generally not experienced ground-breaking improvements in circuit design and listening and build quality. On the contrary, the market for high-end two-channel gear since the mid to late 90's has diminished considerably, one of the many results of which is that new designs do not benefit from the economies of scale that manufacturers enjoyed back then. What was a very high-end piece of two-channel gear ten years ago will often be better than today's high-end models, and cost a fraction on the used market of what you would pay for new gear. The short answer is that the X-1 is a very good solid-state preamp (of which there are unfortunately few), and there are only a handful of solid-state preamps out there at any price, be they current production or used, that compete with or beat it.

If you do buy an expensive new preamp, be sure to give it hundreds of hours of listening time before drawing conclusions - the effects of a good preamp on a system are subtle and take a lot of time to fully perceive.

Digital gear, in contrast, has tended to improve considerably because a CD player is part-computer (and computer technology improves over time), and I think it's safe to say that cheap and good-to-very-good digital gear now provides more bang for the buck. At the high end of the market, however, the power supplies and analog output stages of some 1990's models were outstanding and easily beat current production models. In addition, some current high-end manufacturers at the very top of the market achieve their sound through the deliberate use of vintage 1980's chips. In short, with very high-end digital, it's more complicated.