Ice h2O S250 digital amp vs Levinson 333.5

I have tried the h2O S250 with a pair of Apogee Duettas Signatures and it was ok but my Pass Labs X350.5 blew it away! The Ice stuff still does not sound as good as most Class AB designs and if you can get lots of Class A power it is much more supperior over the ICE technology. I am not a fan of too much negative feedback and the ICE technology uses lots of it. The H20 is ok for CD and digital and the X350.5 was still significantly better but H20 with my turntable was not good. It could not produce the musical notes like the Pass X350.5. The H20 did not sound real. It is very weird because the H20 sounded very dynamic kind of high end car stereo like. The H20 had been used for several months before I got to try it.

if you want even semi-qualified answer then disclose the load the amp you serach will have to drive

If you do decide to go with any ICE amp, you will have to adopt a different cabling, sources and preamp strategy. So, it is more expensive than if you go with class AB, which the Pass 300.5 is.

I heard the Pass XA 100, and 300.5 on my speakers and they give a good sound, but don't at all challenge what I have here with ICE amps. Concerning ICE ampsvinyl, surface noise is amplified just like any other noisy component, like most preamps, sources and cables.

One more thing. A fellow in the recording industry, who had re-ribboned Duettas loved the ICE amp used with no preamp. He used an expensive CD player. In fact, it was a very evolved system He has moved to horns since, adopting SET amps for that purpose, as the ICE amp was too powerful for horns.

Hi Dob;

Yes, 2 minutes after I let the thread fly I realized I did not mention we are pushing Thiel 3.6's

Thanks