Pass Labs Amp X350.5 or X350.8 anyone compare?

When I first upgraded from XA160.5's to XA160.8's I did think the highs were subdued. So did at least one of my audiophile friends, who told me he preferred the highs from the .5's but overall preferred the .8's because it had more 'meat on the bones'.

There was a LOT more bass energy in the .8's and this finds it way up into the midrange where it provides a thicker, more palpable presentation.

It's hard to say whether the treble of the .8's actually has less energy or whether the .5's simply have a thinner (more recessed) midrange. The latter is the impression one gets when going back from the .8's to the .5's (I had both amps in my system for 2 months).

I ended up switching speaker cables and now I don't find any loss in high frequencies (system synergy!).

Hope this helps.

It's an endlessly interesting hobby. This evening I removed an Afghan rug from between the .8 amps(on Stillpoint Ultra SS with coupling bases) and Merlin VSM(on Stillpoint Ultra 5). This redressed the frequency imbalance with a more prominent upper midrange and HF, with improved LF definition. It's now about as perfect as imaginable. Star Sound Apprentice platforms are en route for comparison.

Ok, thanks guys, I was worried there for a bit, lol.

Great information guys, I also thinking about upgrade to the 350.8.

In 5 years of time using many different Pass Labs amps, I did learn one important thing.

With th best powercables and interconnects you can get a superior level out of an Pass amp.

This means it is very easy to loose a lot of the quality an Pass amp can give. So most people spend a lot of money on an Pass amp and don't use a big part of the quality it is capable to give.

You need to understand the properties of Pass Labs. This is including their weakest points. These you need to improve with the right properties of cables ans sources or even with pre-amps.

The best sound possible only will come to the surface when you have created all the properties togheter in a set. Often a set is incomplete. Why it is incomplete? Because most people don't understand what is missing.

07-05-14: Dgarretson
It's an endlessly interesting hobby. This evening I removed an Afghan rug from between the .8 amps(on Stillpoint Ultra SS with coupling bases) and Merlin VSM(on Stillpoint Ultra 5). This redressed the frequency imbalance with a more prominent upper midrange and HF, with improved LF definition. It's now about as perfect as imaginable. Star Sound Apprentice platforms are en route for comparison.

So after all the tweaks and $$ upgrading to .8, now it sounds like .5? LOL!