Anyone Hear the New .8 Amps Yet

From what I gather David's 100.8's were left on powered up and playing for the past 3 days, so they probably have around 50 hours on them total. I have heard the following amps in the past from Pass Labs: XS300's, XA200.5's, XA160.5's, XA100.5's, X350.5's. The new amps sound similiar to the Pass family previous models, but to my ears have somewhat more bass and maybe a smidge more extension in the treble as member Madfloyd has described. The biggest difference in the new amps, from what I can perceive is a lowered noise floor, so the background in blacker and calmer. It's truly a great product and I can't say anything negative about it. If I owned one, I would more than likely pair it with a different preamp versus the XP-20 which is a bit recessed sounding to me. The .8 series is an evolutionary step from the .5 series, but perhaps not a revolutionary step if that makes sense. If you're buying a new Pass product, you definitely would choose something from the .8 series.
 
Thanks for the informative write up, Peter. I wonder if the amps weren't really broken in; from my experience it took longer than 3days...

Do you happen to know the list prices of all the amps?


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Not sure about break in, but that could be a factor in the opinions. The list prices are as follows, but don't quote me on this:

Pass XA100.8 Monos: $19,000
Constellation Centaur Stereo: $26,000
Soulution 711 Stereo: $65,000
Accuphase A-200 Monos: $69,000

Obviously, Pass Labs is the value king here. Both Pass and Constellation are manufactured in the United States. Accuphase is from Japan and Soulution is from Switzerland. For complete information, you can contact David Baskin at Design Audio Video.
 
In my experience, break in is critical with speakers because of the mechanical nature of spiders, surrounds, suspensions, etc. and a bit less so with solid state electronics. Warm up is probably a big factor as most of the gear I have dealt with, whether Class A or Class A/B likes to be turned on for an hour or so to reach optimum operating temperature in the transistors. I guess we'll find out how the Pass gear progresses over the next month or so. I plan to return to David's then and we can gauge "break in" of the XA`100.8's and see if they have changed any by then. Ian, has the sound of your .8 amps evolved somewhat since they were new? What is your experience?
 
The Pass gear definitely needs several hundred hours on it for sure. I just got that in Friday so it didn't even have. 48 hours on it. The Soulution has close to 200 so it should be close. The Accuphase and Constellation both have sufficient time on them.
 
Great write up Peter!

Ian, I think the Pass will get better as David expects it to. I will go to Davids maybe on Thursday to listen for myself.
 
dfwmediagroup said:
Not sure about break in, but that could be a factor in the opinions. The list prices are as follows, but don't quote me on this:

Pass XA100.8 Monos: $19,000
Constellation Centaur Stereo: $26,000
Soulution 711 Stereo: $65,000
Accuphase A-200 Monos: $69,000

Obviously, Pass Labs is the value king here. Both Pass and Constellation are manufactured in the United States. Accuphase is from Japan and Soulution is from Switzerland. For complete information, you can contact David Baskin at Design Audio Video.
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Perhaps the Pass XS150 for $65K would be a more appropriate comparison in this group. Based on a few guys who have compared it directly to the XA100.5 amps, they are much better at about 3X the cost. The .8 is supposed to bridge the gap and I have not read any comparisons between the .8 and the XS to see if the .8 is closer to the .5 or to the XS.

Your findings confirm what I've always thought of Pass amplifiers, namely that they are an excellent value. Based on Ian's comments, the .8 will change sonically over the first few hundred hours or so.
 
It's one of those things....if you didn't have those other amp to compare it to, you would be on cloud nine with the Pass amps. The comment about the XP-20 is interesting. I know the XP-30 is supposedly a big step up.
 
Mike said:
It's one of those things....if you didn't have those other amp to compare it to, you would be on cloud nine with the Pass amps. The comment about the XP-20 is interesting. I know the XP-30 is supposedly a big step up.
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I think it is difficult to assess performance of four amplifiers over such a limited time. The results are interesting and I'm sure it was a very enjoyable afternoon, but I would conclude that the impressions of each amp are relative and only in the context of the given system and room and one should be hesitant to draw conclusions about these amps in absolute terms.

I did have an XP30 in my system for about five days to directly compare it to my XP20. The 30 is certainly better. It is quieter and tonal density is better. I also found it to be slightly warmer and richer sounding. Perhaps slightly better separation of instruments and soundstaging, but it has been over a year now. I would not consider it a "big" step up. It is more of an incremental improvement similar to what I found with my XP25 and Xono comparison.

From what two owners of the XS Pre have told me privately, the XS Pre is a major improvement over the XP30, but it comes at quite a price difference.
 
FlexibleAudio said:
Ian,

I hope you don't mind me copying your extremely well written post below from another forum. A very descriptive piece.



Thank you Ian and, again, I hope I didn't violate a protocol. I really felt you did a great job with your post and many would appreciate your thoughts.
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No problem - I meant to post those thoughts in this thread too, but I must have got distracted - so thanks!

Someone just used what I think the best word is to describe the bass of the .8's: 'heavy'. It's an asset with some material and an annoyance with others.

I had another audiophile friend over yesterday to compare the two amps. He ran through his own playlist (mostly rock) without knowing which amp was connected (all 4 amps were on and you can't see the connections from the listening chair). We started with the .5's. I then switched them without him looking and he ran through the playlist again. Afterwards I asked him what his thoughts were and this is a summary:

- Neither amps gave him the soundstage depth that he was used to from his own system (and that probably doesn't have anything to do with the amps).
- He preferred the 2nd amp more overall (.8's) because it has more 'meat on the bones' except for one thing: he preferred the 'treble' of the .5's because it was more present. He didn't know if the more fleshy presentation of the .8's was making the highs stand out less or whether there were less highs.
 
Hey guy's

Keep in mind that these are just opinions from two guys that have been around audio for a long time. Both have owned many brands including Pass and one still does. The Pass is definitely not burned in but the flavor of the amp will not change after 500 hours. It will be just an improved version of the Pass sound. As for doing multiple comparisons I think this is the best way. With each change out the differences were the most obvious the first minute of operation. The longer you listened it became harder to tell the differences, at least for me. If this were a race you could throw a blanket over all four brands at the finish line.. It really just comes down to your listening tastes, speakers and listening environment. I think the fact that pass is even mentioned in the same conversation of electronics that cost three times as much speaks volumes for its performance. Just my opinion of course and do not want to offend any owners of these fine brands.
 
It's pretty tight, but still very prominent. I've decided to buy it because the midrange is really nice, but I'm hoping to come up with a solution to tame the bass. Hopefully it doesn't require changing speakers or preamp. :)
 
madfloyd said:
It's pretty tight, but still very prominent. I've decided to buy it because the midrange is really nice, but I'm hoping to come up with a solution to tame the bass. Hopefully it doesn't require changing speakers or preamp. :)
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Big congrats!!! That is great news. I feel confident as you get to know your new system, you will find ways to adjust the sound as you like. have you thought about Ultra 5s back underneath the Alexias by any chance? I am sure there are other ways as well.

Again, big congrats!!!
 
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