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Review 1 of 2
Price Paid:
$5000.00
from Second hand Summary:
The Pass Labs X250.5 power amplifier is a true class 1 amp.
It drives the first 20 watts (the level we - at the max - listen to at home) in pure class A. It is a very reliable product, built with the best parts used and in a very simple (true balanced) design configuration. Retailers say "tube like sound but very reliable and loads of power".
The sound characteristics are: at the warm side, enourmous stage, tranparency, 'air around the instruments', 3D-effect (tube charateristics), depth, resolving capabilities, speed, controll, natural sound of instruments, precision, details, loads of bass, very well balanced. Very musically, it has soul.
I use it in the following configuration: Power-amp Pass Labs X250.5, Pre-amp Pass Labs X1, SACD Lindemann 820S, Wilson Audio Sophia speakers, Transparent Reference XL-XLR interlinks, Siltech SPX 30 mkII powercables, Chord Oddysee speaker cables.
I was looking for tube sound but reliable and enough power and controll. I found it in the Pass Labs. I have compared it with a lot of amplifiers, also in the higher price-range. These are my opinions, based on a lot of listening en talking: Mark Levinson and Krell (more aggressive, more direct, less 'air around the instruments', more analytic), Spectral (quite comparable but more analytical, less soul and difficult to match with other components if you don't like Avalon (and MIT)), Graaf GM 200 OTL (beautifull tube amp but harsch in the highs, absolutely not reliable and you need to install an Airco (42 tubes)), McIntosh solid state (beautifull amp, comparable but less controll, less stage, less air), Einstein OTL (beautifull sounding amp but not enough power hence controll, resolving capability), Audio Research (beautifull amp, comparable but a bit more analytical, less bass, less power hence controll, less reliable).
I rate it with five stars given the price/quality. The mentioned price is in USD, bought privat/second hand. Current retailprice is 7.300 euro's (appr. 10.000 USD).
It's bigger brothers (X350.5, X600.5, XA-series, et cetera) will be better but also remarkable more expensive. Strengths:
Sound charateristics, power, conroll, build quality and reliability.
Character: at the warm side, enourmous stage, tranparency, 'air around the instruments', 3D-effect (tube charateristics), depth, resolving capabilities, speed, controll, natural sound of instruments, precision, details, loads of bass, very well balanced. Very musically, it has soul. Weaknesses:
Size and weight.
Power consumption. Similar Products Used:
See review.
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5 of 5
