Any thoughts on Pass X150.8 ?

@panerai557 without a doubt good move. 

I bought x150.8 but then upgraded to x250.8 before taking delivery of 150.8. Why did I do that? I don't know, but I read x250.8 is the sweet spot of Pass line ups.... Will see when my amp arrives.

I had a 150.8 briefly; then compared it to the 250.8. I found there 150.8 not tremendously involving- power was not the issue. I found the 250.8 much more involving and have owned that for 7 years now. It's a forever amp. 

 

@koslekt1 How does the Diablo 300 compare to the Pass amps you have auditioned?

Sonically I wasn't crazy over the 150.8. Build quality is fantastic but overall the midrange was analytical and boring. The bass was very good and highs were also however,  I could never warm up to the amp. Was using with Sonus Faber Olympica 3s which were recommended for the 150.8.  Ultimately went back to tubes and very satisfied.  

Old thread, but I just stumbled on it and will add I have been using a Pass 150.8 for 2 years and it remains my favorite solid state amp (42 years in the hobby).  First solid state amp I could live with, and I find I rarely use my reference tube amp anymore (and I never rotate-in my other solid state amps).  I use the 150.8 to drive QLN P3 speakers, feed by an LTA microZOTL preamp, and they all play really well together. Only complaint is the heat it produces (class A).  

Great amp buy it asap.

I have heard the 150.8 vs. the 250.5 and the xa25 (along with Parasounds JC1s, Merrill Veritas, and lastly a Gryphon Diablo 300. The 150.8 was the most analytical of the pass amps - I liked the 250.5 the best of the Pass. The xa25 was a little too warm to me - it sounded like the "jump factor" of a hard snare drum was lost, if that makes sense.
Like everything else in this hobby, YMMV. Reno HiFi has a nice testing policy, I’d try to get whatever amp you are aiming for in your home and give it a listen for a few days.
Good luck!

White Camaros actually praised the .8 series and said the 250.8 was the best amp he's heard and. went on to say he wants to get a 350.8 when the prices come down or he's gets a smoking deal so I'm confused by the OP statement. 

King you are so right. Extremely well written post! I use online opinions as a guide for things I should try... but sometimes you do have to buy something and then try it and live with it (as WC does). I have seen a lot of positive impressions with the Pass amps and also have engineers on our Sonic Visions discord that are very impressed with the way pass amps are constructed (and they are critical of 90%+ of amp construction out there... even amps costs $100k or more). So the combination of those factors makes me think its a good bet. And because Pass is recognized if it doesn't sound good in my system I can always sell it and probably not lose that much.
I am guessing Pass and luxman (m900u) are fairly safe bets for the reasons above.

@smodtactical

WC has a huge following on audiogon because of his monstrous amplifier thread and all the gear he has gotten to experience. You have to admire the endeavor.
Whether or not his opinion on the Pass Labs .8 steers your decision would be based on how well you think your preferences align with WC.  

In terms of professional reviews, the .8s always do well. Doug S has waxed poetic about the 200.8s. 
Also interesting is how wildly variant the opinions are. One person says they sound less lively than the .5, while another says they sound sterile and less musical. So which is it? Are they warm and muddy, or threadbare and cold? 
At the end of the day, you have to audition things in your system. Trusting online opinions only serves as a foundational basis for which direction to head in. 
Quite often I’ve got suckered in to buying something that was raved about, and ended up sounding disappointing to me. 

Ahh I see. I heard those are great speakers!

"I rather take the Hegel H30 over the pass 350.8. Sorry to do this to Nelson but he dropped the ball with the 350.8. I rather own the 350.5. More musicality and sweetness. The Hegel H30 beats both and it does it quite easily. Whatever pass labs is going to do next to replace the .8 series they need to truly think hard and long because I feel that the .8 series was a failure. I’m pretty much mentally retired from the .8 series from pass. Ain’t a d@mn thing I like about it. Luxman 900u mops and sweeps the floor with the 350.8. Actually, the Luxman 900u demolishes the 350.8 in every single area."
- White Camaross

Interesting perspective.

@smodtactical 

I enjoy the 350.8 very much. I have Soundlab electrostatics, so I wanted the extra juice. The 350.8 is the only amplifier I have ever had on the Soundlab speakers. 

@kingdeezie How you like the 350.8 ? What other amps have you compared it to?

I would agree with DEP. The Pass Lab preamplifiers are great. Just a couple of months ago I upgraded to an XP-32 from an XP-22, and its the best preamplifier I have ever had to this point in my audiophile journey.

Great tonality, resolution, dimensionality, and speed without the tube hassle.  

Using it in conjunction with a 350.8, and am very happy. 

In terms of the 150.8, Steven Stone has one in his stable of reference amplifiers for reviews. The fact that he has kept it for a few years should say that, at the very least, the amplifier isn't horrible. 

In terms of reliability, customer service, and (because the audiophile itch gets to us all) good resale value, I don't think you could go wrong with the 150.8. 

smodtactical

Sorry for the late reply, I just now saw your question. 

All I’m saying is that if left on 24/7 the xa30.8 will always sound it’s best. I have a friend who has a pair of xa160.8’s and he also turns them off when not using them. In my opinion, he has never heard just how good those amps can sound.  He started talking about the power they draw from the wall and his electrical bill going up and blah, blah, blah. I agree with him, it’s very wasteful to leave them on 24/7. Who buys a $30.000.00 amp and worries about your electric bill? It’s like buying a Ferrari and pulling up to the gas pump and choosing 87 octane gas because it’s cheaper, really! I, personally, am going to put in the 93 octane gas. I’m the type of audiophile that likes to get the best sound quality out of any of my equipment. Every time I unplugged my xa30.8 from the wall (to change something in the system) I noticed that when I plugged it back into the wall, it took at least 3 full days for it to sound as good as it did before I unplugged it from the wall. Every time. It’s not a day or night difference but I heard it every time. I started noticing subtle differences in the timing. Call it pace, rythem & timing, call it forward momentum, or whatever, the improvements were mainly temporal. When left on for at least 3 full days everything just fell into place and sounded “right”. 

If if you open up a Pass Labs amp, they are mainly all power supply. It takes a long time for that huge toroidal transformer and all those caps to fully saturate and for the circuit to stabilize. Trust you ears!

Scot

Ya I'd love the 250.8, there was a pretty solid used deal near me but it sold. I think I may buy a used 150.8 instead. Much more affordable and for me room and speakers probably more than enough power.

I have owned a XP12 and now a XP 22 pre-amp.  

I've owned many pre-amps over the years.  I have to say the Xp12 was in the very good category.  It's quiet, neutral etc.  But, I think there are others in that price range that aren't better or worse, but different and I won't go as far to say the XP 12 is special.  It's very good.

The XP22, for the money is excellent.  I consider it to be in that "special" category for it's price range.  I also consider the 250.8 to be "special".  

Depending on the speakers I was driving...

I would do a XP22 and 150.8 over a XP12 and 250.8.  Unless I absolutely needed the extra power of the 250.8.

But the XP22 and 250.8... Man I love this combo.  I do know that many at Pass consider the 250.8 to be a sweetspot also.

@scothurwitz my dealer actually has XA30.8 and offered a demo (but under the condition i buy it or a higher end amp).

Does it really take days to sound optimal? I would like to keep the amp off unless I Am using it.

Hi everyone

Pass labs amps are really great in my opinion, I feels it’s possibly their best products out of everything they build. Their phono preamps are very good as well, their line preamps not so much. I have a close friend who owns a hifi store and I’ve heard just about every amp they make, they’re all good. In my opinion, there’s just something magical with their class A amps. I’ve owned their xa30.8 for a little over five years now and I still can’t believe how good that thing sounds. If you’ve never heard one in your system, you owe it to yourself to bring one home and listen to it for at least 3-5 days without turning it off if your local dealer will let you if you’re thinking of buying a new amp and it’s in the budget. It’s awesome.

Scot

I owned a Pass X350.5 for a few years. I then demoed a X350.8 and I ended up keeping the .5 .
To me, the .8 series is less lively compared to the .5 version.

ozzy

You could e-mail Pass Labs and ask them specifically. But I don't think that's too demanding a load for the pass amp.

@shahram what about with ns5000, 4 ohm, 88 db.
@dep14 that gives me confidence, thank you! My dream amp is the 250.8 but a local deal just was stolen under my nose.

It's a GREAT amp, plus Pass is just an awesome company to deal with.  The support is outstanding.

While I have a 250.8 that I love, a friend has the 150.8 and we have the same speakers (Salk SS12's).  The 150.8 does a great job of driving them also.  

Just barely to the warm side of neutral, great bass and articulation without being harsh on the top end.  

Holds value well (especially if you buy used), great support etc.  Unless you have something absurdly hard to drive tough to have a bad match.

The .8 line is very highly regarded. I would imagine it sounds very similar to the 250.8, while being a bit less powerful. Look for the 250.8 reviews and just know the 150.8 probably cannot handle dynamic swings quite the same way with harder to drive speakers.

It is strange though that there are no reviews at all.

My impression is it weighs a lot.

It can’t be any good if the are no reviews. Probably won’t even turn on.

Probably all plastic and hollow like fruit in the bowls at the furniture stores.