Are Pass Labs amps probably the best ever you can buy ?


I have about 15k to spend on an amp/preamp/integrated amp.

I mostly listen to smooth jazz like Dave Koz, Rippingtons, Brian Culbertson etc.... and loud.

I have yet to hear any amp that comes close to Pass Labs.

Your experiences pls ?
128x128cakyol

Showing 2 responses by dowto1000

Mr. Pass makes very nice Solid State amps, among the best out there.  Hes a cool guy !! Unfortunately, solid state amps typically require a certain amount of negative feedback, which adds an OUT OF TIME component to the music's playback.

Fortunately for music lovers, there is an inherently better device called the triode vacuum tube, that  when done well, can operate without feedback and can become a better-sounding amplifier than ANY solid state device can be made into. 

There are two problems with tube designs however 

(1)  The best performing amps will be 3 Watts or less

(2)   99.90 percent of the tube amps built, past and present, simply don't cut the mustard 


The solution to number (1) above, is very easy :  select the best sounding amplifier ( which is THE weakest link in the system ) as the FIRST priority in your State of the Art Hi Fi system.  Then, find a really good high-efficiency speaker .  I am thinking of a simple two- way, ALTEC, GPA and ALE. 

The solution to number (2) above, which tube amp to buy, is very easy.  There is only one person, known to me over the past dozen years, who builds the best performing tube amps ever made.  He is out of Livingston, Montana , USA, and his name is Dennis Fraker.  His small company ( one man ) is called Serious Stereo. 

I would simply suggest, anyone who seeks the best listening experience, to visit Dennis at his place in Montana, and allow him to demo his late-2018 system for you.   You will know, right away, from what you hear !!   

Also, he is a very nice person to interact with, smart, caring, and honest.  Look him up on the web, you can call and talk to him !!   But most of all, visit and listen for yourself.  The proof of the pudding .

Well, now you have the truth, at least as " I " see / experience / hear it.   Go visit and listen for yourself.   You will be educated.

Jeff Medwin 

From 7-3-18 to 12-31-18, I designed and developed a SE two stage directly-coupled tube amp for my ALTEC speakers.  It must do 0.3 Watts.  It had a power supply to support a 100 Watt amp.  It was hard-wired internally with wire with having silver content.  Unlike any Pass amp, there is no feedback in the amp.

In December 2108, a friend sent me a PASS ACA 1.6 version, professionally built, to sell for him on eBay.  I allowed the Pass amp to warm up for 24 hours.  When I put the ACA 1.6  in my system , ( compared to my much lower powered tube amp ), the ACA sounded thin, anemic, un-dynamic, two-dimensional, removed from the music, and uninspiring.  My DIY tube amp design - easily and simply trashed the ACA.   That .............was my recent listening experience.

If a triode tube amp is done well (  sadly for the public, 99.9% are NOT !! ) you can not match it, with any low-powered transistor amp, IMHO.  YMMV, fine with me !! 

Dowto1000