BAT VK-600 vs Pass XA100.5

Interesting. The Joule is highly regarded for its bass (at least that was the focus of Harry Pearson’s review in TAS).

I’d love to try a BAT preamp (and hopefully will someday), but somehow I’ve also got the impression (from reading posts here) that it would be darker sounding than the Joule. I could be wrong of course, but like bass, the highs are something that can be problematic with tube preamps so I worry about this.

I thank you for your thoughts.

I did. :-)

Much better (to my ears).

In comparison, the Pass don't control the woofers of my Wilson Sophia 2's as well. The Pass is much warmer sounding and rolled off on top.

The Bat is a tad less smooth in the highs, but much more airy, the bass is tighter and more satisfying and overall tonal balance feels more correct.

YMMV.

Tvad, when I compare these two amps, input inpedance had nothing to do with it.

My main SS preamp is an H20 Fire, which has no problem driving the Pass.

My other SS preamp is a Parasound JC-2. I've used many other preamps with the Pass as well, including the Pass XP-20.

When I say 'rolled-off', I mean in comparison to other amps, i.e. the Pass is slightly darker sounding than my Bat, or other amps that I've owned (Theta Citadel 1.5 comes to mind). This is with solid state preamps, NOT tubes.

Yes, I tried a couple tube amps that were not good matches with the Pass (Ref 3, Audio Valve Eklipse), but that hardly means EVERY preamplifier I've tried has been a mismatch.

No amp does everything well. Pass amps are biased towards great midrange and in my humble opinion, aren't the last word in bass control.

Well, I'm just saying what my ears are telling me, in my system, my room etc (although at least two other audiophiles agree that the Pass is warmer than the Bat in my system and that the Bat has better bass).

From what I read, Class A sound is warmer. For example, see keithr's post in this thread:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1278694266&&&/Amps-in-the-same-class-as-Pass-XA-5-seri

Those on the hunt can buy mine which are for sale here on Audiogon. :-)

There's nothing wrong with any of the items and I've tried them all with the Bat. I'm not selling them because they sounded 'bad', I bought some of them simply to audition to see if they bettered my current fav.

Some I would prefer to keep (especially the Fire) but cannot afford to at the moment.

It's been a great learning experience and I have now found a combo that works for my taste and my room.

Joule Electra LA-150 SE / BAT VK-600 SE

There are some other electronics I'd love to try someday (e.g. BAT preamp, Spectron amps).

Hmm, I was hoping the LA300 would be even better in the bass than what I have, so that's disapointing.

I hate tradeoffs. :-)

Rtn1, have you tried a BAT amp with the REX?

Yet another thought, Rtn1: Did you switch the output impedence of the LA-300 so that it's at its lower setting? I think you should do this if you're using the Pass amps.

Thanks for updating your observations, Rtn1 (and you too, Dob).

I love my Joule LA-150 SE but I do wish the bass was better.