Digital Amps vs Solid State Amps

Fafafion, I support your right to hold an informed opinion.

Hi Alan,

While I am glad the H2O are providing a very satisfying sound, I believe you would be please as Punch if you heard the XA160.5 or XA200.5 in your system. I do think the class D amps can provide a more realistically-priced and cool-running alternative to these monsters.

The XA200.5s provide bass that is simply natural and glorious in my system. The Pass bass exceeds a prior amp that had MUCH higher wattage and damping factor, which suggests to me that the topology is important and that Nelson got it right. My search is over, and I am relieved.

Alan,

You may correct in a sense. I would not charactarize the Pass XA.5 bass as punchy or fast. Rather, it conveys a sense of weight and acoustic space, and does not draw attention to itself. It is very natural and realistic, as you say, for classical music. Whether the cello in a quartet, the left hand in a piano concerto, or the double bass section of an orchestra, everything is cohesive.