Parasound to Pass Upgrade

@taylorro Interesting.

Currently, I own both the X260.8 and the JC1+ and have A/B’ed them several times.

Conclusion: Pass is more musical / euphonic.

I currently have two sets of speakers at home: Focal Scala Utopia (sold to someone, awaiting delivery) and Focal Maestro Utopia III.

The Pass sounds better with the Focal Scala Utopia (and I expect it would sounde better with a majority of speakers). However, the Maestro III are notoriously hard to drive - and with these, I prefer the JC1+.

So, my X260.8 shall be put up for sale soon.

@audphile1  The Maestro III are 3.5 way speakers. They dip down to 1.7 ohms at 110Hz.

@decooney 

Re: tube preamps, there are still levels.

I have two tube preamps at home.

With Audio Research REF6, JC1+ sound 'average', restrained. With the same preamp, the Pass X260.8 sound magical.

Re: heat, there is not much difference between how warm JC1+ get vs X260.8. Perhaps, X260.8 gets 3-5 deg warmer. Never hot though.

@dubz IMHO, Parasound preamps aren't anywhere as good as their new amps are.

I had the A21 / P6 combo a few years ago. Moving up from P6 (think I went to a Mac C2600 back then) was a big upgrade.