Pass Labs vs. Sugden


Has anyone had the chance to compare Pass Labs with Sugden? Any apples to apples comparisons -- amp to amp, integrated to integrated, etc.?

Been reading and seeing articles on Sugden, but in the States and on this forum, Pass Labs dominates. Is that because Sugden sells mainly overseas or is there a real basis in how they're made, sound, etc. Interested in sonic and bang-for-buck opinions if you have had experience.
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Showing 4 responses by georgehifi



Look as a guy that's built many high bias Class-A amps, even a couple of water cooled ones, what I see is what I see.
And Pass is way ahead of Sudgen for an amp for any "driving condition", and above that again by the same measure is to me is Gryphon.

Cheers George


Sugden is not anaemic at all.

Read again, not the sound, what’s inside!
Even on Sugdens "biggest power amp", from 2006 the transformer and very thing is "anaemic" in comparison inside
https://neophonics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/SUGDEN-MASTERCLASS-SPA-4-STEREO-AMP_1709N-INTERNAL...

Compare that to Pass https://youtu.be/Ytqk_9z0KMQ

Sugdens could be nice sounding amps for small 2 way to medium size systems for unit dwellers, even bedroom systems. They are not in the same "bruiser" league as Pass Labs stuff.

Cheers George
@georgehifi I always enjoy and learn from your posts. Have you done any comparisons between Pass and the others (Sugden, Belles, Clayton) that puts it first and foremost for you?
No A/B’s, but just looking at the internals, the Sugden looks to me like it could be a "anaemic" version of Pass amps, look at the transformer size, amount of output transistors and power supply capacitors.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0212/2502/products/A21SE-INTERNAL-1-WS_large.jpeg?v=1496938402 lots of empty space.

There’s also a reason they are saying the Pass get’s hotter, even though it’s bigger heavier and got more heatsinking, it’s most probably because it has more "music making" Class-A bias than the Sugden.

Cheers George