The inside scoop is that some dealers dropped Pass because Pass didn't continue to allow them to have exclusive distribution as they once enjoyed. Other examples of this are Audio Research, B&W, Levinson -- you can't buy their product from an out-of-state dealer, unless you have no local dealer. This is a carriage trade game that's been played for years, and successfully.
Pass is a great company. You couldn't ask for better customer service. Search the threads, and you'll find many comments about how helpful & friendly they are, and how they go out of their way to help, even out of warranty.
The X preamps are excellent, as are the X amps. The X-1 is very revealing, but I would never call it 'ruthless'. The top end is extended & detailed, but does have a certain roundness to the sound that is preferred by many, and definitely preferable to the thin shrill quality I hear in transistor preamps. In the end, it is a question of musical taste, opinion, matching. They do not have a recessed or retiring sound, but most certainly not harsh. I'm a tube guy, so no transistor piece does, to my ears, what tubes do, but the X amps do have a fullness in the midrange which is often lacking in transistor units. But this was typical of Nelson's designs back from the Threshold age.
Pass is a great company. You couldn't ask for better customer service. Search the threads, and you'll find many comments about how helpful & friendly they are, and how they go out of their way to help, even out of warranty.
The X preamps are excellent, as are the X amps. The X-1 is very revealing, but I would never call it 'ruthless'. The top end is extended & detailed, but does have a certain roundness to the sound that is preferred by many, and definitely preferable to the thin shrill quality I hear in transistor preamps. In the end, it is a question of musical taste, opinion, matching. They do not have a recessed or retiring sound, but most certainly not harsh. I'm a tube guy, so no transistor piece does, to my ears, what tubes do, but the X amps do have a fullness in the midrange which is often lacking in transistor units. But this was typical of Nelson's designs back from the Threshold age.