Pass X250 verses X250.5

I'm curious to hear your thought once the new units arrives.

The .5 amps harken back to the Aleph series which uses minimal, or single gain stages, similar to SET amps, but with the solid state circuits. I have heard the .5 series, but it was a while ago, and they are an improvement over an already good amp. You won't be disappointed. At least I don't think you will.

How far into class A do these two amps go before going into class AB?

Mitchb, the Pass X-.5 series is a significant improvement over the original X amps. I had a pair of Aleph 1 monoblocks and when I compared them to the X-amps I found that the X-series was more detailed, had a better/tighter bottom end, but were somewhat "cold" sounding and not as musical as the Alephs.

With the X-.5 series you get what the Alephs offered with the details, slam, and dynamics of the X-series. I now run a 350.5 in my system, it replaced a great amp in its own right an Edge NL-10, and find it to be terrific in its performance.

By the way, must Pass Lab fans agree that in the X-series the best sounding amp was the 250 not the 350. The 250.5 gives you about 20 watts of class A before going into class A/B, the 350.5 gives about 50 watts of class A before going into class A/B. Both give a few watts of single ended class A before going into Class A, and those first single ended class A watts make a big difference.

I agree with Teajay regarding his assessment of the original X series and the X.5 series. As to 250.5 vs 350.5, I have not heard them side by side. By several owners have told me they prefer 350.5 over 250.5

FrankC

Thanks Teajay. Does anyone know how far into class A the original X series ran into class A before sliding into class AB?