Highly recommend running the Bricasti M3 balanced. With XA25 it will not be possible. Plus it may be warmer than the Hegel. I had XA30.8. Never heard the 25.
If you want good Class A that won’t darken the presentation try Coda No.8. Or keep the Hegel. Also the Dynaudios love power and sound best when cranked up. Just keep that in mind with lower power XA25.
Pass XA25 for my system
I have been a long-time lurker here, but never posted until now. I have learned a lot from reading other posts and I thought it would be nice to share details on my current system. Also wondering if anyone has thoughts on switching from Hegel to a Pass XA25 amp.
Current system:
- Room: 14x19 living room with medium(ish) damping - couch, rug, bookshelves, plants etc.; however, no dedicated room treatments.
- Sonicorbiter i9 optical Roon server upsampling to DSD128
- Fiber to Sonore Opicalmodule Deluxe 2 (Sonore LPS with Mundorf Silver/Gold DC cable)
- Sablon Ethernet 2020
- Bricasti M3 DAC and Roon endpoint running exclusively via NDSD conversion (3x Isoacoustics Orea)
- Audioquest Fire XLR cables
- Linear Tube Audio Microzotl Level 2 preamp with Lundahl balanced transformer input, Ray Reserve and Gold Lion tubes.
- Iconoclast Series 2 OCC RCA cables
- Hegel H390 Integrated (using as amp with HT bypass)
- Audioquest Robin Hood speaker cables
- Dynaudio Heritage Special (Dynaudio Stand 6 with Isoacoustics Gaia feet)
- Power: AQ Niagara 1200, AQ tornado and Cardas power cables.
My system is relatively modest, but was carefully assembled and it sounds pretty great to me. After adding the Microzotl preamp and seeing the improvement, I am thinking of replacing the Hegel (I am not using the preamp or DAC functionality) and trying a new amp. Thinking of the Pass XA25 after reading great reviews and seeing other people matching it with both my speakers and preamp. To be clear, the Hegel has been great and is a good match for my speakers. Dynamics are great, clarity, detail and a very relaxed feel to the sound. It was maybe just a touch too “clean/thin” before the LTA preamp. That move added a little more body, better imaging and soundstaging so curious to see what the Class A XA25 might do to further improve on these areas. The LTA Microzotl also helped with lower level/volume listening allowing more detail and dynamics to come through. With the Hegel volume control, I had to turn things up quite a bit to get things sounding their best. I also tried the Bricasti as a preamp and that was slightly less preferable than using either the Hegel or LTA for volume control.
I am still slightly nervous moving away from the Class A/B sound I am familiar with. Maybe it will soften things a little too much and be a step backwards? I was also considering a slightly used Class A/B Audionet Amp. I have no doubt they make excellent amps but I also couldn’t find many people using that brand and even fewer using it with my preamp and speakers. Any thoughts on whether the Pass XA25 will soften dynamics and transients significantly relative to my Hegel? I found some info. at 6Moons comparing the XA25 to Kinki Class A/B monoblocks and the comments seemed positive albeit a little mixed and unclear.
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Thanks for the input. To clarify, the Bricasti is still running balanced to my LTA preamp with Lundahl transformer conversion in the preamp and then SE output to the Hegel. I agree it is best to keep the Bricasti running balanced. My impression from reading was that the XA25 was not as dark as the XA30.8, but your comment is why I am asking for feedback since that seems to be what some describe as the Pass sound. I have been considering Coda as well. My take away was that the XA25 was possibly similar to the Coda S5.5 in sound signature and overall specs. XA25 is closer to 100 watts into 4 ohms with distortion less conservative than 0.01% |
I read that too about the XA25 being a bit more lively than the XA30.8. X250.5 with B&W N803 and Dynaudio S5.4 XA30.8 with Martin Logan Montis and Wilson Sabrina X260.8 mono blocks with Wilson Sabrina
The sound character of Pass amps is warm, luscious, full and forgiving. The X seried has a bit more bite and dynamics than the XA30.8. |
@sfpeloton - I concur with audphile1. I also own the Dynaudio Heritage specials and LTA preamp. I’ve driven the Dynaudio’s with a Luxman 590axii class A amp that has similar power output to the pass labs XA25. It’s just not enough power to drive the Heritage speakers to their potential. The Coda 8 would probably be a better pairing. |
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