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:
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.
Hi. I have a Pass Xa25 and love it. It is very close to my tubes, CJ Classic 62 SE, my Heron mono blocks a d Resolution Audio mono blocks. It has a purity and ease that the others do not. My speakers, Penaudio Cenya Supreme, are 86db and 4 ohm. My old room was 15x33 and I never needed more power. I would say that the Xa 25 is an amp to keep.
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Lot's of thoughtful comments here so thanks to all who chimed in. After reading the comments, I do think the XA25 might be a little too warm for my tastes - even though it may be less warm than some other Pass offerings. My room is not very large - 14x19 with pretty standard ceiling height. I really hadn't been too concerned about the XA25 power since it has high current output and is very conservatively rated 50W at 0.01% distortion. However, I do like to turn up the volume some times and I wouldn't want to miss that. Given the power issues and possible warmth of the XA25, I am leaning towards sticking with Class AB and it sounds like Audionet is one of the best options in that area. I had indeed been eyeing the Amp 1 V2 for sale here. I noticed the input impedance is 37 kohms. I think the LTA is 50 ohms so it should be okay? Any concerns about impedance mismatching or the pairing with the LTA? |
Cbrez, you have a nice system. I remember coming across it at some point and it was one of the reasons I was thinking about the XA25. I have the Ray Reserve tubes and Gold Lion 12AT7s. I thought they were a nice improvement over the stock tubes, I think they helped tighten up the bottom end and eliminated a small amount of treble glare I noticed with the stock tubes - although to be fair, the amp and tubes were also probably still burning in and settling at that point. |
My former 87db 4ohm Totem Acoustic speakers with the original Dynaudio drivers were very similar in how they responded to the right type of power amplification. I had tried several different lower power SS and Tube amps with them. Eventually arrived at 200wpc 8ohm / 320wpc 4ohm with a dual mono dual torroidal transformers - A true 75 amp mosfet Class AB solid state amplifier. The smaller 2-way speakers literally came alive and sounded quite different with a more robust amplifier. Smoother highs, better silky midrange, bottom end was all there. Real iron and current driving them. No subwoofers, not necessary at all. Like you experienced - it really showed what the speakers were capable of being. All the bases were covered at low, medium, high volume level listening. There was never a need to turn them up, they sounded very nice at low-med levels once they were being driven by this amplifier. |
