Pass XP-17 and Hana ML loading question

I owned the Pass XP-15 for many years and have been enjoying the XP-27 for several. I dont find the difference between 15 and the 27 to manifest through different loading.  The 27 sounds different (and a little better) at all settings.  Like Lewn, I have never heard a big difference between 100 ohm and 47 kohm loads on LOMC carts. Like ssg308 reports, big differences in character can be discerned with different gain settings.  My conclusions are that the Pass phono preamps can handle RFI generated by LOMC quite nicely.  

Hoping that ssg308 enjoys the Unami Red. 

I think SSG is saying he hears a big difference between 47K ohms load and any value equal to or less than 1000 ohms, where 47K sounds bad to his ears. I didn’t see where he talked about gain per se. So Karl, how do your Pass phono stages sound when you load LOMC cartridges at 47K ohms? And which cartridges have you tried?

@lewm yes ssir you are correct, gain stays fixed at 67db and to clarify 47k sounds overdrived that manifests it self as a lot of bass weak mid and high non existing. 1k sounds the best and any lower resistance is a significant drop in performance. 

I'm sure some of this is dependent on listening preferences and other system components. I have used Pass Labs phono pre's on Lyra (Atlas, Etna SL, Delos), Koetsu RSP, SoundSmith (Zephyr Star, Sussurro, Hyperion), ZYX (Yatra) and Denon 103R (Zu).  The most sensitive to loading are the SoundSmith MIs.  They loose upper frequency presence with resistive values below 500 ohms. I prefer them at 47 Kohm. The Lyra and Koetsu sound the same between 100 ohms and 47 Kohm. So I run Lyra, Koetsu and SoundSmith at 47 Kohm. 

@ssg308 What preamp are you using?

@karl_desch XP-12 and XP-17, I was thinking to upgrade to XP-32 if I want to run second TT trough XP-15 but that's in future for now I want to make my existing  system stabile 

Just wanted to make sure that they were playing together nicely.  So an XP-12/17 combo is perfect!

@karl_desch oh my o my .... :) that thing is so precisely matched, system is truly stable and NEUTRAL! the only variable is my TT and my obsession in getting  the best sound without letting my kidneys go... I was about to use only XP 12 to drive my Threshold S550e but I'm glad I got Pass x250.8 that ting throw another dimension to the room.  So said that my system detects lies .... so if cartridge or vinyl pretend to sound good system immediately calls its BS :)  

Nice!  I love my XP-22/27 combo as well for their truth telling. I bet the 12/17 combo is 95% of what I get with the fancy schmancy seperate power supply versions. 

All this being said, I'm still surprised that the Hana-Pass combo is so sensitive to loading.

@karl_desch I'm hoping that Red will be acting more playable will see I'll. keep you posted Monday since I'm swapping ML for Red these weekend