Tube preamp for pass labs ?

I have Pass 250.5 with Conrad-Johnson Premier 10 and 18. Excellent match. Driving the original Revel Salon Ultima. 

Run an Aric Audio Motherlode XL with a modded X250.5.  Great combination.

It would be in your interests to investigate the Pass Designed Korg B1 Pre Amp.

I am familiar with this design used with both SS and Tube. It is a Pre' that has well documented upgrade options.

As the basic build it offers a substantial amount and has proven to be a showstopper when built with a compliment of upgrades.  

Thanks for all your feedback.  
starboard

@mesch 

Focal Sopra 3 

Don’t have experience with Pass but have been very happy with Cary SLP05.  BAT and AR are also great.  I don’t think you can wrong with any of these.  I went with Cary because of 6N’s and tube regulated power supply.  

@maxdukecapone Wow, great products. I am using the Super line stage with an earlier version of the Transcend amplifier. Will likely have the Transcend upgraded to the latest version.

What speakers are you using?

I have a VAC Signature MkII SE with my PassLabs X250.8 driving B&W 803D4's

@mesch 

The motherlode XL and Custom 300B Pset

My plan is to have the motherland go to both the 300B and my Luxman M10X.

At least until I decide the M10X is not needed.😁

@maxdukecapone  Which ones did you purchase?

And one more nomination for Aric Audio. I have his Motherlode II paired with a First Watt J2. In my secondary system I have an older Aric Audio Unlimited paired with a First Watt F5. Both systems put a smile on my ears day after day.  Aric is really great to work with. 

Another fan of Aric Audio and Pass Labs.  I used the Aric Motherlode XL with my Pass X260.8 and XA60.8 amps.  I loved the sound so much that I now use Aric tube amps as well. Great build quality, sound, and customer service.

To my understanding, the Pass Labs amps support AES48, the balanced line standard. This standard has two benefits audiophiles might like. The first is that it prevents ground loops. The second is it prevents the interconnect cable introducing a sound of its own. This means an inexpensive cable can sound as good as one that cost $1000/foot.

But to get that benefit, the preamp must also support AES48. There are tube preamps that do this and a few solid state as well. IME most of the high end audio market is ignoring AES48 so you get this argument that single-ended operation can sound just as good as balanced. But when you hear a balanced setup done properly you find there's no going back.

I also enthusiastically recommend Aric Audio and his tube preamps! Hell, all his gear for that matter. Before moving to Coda, I paired The Motherlode with a pair of Pass XA60.8's and the results were amazing. I still have not replaced The Motherlode Preamp in my current reference rack, while all other components have turned over. Call him! His gear and customer service is exemplary in their offerings.

Zestopreamps are amazing incredible build quality unbelievable feature set

True balanced design neutral with a bit of warmth huge soundstage 

Compares to preamps twice the price 

Dave and Troy

AUDIO INTELLECT NJ

ZESTO DEALERS 

The better Atmasphere and Sonic Frontiers units should work nicely.

@mesch 

 https://aricaudio.com/tube_gear.php
 

I have some amps coming!

There's a Rogue Audio 99 that was used with a Pass Labs XA 25 on Ebay for $1400 right now. You might ask the seller what he experienced with it.

Does "finally broken in" imply you weren't happy with it at first?

Check out Aric Audio online. If interested follow up with a call. Great 6SN7 line stages. Tube rectified, point to point wired. Aric is great to deal with. 

I use one of his preamps with my Pass XA-25. 

I found after many tried. CAT SL1 mk3 Line Stage with upgraded caps & wiring. Still sounds as good as any, that’s why it’s still around and a winner! Pass needs a great tube preamp to hear its resolve. 

The next positive surprise and very musical with inner details are Allnic preamps  musical & smooth.  

While not running a Pass anywhere your wattage, I have a Linear Tube Audio microZOTL level 2 with my XA25. It’s a great combination to my ears. The LTA is not as warm sounding as some other tube preamps, but is dynamic, great soundstage, and very natural sounding overall. The class A Pass has a bit of warmth to it (besides thermal), so they mate very well in my system.

The BAT is excellent….. i would look elsewhere in the system for improvement….

Audio Research for sure. I have run an ARC with Pass amps for decades, until a few years ago when I switched to Audio Research amps.

Audio Research tube preamps pair well with Pass amps. Depends on your budget.