I think draaglah is spot on. I have in front of me right now an Ayre V-5xe, Ayre AX-5 Twenty, Krell K-300i and a Cherry MEGAschino (crazy powerful). In order of coloring the music from most to least I really believe it's AX-5, V-5xe, MEGAschino, then Krell. The last 2 are close. As far as my enjoyment, I like them all and would choose one over the other depending on mood, time of day and music I'm listening to. As an all arounder I'd choose the AX-5 Twenty HT pass through using my Primaluna EVO400 preamp. I was at a high end dealer yesterday who had Pass monos hooked up to some $23k speakers and an Aesthetix CD player (I believe). I didn't like the sound at all. It's like we pay more for the designer's choice of coloring. I don't believe this is a bad thing I think it just is what it is.
Unfair Competition: Orchard Audio Bosc Monoblocks vs. Pass Labs XA30.8
After hearing a friend's Orchard Audio Starkrimson Integrated Amplifier in my system (https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9074) a few weeks ago (it sounded pretty good!), I arranged to audition a pair of used Bosc $1500 monoblocks (now called Starkrimson) for close listening. Was curious to see just how well this "distortion-free" class D amp (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/orchard-audio-bosc-pdf.47492/) could replicate my beloved Pass labs class A beast costing >$6000 new. Close listening was done after several days of casual listening/break-in.
Bosc - The Good:
- Wide and tall soundstage
- Convincing central image
- Extremely quiet -- less baseline hiss than the Pass
- Fast transients
- Excellent instrument decay/echo
- Obviously more energy and space efficient
Bosc - The Not as Good
- Lacked soundstage depth/separation
- Less vibrant and engaging, lacking difficult-to-articulate "magic" of the Pass
- Inconsistent bass performance, some tracks sounded firmer and tighter, others weaker than the Pass
- "Flat sounding" with less fleshed-out midrange
After having the Bosc in my system for a few days and listening to nothing but that with a variety of music, I would have been very happy to keep it for the long-term. It was only after A/B with my Pass that I realized what I was missing.
Not a fair comparison dollar-wise, but I was, perhaps naively, prepared to be convinced the Bosc could go head to head. A nice reminder of what I enjoy about the Pass in my system, though. How to measure these qualities, though?
Bosc - The Good:
- Wide and tall soundstage
- Convincing central image
- Extremely quiet -- less baseline hiss than the Pass
- Fast transients
- Excellent instrument decay/echo
- Obviously more energy and space efficient
Bosc - The Not as Good
- Lacked soundstage depth/separation
- Less vibrant and engaging, lacking difficult-to-articulate "magic" of the Pass
- Inconsistent bass performance, some tracks sounded firmer and tighter, others weaker than the Pass
- "Flat sounding" with less fleshed-out midrange
After having the Bosc in my system for a few days and listening to nothing but that with a variety of music, I would have been very happy to keep it for the long-term. It was only after A/B with my Pass that I realized what I was missing.
Not a fair comparison dollar-wise, but I was, perhaps naively, prepared to be convinced the Bosc could go head to head. A nice reminder of what I enjoy about the Pass in my system, though. How to measure these qualities, though?