You've tried other amps and ended with Pass, please discuss

but @erik_squires if that were true, that this was all about broadly uncovering the journey we all take in discovering what we like and how we arrived where we did etc... wasn’t it quite arbitrary to select Pass as the gear to specifically reflect on? If you had posted the above framework in your original post, without "arbitrarily" selecting one brand this whole conversation wouldn’t be so off-putting to every Pass owner.

The premise of it all is very funny...."So why on earth are you enjoying your Pass amp so much?" As Greta Thunberg once said - "How dare you!"

and here's the funny thing...I have an XA30.8 that I really enjoy in the way it fits in my system.  I really don't care much for any Pass amps outside the XA series and I definitely don't like the Pass pre's as I feel they are a bit too hifi-ish for my listening priorities.  I wouldn't like my XA30.8 if I weren't pairing it with a tube linestage and tube phono stage.  The XA30.8 gives my system better bottom grip when needed compared to a tube amp but still gives me a tube-like Class A sound I like.

In a 2nd system I have a Cary SLI-80HS.  The SLI-80 is the only piece of gear that I think Cary ever got truly right in its history.  I'm not married to the house sound of any manufacturer and am very deliberate and discriminating about which components find their way into my system.  To cast a net over Pass (or any other brand for that matter) and ask people to reflect on why they ended on that brand isn't really asking the right question if what you really want to know is how certain components incrementally provided the full sonic experience we were seeking or are on the path to achieving.  

I don't have a lengthy data set of amps to reflect on but when I replaced my Cary CAD 120-S MKII with a Pass XA30.8 I was in sonic heaven.  The XA30.8 drove my Spendor D7 speakers so much better with a deeper and more precise bass, larger depth and width of soundstage, and more detail and imaging...all without giving up the essence of the "tube sound" that I have come to enjoy over the years.  The amp was the only change I made to my system and I have kept my VAC Ren MKV preamp in place along with my Herron VTPH-2A phono stage - both of which provide tube warmth and air.  

I truly feel like I am getting the best of tubes and SS into the primarily jazz music I enjoy.  The XA30.8 Class A power is fluid in its presentation and seems to make the rest of my gear sound better by digging deeper.

@gdnrbob 

@three_easy_payments,What speakers are you using?Bob

Spendor D7.  It actually said in post above.