On Pass. I like it: had a 30 for about a year, and have recommended it to some people in the past. Ono was nice, etc. and were very similar in sound. Like it more than almost all other SS.
Yes, the SE topology, assuming that's the factor, does make Pass more "realistic" in terms of objective criteria and more musical (meaning: catalyzes seeping into the music and receptive state of listening) more than many SS units (I also have recommended to people the Lamm 1.1 hybrids for the same reasons).
With that said, the Pass units suffer from some of the same problems. Source projection contains more air, but leading transient still posseses a discernible "dryness" which increases in obviousness as energy increases and one approaches boundary between source and space (hence, still delineating that dichotomy). Power handling can help (with its own trade-offs) but not to great degree IMHO. The air around sources, in fact, seems more pressurized, but still dissipates as you move away from sources and particlarly in the furthest depth field. Space has tendancy towards sterility rather than "aliveness" in most circumstances (you can tip the tendancy a bit with component matching, so Pass has more flexibility in this regard, but the wall is still there on spatial performance).
Nice stuff, better than the rest, I like it more than mushy euphonic tube gear much of the time, but still not close in these respects. I'd go for a Lamm 1.1 before Pass.
Yes, the SE topology, assuming that's the factor, does make Pass more "realistic" in terms of objective criteria and more musical (meaning: catalyzes seeping into the music and receptive state of listening) more than many SS units (I also have recommended to people the Lamm 1.1 hybrids for the same reasons).
With that said, the Pass units suffer from some of the same problems. Source projection contains more air, but leading transient still posseses a discernible "dryness" which increases in obviousness as energy increases and one approaches boundary between source and space (hence, still delineating that dichotomy). Power handling can help (with its own trade-offs) but not to great degree IMHO. The air around sources, in fact, seems more pressurized, but still dissipates as you move away from sources and particlarly in the furthest depth field. Space has tendancy towards sterility rather than "aliveness" in most circumstances (you can tip the tendancy a bit with component matching, so Pass has more flexibility in this regard, but the wall is still there on spatial performance).
Nice stuff, better than the rest, I like it more than mushy euphonic tube gear much of the time, but still not close in these respects. I'd go for a Lamm 1.1 before Pass.