Happy Pi Day;
I have had a few Pass amps over the years; X250.5 (circa 2007), X150.8, X250.8, XA30.5, and now INT-250; My system has been in mega churn last half of 2019, but has quieted down recently; I took a tour with some Luxman stuff, the 507Ui, 509X, and the 900 models, the M-900/C-900 combo. I let go of the 900 stuff late last year and ordered an INT-250; I have been LOVING the INT-250 and feel, for me, its just perfect....but...I moved up to a larger set of speakers, the Dynaudio Confidence 50s and have been talking to Pass about next steps-very interested in the X260.8 monos, X350.8, or perhaps XA100.8 (not a huge fan of two giant power sucking Class A monos but they probably offer best sound quality) .
I came across a chance to get back into the C-900 preamp, which to me is just phenomenal; The M-900, yes is very good, but I feel there is a better match between amp/speakers with Pass horsepower. The sound is super neutral and has a natural feel across the board with Pass/Dyn;
So, i’m currently using a Chord TT2 into the C-900, into the XLR input on the INT-250 and the SQ is far beyond what I had with just the TT2 into the Pass;
So I have an ad on USAM for the INT-250 (bought brand new at RENO) hoping to get the 260.8’s;
I loved my time with the XA-30.5; it was just pure sweet magic to my ears. The best most dimensional presentation of voices i’ve yet to hear--just very intoxicating. However the bass could be a bit flabby at times and at higher levels into the Dyns I could hear it strain a tad--but that was super loud. I remain amazed at how few watts are actually required on an RMS basis.
Overall the newer 0.8 series has superb upper treble refinement and is still highly resolving; The midrange is neutral and voices sound real to me; I think the 0.8 series overall have a cleaner and clearer presentation than the 0.5 predecessors; But, speaker matching and room response will be the final arbiter on overall "tone";
I recently installed a bunch of GIK bass traps and after some frustration (they are very effective and little goes a long way) settled onto a configuration that works; With this I have discovered new levels of bass tone and definition--they were always there but the "Lens" (aka room response) was foggy;
I have learned that much of my judgement on equipment and speakers was muddled and incomplete because of ill-controlled room acoustics. I strongly believe we rip through gear looking for subtle synergies, but the real cause of frustration with the sonic result (why else do we go through equipment churn?) is from a confounding room response.
Back to the OP's question: I don't have a favorite I suppose; they all have positive attributes in their own way that the rest of the system pieces flush out or suppress; I kind of wish I had a rack in some back closet that could store them all, lol;
Sorry for long and meandering response, just feel like writing to get my mind off the current events.
Happy Listening All and Keep Clean!
