Pass X350.8

Mike

Mike

Audioshark
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Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Messages
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Location
Sarasota, FL
Who has heard this amp? It's getting a lot of love and I'm getting lots of enquiries about it. Even sold a few. Never heard it myself. Just wondering who's heard it and what you compared it to.

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I am loving mine. The best my system has ever sounded. I currently have one driving my Salon 2s... I previously used a Hegel H30. The Hegel is a great amp, but in my system the X350.8 is a step up. Huge soundstage, with amazing depth....sweet and full midrange. The dynamics are off the chart. It has about 100 hrs on it.

Joe is coming by tomorrow and will hear it for the first time. He's heard my system at every stage. I know he will love it.

Pass and Lampi.... :celebrate008_2:
 
I can't wait Bruce, it's hard to believe your system has gotten better but I'm up for the improvement.
 
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Hi Bruce,
Have you tried/compared with any Pass XA.8 series amp? I'm intrigued by the difference in sound signature between X350.8 and its class A brethren.
 
I went to see Bruce yesterday and then we both went to another friend's house, Mark. Both have Salon2's and the Pass 350.8 amps.

Both have been through a lot of gear, especially Bruce. I have to say that both these systems have never sounded better. Sure the room was a little warm :cool: but the music flowing out was undeniably the best that I've heard from both systems and the best I've heard any system, my system excluded, of course. :P

Sweet vocals, powerful but slightly rounded bass compared to 28BSST's, Ayre KX-5/20, Hegel H30, and several others. More depth and in the room sound stage of all of them. So much air that I did not think it was possible. Such an inviting, huge but intimate sound.

Mike had tweaked Bruce's system last week and it was stunning. With the amp change, Bruce is in a whole new league now. There's no way now that it can get any better. Seriously.

Bruce, thank you for a fun day yesterday.
 
Mike: The X350.8 is a good "all-arounder". It plays very neutral tonally and can output very loudly, effortlessly and clearly. It is quite dynamic and it projects a very broad soundstage. It is a bit more forgiving than amps I've owned in the past, such as Krell and Accuphase, so less than stellar source material still sounds pretty good. If it lacks in any specific area, it is in the ultimate finesse and beauty in the midrange. It is also a bit less detailed than some amps. But in the final analysis, it is hard to find fault with any specific area of performance. It reminds me of a much better and cleaner version of the Musical Fidelity Nuvista 800 which I had here on demo a while back. I am using it with the Accuphase C2420 preamp, which might affect the sonics as well.
 
By the way, I have never moved the bias needle on this thing, no matter how loud I've played it. So the first 35 watts of output in pure Class A must be pretty potent. I would add that it is a good match with the Focal Scalas. We're playing Madonna this morning and it actually sounds compelling despite the fact that we've played the same disc through other amps and it was intolerably bad. Kind of a neat trick since most of our music is not audiophile grade.
 
dfwmediagroup said:
By the way, I have never moved the bias needle on this thing, no matter how loud I've played it. So the first 35 watts of output in pure Class A must be pretty potent. I would add that it is a good match with the Focal Scalas. We're playing Madonna this morning and it actually sounds compelling despite the fact that we've played the same disc through other amps and it was intolerably bad. Kind of a neat trick since most of our music is not audiophile grade.
Click to expand...

From the spec sheet on Pass website, X350.8 leaves class A at peak of 18 watts, not "35 watts".
 
Hmmm. It says 35 watts in the brochure. Whatever it is, it drives Focal Scalas, at 92 db efficient, to very loud levels without leaving class A bias.
 
kzhtoo said:
From the spec sheet on Pass website, X350.8 leaves class A at peak of 18 watts, not "35 watts".
Click to expand...

I believe the spec sheet on the website is the most recent. Leaves Class A at 18 watts peak.

Ken
 
Yes, it leaves class A at 18wpc, but what a wonderful amp it is. It pushes all the right buttons, it not hideously expensive, expansive sound stage with tremendous air, and a sweet tone. I heard this at two friends homes and absolutely love it. A Pass Labs home run.
 
I'm sure X350.8 is superb. It's not my intention to say it's not because it leaves Class A at lower wattage. But for those who own XA.8 amp, like myself with XA30.8, looking for more headroom, when it leaves Class A becomes important (XA30.8 leaves Class A at 60 watts peak).

I use XA30.8 to drive Magico S3 (88db 4 ohm) and the needle never moves at my normal listening level or even at higher level. Only at a very very high spl level the needle starts to move. Not that I'm feeling the system is lacking in terms of dynamic headroom in any way or effortlessness, but I do wonder if there's performance gain to be had going from XA30.8 to X350.8. Probably easier or more obvious way is to get to XA60.8 or XA100.8, however Class A mono also means more rack space, heat, power cord and plug from the wall. I use Siltech Ruby Hill 2 on the amp and one more of this cable would add a substantial upgrade cost.
 
At what level an amp leaves class-A is important based on speakers being used, ZNom and sensitivity. On your Magico at 4 ohm , your pass amp will transition to class-B at 30 watts not 60 , and at 9 watts on the 350.8 ...

I do prefer Mono amps , means i can place amps to left and right and as close to the speakers as possible ..


regards
 
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