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Post by craigl59 on Jun 1, 2018 17:01:38 GMT -5
Leonski et al: Looked carefully at Pass Labs amps before pulling the trigger on the XPA-1s. New Pass Lab amps are VERY expensive. I do not buy used because of lifelong experiences. The one candidate that looked very strong, and was recommended by the Audiogon crowd, was the Pass Lab XA25. But this does not have balanced ins/outs, is a single stereo chassis, and costs more than twice the XPA1s. It also maxes out at 50 watts (4 ohms) with no transfer to A/B. BTW, there is no problem with the XPA-1Ls at all. Last year bought a Nord Stereo UP amp from Colin in England and tried it for a week. It was not impressive to me and, then, the left channel blew. Colin was professional enough to refund the price upon return. After listening to the Class D Nord for a week, returned to the Emotiva XPA 1Ls. The difference was like night and day. The Emotiva monos were so much better it was not even close. In particular, the timbral accuracy, soloist presence, and overall soundstage were lights years better in class A. As stated above, am only interested in the XPA-1 upgrade for future security. YES there are some class A amps out there in the sub-10k range but I have no way of auditioning them. The Valvet monos are of particular interest. Has anyone on this thread heard the Valvets?
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Post by garbulky on Jun 1, 2018 17:18:43 GMT -5
Leonski et al: Looked carefully at Pass Labs amps before pulling the trigger on the XPA-1s. New Pass Lab amps are VERY expensive. I do not buy used because of lifelong experiences. The one candidate that looked very strong, and was recommended by the Audiogon crowd, was the Pass Lab XA25. But this does not have balanced ins/outs, is a single stereo chassis, and costs more than twice the XPA1s. It also maxes out at 50 watts (4 ohms) with no transfer to A/B. BTW, there is no problem with the XPA-1Ls at all. Last year bought a Nord Stereo UP amp from Colin in England and tried it for a week. It was not impressive to me and, then, the left channel blew. Colin was professional enough to refund the price upon return. After listening to the Class D Nord for a week, returned to the Emotiva XPA 1Ls. The difference was like night and day. The Emotiva monos were so much better it was not even close. In particular, the timbral accuracy, soloist presence, and overall soundstage were lights years better in class A. As stated above, am only interested in the XPA-1 upgrade for future security. YES there are some class A amps out there in the sub-10k range but I have no way of auditioning them. The Valvet monos are of particular interest. Has anyone on this thread heard the Valvets? I've had my XPA-1 gen 2 for about an year or two with no issues.
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Post by leonski on Jun 1, 2018 18:01:59 GMT -5
Here is link to the XA30.5 stereo amp. I believe it DOES have balanced in and does transition to A/B and than runs to redline at nearly 120 8ohm watts per side. www.stereophile.com/content/pass-labs-xa305-power-amplifier-measurementsUnless you have better information and actual test results, I'll think that any of the pass XA stuff will have pretty good headroom into A/B. while agreeing that at some point, you simply do not need massive headroom, given the RMS capabilities. This was the 'smallest' amp in the series and one of the few 'stereo' amps, the remainder being mono bloc. Given my listening habits, I always felt a PAIR of these would be fine for my panels, while a 'quad' of the XA60.5 would be beyond reproach. NO REASON to NOT buy 'used'. Amps are carefully gone over and come with additional warranty from Reno HiFi, which is the only place I'd buy such an amp from. They take trades and are a HUGE dealer for Pass. hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/amplifier/power-amplifier/pass-labs-xa30-8-class-stereo-power-amplifier-review/Some measured data and speculation from the tester, who apparently was equipment limited on the bench.
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Post by quamman on Sept 7, 2018 13:04:39 GMT -5
I ran across this thread as I am also looking into the choice between a set of XPA1’s gen1 and an XPA-DR2 and offered a little info but looks like it was quickly hijacked into a discussion of speaker wire length and damping factor their of . 😞
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Post by craigl59 on Sept 7, 2018 14:02:13 GMT -5
quamman: Cannot comment on the XPA-DR2 but recently bought 2 of the XPA-1s, then 2 more, because they sound so accurate in Class A -- they will take CD *wav files and make you think you are listening to vinyl/tube amps but without the detriments those analog units have. SO, you can't go wrong with the XPA1s if you can find them. Emotiva is now sold out of new units and claims they will not make any more. Hope they can be convinced otherwise...
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Post by garbulky on Sept 7, 2018 14:22:37 GMT -5
I ran across this thread as I am also looking into the choice between a set of XPA1’s gen1 and an XPA-DR2 and offered a little info but looks like it was quickly hijacked into a discussion of speaker wire length and damping factor their of . 😞 The XPA-1 gen 2's are utterly sublime imo. I haven't heard the DR range but I have heard the gen 3 single blade range - and I wasn't impressed. The gen 3 also have measurably poor IMD specs.
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Post by mack71 on Sept 7, 2018 15:09:21 GMT -5
I was the owner of both XPA-1 gen1, 2 and XPR1, I recently bought DR1. For me, these are the best Emotiva amplifiers. It is best to try it in your own system and evaluate it yourself, because opinions can be very differen
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