Garbulky's XPA-1 Gen 2 Review PART I NOW UP!

[novisnick]

Dec 26, 2015 15:08:04 GMT -5 garbulky said:

Lol! Sorry guys it's taking so long. I have decided to cut out some stuff and put some stuff I think may add some more substance to it. Right now I've been super busy with chores and catcing up after the xmas break

Yeh,,,,,,Yeh!!!,,,,,,,,,

Lets face it!,,,,,,,,,,,YOU just need to get YOUR priorities straight!!!!!!!!!     

[garbulky]

A few more thoughts about class A after some extended use.
But first a caveat. My speakers especially since they are in a small room relatively close are very very sensitive to placement and toe in. So much that electronic additions almost always require tiny but important adjustments to placements. If I don't I don't get that perfectly locked in sound. The focus is blurred.
So keep that in mind. Because I think a flaw of the class A review section as it is subjective is that speaker positining was optimized with the amps in class A. So it is possible that switching to AB mode made a small shift that was enough to cause my comments.

So this is done pretending that this has in no way occured and I am assuming it's class A and not speaker positioning.
My class A impressions are basically exactly what you read in that review. Fantastic stuff. Immersive. The soundstage wraps around you.
In class Ab, the sound is good. But it's raelly more about feelings and musical immersion. I don't feel immersed in the music. The soundstage doesn't reach out and wrap around you in that 3d bubble thing. I call it "coupling to the room". But....interestingly I can't pinpoint and say this wasn't there that wasn't there etc. All I can say is that in class AB something is missing. The soundstage doesn't reach out and become "3d." The sound isn't as "crisp" and on point.
At this point it feels a little closer to the UPA-2s but not as drastic. It doesn't become a different amp. It just feels more cut from the same cloth as the other emotiva amps I've heard. Nothing wrong with that. But that's the difference.

In class A it does feel better. Like I said it could simply be speaker positioning. I spend a lot of time locking in the sound. You just have to believe me that my speakers are that sensitive in the small space I have. But since it's hard to say without effort I don't care to put in as I listen in class A for critical listening, it's hard to differentiate what causes what. But I now almost always go to class A if I really want to "hear" something.