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Post by gentlejax on Dec 23, 2019 9:12:13 GMT -5
I have some old pro amps but I am thinking I may need to change to a more suitable amp for the XSP-1 g2
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Post by jackfish on Dec 23, 2019 10:09:15 GMT -5
I’ve been impressed with the D-Sonic amps and would like to replace my aging Emotiva UPA-1s with some. www.d-sonic.com/amplifiers/13.3" MacBook Air, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD, iTunes/BitPerfect MacBook Air SuperDrive Western Digital My Book Essential 2TB USB HD Schiit Bifrost USB DAC and Audioengine D3 DAC Emotiva USP-1, ERC-1 and two UPA-1s Pro-Ject Xpression III and AT440MLa AKAI AT-2600 and Harman Kardon TD4400 Grado SR80i Wharfedale Diamond 225 Magnestand MMG Rythmik Audio F12 |
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Post by mgbpuff on Dec 23, 2019 10:10:03 GMT -5
I have some old pro amps but I am thinking I may need to change to a more suitable amp for the XSP-1 g2 You may be right. I have an XSP-1 and I consider it to be among the finest audiophile preamps available. Old pro amps are a different breed, not meant for audiophile sensitivities but for public auditorium blasting.  |
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ronf
Seeker Of Truth
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Post by ronf on Dec 23, 2019 14:18:52 GMT -5
I have an XSP-1 Gen2 driving an Emotiva XPA-DR2 amp, (it is a beast,) and I have to say, although I am not a reviewer by any stretch, I consider myself most fortunate to have such an excellent system, and I chuckle to myself when I think about how much I paid for such excellence. I purchased both of these devices new at their original release prices, which is considerably less than what is required to get them today.
I had been considering a D-Sonic stereo amp myself, but when the DR2 came out, I pulled the trigger on it instead, in part because it seems like a very nice match to the XSP-1 preamp, and the two look good together in my rack. Appearance does not matter all that much to me, but it does to my Significant Other and she has commented that she likes that they appear to be a matching set!
To state that I have scarce resources to spend on HiFi is an understatement, so I am fortunate indeed. I have found through the years the following rule applies well: wait patiently for what is needed/desired, but when it comes ... pull the trigger with no hesitation, before it slips by.
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Post by selind40 on Dec 23, 2019 15:14:19 GMT -5
I'm currently using my older XPA-2 Gen 1 but also had a pair of PA-1's hooked up to my XSP-1 Gen2 prior to sending the XSP-1 back for some service. To my ears, the XPA-2 Gen1 sounds better, fuller. The PA-1's were very good as well.....I'm keeping them and will use if I pick up some more speakers. I'm also kicking the idea around of using the PA-1's to drive the upper end of my ERT 8.3's and the XPA-2 to drive the lower end......I might need some beer to finalize this idea. Merry Christmas.
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Post by RichGuy on Dec 23, 2019 15:31:50 GMT -5
I have an XSP-1 Gen1 and have used it with both an XPA-2 Gen 1 & Gen 2 and both sound great with the XSP-1.
For me the most notable sound change has come from the DAC pairing, I absolutely love my MHDT Labs Stockholm NOS tube DAC with the XSP-1. This DAC has that vinyl like musicality that I find missing from other DAC's along with fine detail.
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Post by leonski on Dec 23, 2019 18:56:20 GMT -5
I'm currently using my older XPA-2 Gen 1 but also had a pair of PA-1's hooked up to my XSP-1 Gen2 prior to sending the XSP-1 back for some service. To my ears, the XPA-2 Gen1 sounds better, fuller. The PA-1's were very good as well.....I'm keeping them and will use if I pick up some more speakers. I'm also kicking the idea around of using the PA-1's to drive the upper end of my ERT 8.3's and the XPA-2 to drive the lower end......I might need some beer to finalize this idea. Merry Christmas. I LOVE beer-assisted decisions. Always works out! |
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Post by gentlejax on Dec 26, 2019 9:39:45 GMT -5
I'm currently using my older XPA-2 Gen 1 but also had a pair of PA-1's hooked up to my XSP-1 Gen2 prior to sending the XSP-1 back for some service. To my ears, the XPA-2 Gen1 sounds better, fuller. The PA-1's were very good as well.....I'm keeping them and will use if I pick up some more speakers. I'm also kicking the idea around of using the PA-1's to drive the upper end of my ERT 8.3's and the XPA-2 to drive the lower end......I might need some beer to finalize this idea. Merry Christmas. I LOVE beer-assisted decisions. Always works out! lmbo!!!!!
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stiehl11
Emo VIPs 
Give me available light!
Posts: 7,269
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Post by stiehl11 on Dec 26, 2019 11:36:47 GMT -5
I've had an XPA-2 Gen 1, a PA-250, and now a XPR-2 and I can say that they all sounded great with the XSP-1. My current XPR-2 sounds the best to my ears at the moment.
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Post by AudioHTIT on Dec 27, 2019 12:50:45 GMT -5
The question should be “what amp(s) work best with my XYZ speakers?” In my opinion one should pick speakers first — they make the most audible difference in any system, and should be chosen based on your preferences, room, esthetics, and budget. Then, knowing the requirements of your speakers, you can choose the proper amp to drive them and your room. Aside from balanced or single ended connections, the synergy between amp and preamp is much less important than the ‘pitcher / catcher’ relationship between amp and speaker.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2019 13:48:13 GMT -5
The question should be “what amp(s) work best with my XYZ speakers?” In my opinion one should pick speakers first — they make the most audible difference in any system, and should be chosen based on your preferences, room, esthetics, and budget. Then, knowing the requirements of your speakers, you can choose the proper amp to drive them and your room. Aside from balanced or single ended connections, the synergy between amp and preamp is much less important than the ‘pitcher / catcher’ relationship between amp and speaker. Nailed it!!! |
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Post by routlaw on Dec 27, 2019 14:11:14 GMT -5
The question should be “what amp(s) work best with my XYZ speakers?” In my opinion one should pick speakers first — they make the most audible difference in any system, and should be chosen based on your preferences, room, esthetics, and budget. Then, knowing the requirements of your speakers, you can choose the proper amp to drive them and your room. Aside from balanced or single ended connections, the synergy between amp and preamp is much less important than the ‘pitcher / catcher’ relationship between amp and speaker. I'm not so sure I totally agree with this concept. There are pre-amp and amp combinations that really do not mate well together, for instance an amp might have either an input impedance or input sensitivity that a certain pre-amp might not be able to drive properly. Just recently with a some other friends we ran into this very issue. Not worth naming the brand of gear but clearly a set of amps were not being driven properly with another pre-amp than my own. Both pre-amps were balanced, however I am not certain the other pre-amp was a true fully differential balanced design though it did have balanced outputs. I have also heard of this type of issue using some tube gear with SS gear though I have not direct experience with this. Otherwise you make a good point and valid point. However I doubt there are few if any amps or speakers that would not work well with the XSP-1 Gen 2. It really is a good pre-amp. One would have to spend an excessive amount of money for better performance than this two channel pre-amp IMO. |
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Post by selind40 on Dec 27, 2019 19:03:43 GMT -5
The question should be “what amp(s) work best with my XYZ speakers?” In my opinion one should pick speakers first — they make the most audible difference in any system, and should be chosen based on your preferences, room, esthetics, and budget. Then, knowing the requirements of your speakers, you can choose the proper amp to drive them and your room. Aside from balanced or single ended connections, the synergy between amp and preamp is much less important than the ‘pitcher / catcher’ relationship between amp and speaker. Might explain why I have more sets of speakers than I can use at any one time.....speakers everywhere......my buddy thinks I need speaker buying counseling, he laughs all the time about my speakers.
P.S. They still have T2's for $699 bucks......after a few pops tonight, I might own some....
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Post by leonski on Dec 31, 2019 16:54:26 GMT -5
The question should be “what amp(s) work best with my XYZ speakers?” In my opinion one should pick speakers first — they make the most audible difference in any system, and should be chosen based on your preferences, room, esthetics, and budget. Then, knowing the requirements of your speakers, you can choose the proper amp to drive them and your room. Aside from balanced or single ended connections, the synergy between amp and preamp is much less important than the ‘pitcher / catcher’ relationship between amp and speaker. The OTHER viewpoint needs to be aired. That other viewpoint is 'soure first'. Sure, speakers all have unique characteristics but all are also driven from the source downstream. I won't try to minimize the speaker / amp interface. Certain speakers and amps simply don't get along. Tubes with highly reactive speakers with large impedance swings, for example. Yet it is important to meet other electrical requirements, as well. Preamp should have a certain impedance ratio to the amps INPUT impedance. Generally, the higher the better, in this case. Some lower input impedance amps might not be happy with high output impedance tube gear. And so forth. But Electrical compatibility is no guarantee of listening satisfaction. I think in the case of amps / speakers that enough data is available to EXCLUDE some amps from consideration without making a certain amp 'best'. Too bad that much really useful data is NOT taken. Like an amps ability to drive reactive loads. Some things you just gotta HEAR. For Selind40? I think one issue might be that of system goals. If you were able to settle on a set of goals, you might be able to see your way clear to ridding yourself of a couple 'excess' sets of speakers. If you could do some listening to a few 'Golden Systems' you might have some insight to YOUR values and what serves you best. Attached photo is of that system. VERY nice with a sub I couldn't get IN my house, let alone have room for if it FIT in the door. But those amps? D'Agostino and $$$$. An All computer system at the source end.......Even my wife was impressed and she generally thinks of the whole thing like a toaster or refrigerator....an Appliance! I recently heard a very nice system ![]()  |
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Post by selind40 on Dec 31, 2019 21:35:41 GMT -5
The question should be “what amp(s) work best with my XYZ speakers?” In my opinion one should pick speakers first — they make the most audible difference in any system, and should be chosen based on your preferences, room, esthetics, and budget. Then, knowing the requirements of your speakers, you can choose the proper amp to drive them and your room. Aside from balanced or single ended connections, the synergy between amp and preamp is much less important than the ‘pitcher / catcher’ relationship between amp and speaker. The OTHER viewpoint needs to be aired. That other viewpoint is 'soure first'. Sure, speakers all have unique characteristics but all are also driven from the source downstream. I won't try to minimize the speaker / amp interface. Certain speakers and amps simply don't get along. Tubes with highly reactive speakers with large impedance swings, for example. Yet it is important to meet other electrical requirements, as well. Preamp should have a certain impedance ratio to the amps INPUT impedance. Generally, the higher the better, in this case. Some lower input impedance amps might not be happy with high output impedance tube gear. And so forth. But Electrical compatibility is no guarantee of listening satisfaction. I think in the case of amps / speakers that enough data is available to EXCLUDE some amps from consideration without making a certain amp 'best'. Too bad that much really useful data is NOT taken. Like an amps ability to drive reactive loads. Some things you just gotta HEAR. For Selind40? I think one issue might be that of system goals. If you were able to settle on a set of goals, you might be able to see your way clear to ridding yourself of a couple 'excess' sets of speakers. If you could do some listening to a few 'Golden Systems' you might have some insight to YOUR values and what serves you best. Attached photo is of that system. VERY nice with a sub I couldn't get IN my house, let alone have room for if it FIT in the door. But those amps? D'Agostino and $$$$. An All computer system at the source end.......Even my wife was impressed and she generally thinks of the whole thing like a toaster or refrigerator....an Appliance! I recently heard a very nice system ![]() That system probably cost more than my house, truck, camper, and Harley combined.....not to mention if you have to put outlines on the floor like a crime scene to place everything correctly I'm not interested. |
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Post by leonski on Dec 31, 2019 23:08:18 GMT -5
Yes, an expensive system for sure. But the munchies were good and it is ALWAYS nice to hear a properly setup system of such high capability. And who knows? You might be able to
mine an idea for free! I espeically checked out the computer driven part of the system with special note of the file system.
As for the marks on the floor? Clearly, you won't do that in YOUR house. They are intended for aligning speakers in the BEST location or the 'start' location if a customer wants to change the setup.
In MY house? No marks, but than I've got one set of speakers for which i have measurements to orient the speaker properly, even after moving for dusting.
Selind40, you still need to think about system goals. To start? What do you like or dislike about a certain setup? What do you listen for? Are you a toe-tapper? Or eye closer?
You might want to take measurements of your various speakers and keep some kind of documentation of location. I know when I setup my Magnepans, I spent weeks. Some setups lasted a few mintues while
others lasted hours or days. Maggies are different from box speakers, being asymettric dipoles, so I had front / back AND left / right orientations as well as spacing, toe and spacing from front wall.
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Post by Gary Cook on Jan 1, 2020 2:08:27 GMT -5
I'll try a different approach. The XSP-1 is a fully discrete differential balanced pre amp and as such it is capable of providing a link (between the sources and the power amps) such that the analogue signal can be fully discrete differential balanced from the source all the way to the power amps output. There are lots of advantages is this, mostly to do with a complete absence of external and internal noise finding its way into the system. When there is a silent passage in the music it is silent, so the music appears out of that silence, quite addictive from the first time you hear it. With the above in mind, you really need to be looking for a power amp/s that can take advantage of that, meaning that they need to be themselves fully discrete differential balanced. This narrows the field considerably. I can shorten the list even further if you have the layout suitable for monoblocks that can be located close by each individual speaker ie; long XLR interconnects and short speaker cables. This adds 2 further benefits, it maintains as high a damping factor as possible which means better speaker driver control. Plus speaker cables act as antennas and so the shorter they are the less chance there is of external interference creeping in. After all the system rejects/eliminates external noise from the source all the way to the power amp/s output, so it's just logical to limit the exposure after that. In the XSP-1 you have a world class pre amp, it deserves to have the surrounding systems to compliment that. Spending OPM is fun  Happy New Year to All Gary |
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Post by leonski on Jan 3, 2020 1:59:36 GMT -5
Yes, Gary, the XSP preamp is very capable and priced right. It's only fair to compare across similar pricing. Maybe the Parasound P6? The new model has improved DACs and a LCD display. It is NOT fully balanced but does have balanced connectivity as well as what I'd consider a slightly more flexible bass managment system. Stereo subs SOUND like a good idea until you realize that music is mixed down below maybe 80hz. The OverTones give bass its 'image'.
MOST components are not balanced. And as it turns out, the conversion back and forth COULD have minor sonic consequences. I don't think any of my components are 'native' balanced. A23 amp? No, but has balanced INs. Cambridge Audio DAC? Balanced outs. And I use the Balanced INS of my P5 preamp for the DAC but everthing else is single ended. And dead quiet. I can turn it UP all the way with near-zero noise with no input.
Now that I think about it, I've never seen a turntable with balanced out.
I DO like locating amps near speakers. Good idea, IF you can swing it. But I wouldn't use DF as the reason. Anything over maybe 50 (Real World....) is pretty much a 'wasted' spec. Most reasonable SS amps will calculate to maybe 500, UNTIL you add some real stuff like a Speaker! Than it
drops rapidly.
And keep in mind that some (few, these days) 'big box' speakers will sound thin with such a high DF, much preferring closer to 5 than 50. Some exceptions exist, like my Magnepans, which like power, are low sensitivity BUT don't seem to care about Tube or SolidState.
Will most or many people be happy with the XSP? Absolutely. Just don't get wrapped up in some of specs.
Can I spend some of YOUR money? I'll bet you could use a good Camera System! A New Nikon Z6 (not the most $$$) and a couple lenses could EASILY top 4000$ or 5000$.
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larryd
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 5
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Post by larryd on Mar 2, 2020 9:49:39 GMT -5
The XPS-1 (G2) performs way above what any preamp at its price should perform. Thus, go as high as you can afford in matching amps to this little heavy hitter. I actually have a pair of Bryston 7BST monoblocks paired with it (about $5,000 new), and to my ears, it is a wonderful match. The sheer limitless power of the Brystons (and let's be honest, a very slight clinicalness) matches well with the honest "no-frills" sweet sound that passes through the XPS-1. My advice: if you already own a great pair of speakers you love, spend as much as you can on a great amp. The XPS-1 won't be outmatched.
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Post by frenchyfranky on Mar 3, 2020 10:56:03 GMT -5
The XPS-1 (G2) performs way above what any preamp at its price should perform. Thus, go as high as you can afford in matching amps to this little heavy hitter. I actually have a pair of Bryston 7BST monoblocks paired with it (about $5,000 new), and to my ears, it is a wonderful match. The sheer limitless power of the Brystons (and let's be honest, a very slight clinicalness) matches well with the honest "no-frills" sweet sound that passes through the XPS-1. My advice: if you already own a great pair of speakers you love, spend as much as you can on a great amp. The XPS-1 won't be outmatched. Just to correct, you're talking about the "XSP-1" the analog preamp, the XPS-1 is the small phono stage preamp. |
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