Quiet competence or occasional magic?

[Diapason]

I am on the hunt for an amp upgrade, because I feel the Sonus Faber Signums could do with more grunt than they're getting from the (really rather lovely) Copland CSA-28. Funny thing is, it's brought up a question that I realise I've been plagued with every time I try to upgrade.

I started with the Audio Analogue AACento that I spotted on the Cloney pre-owned. It's a pretty powerful beast itself, and reports seemed to suggest good things in general, and vocals especially, so I was excited to have a listen. Immediately there was a sense of openness, very airy and clean, bass certainly improved but not exactly thundering. Yeah, very good sound, I liked it, but with the caveat that it wasn't really addressing the things I had set out to address. It didn't sound subjectively powerful, and I didn't feel the vicelike grip on the speakers I was looking for. Still, depending on what I played, I found moments of utter gorgeousness, the kind that leave you in rapt attention, unable to turn the music off. Then for all that some other things just sounded a bit odd compared to what I'm used to, maybe a different tonal balance, or different sense of staging, or something. So some albums you want to keep playing, some albums not so much. I think it was that openness and air, sometimes it really worked, sometimes it seemed almost too much.

Next up came the Parasound Halo integrated, which was something I REALLY wanted to hear as I had had good results with a Parasound A21 back in the mancave days. Initial impressions were very positive: solid, unfussed, in complete control, sounded good with every type of music, exactly the kind of thing I had set out to find. Quiet, solidly engineered, utterly competent. Except I never sat there transfixed the way I had with the Audio Analogue.

Ultimately the Parasound went back because I wasn't mad on the sound through the phono input, but I'm back to wondering what I *really* want. I hate buying components that favour some music over other music, but at the same time I love that special magic when I can find it...

[Fran]

Ah Si, this is an easy answer.

You need at least 2 systems!

[Diapason]

THAT'S NOT HELPING!

LOL.

[Ivor]

Ah Si, this is an easy answer.

You need at least 2 systems!

Can we have a "like" button?

[Fran]

I saw somebody remark the other day that often the devices people like the most are the ones that measure badly. The remark was in the context of lads building amps etc using vintage parts that often measure far worse than modern versions, but that doesn't stop them being sought after.

I wonder if we all like a little distortion in what we listen to, even though we revel in the clean smooth sound of a capable bit of kit? I don't know, I haven't thought about this at all, but maybe thats something to do with what you experienced.

Having said that, I've only ever heard a couple of audio analogue components, but the few I've heard have always been gorgeous. I always think of them as an Italian made Sugden or Naim. Probably closer to Sugden than Naim.

[Ciaran]

I had the question of whether I wanted a bit of tasty distortion or not a few years ago. I didn't have a headphone socket on my pre-amp (Airtight ATC 2) and I'd read an enthusiastic review of the Pass Labs HPA 1 headphone amp in Stereophile. It seemed that it was a pretty capable pre-amp as well if you only wanted to switch between two sources. I knew Cloney's hadn't been distributing Pass Labs for quite a while, so I emailed Pass about it and they told me that Cloney's were about to distribute Pass again. Destiny! So I arranged to borrow one from Cloney's to see what I thought. I installed it as the system preamp and listened happily for a week and was very pleased with it. Then I slotted the Airtight pre back into its accustomed home. I'd also borrowed a pair of Focal Utopia headphones to see if I was going to go for this ultimate headphone thing, so there was extraordinary clarity: this was an exacting test! Listening through the Airtight I was hearing a delicious richness: how could I give that up? But going back and forth (lots of diconnecting and reconnecting, serious hi-fi takes serious dedication!) I realised that the richness was a kind of distortion and that I was hearing the music more clearly on the HPA 1. The loss of clarity wasn't huge and I'd chosen the Airtight after listening to many. many preamps, so by normal standards it is very clear and uncoloured. But once I realised that I could hear into the music better with the Pass, the attraction of the Airtight's richness was gone in a few decisive seconds!

[Diapason]

I genuinely think a Pass Int 250 would solve all of my problems! 😉

Well, except for financial...

[Ciaran]

This discussion has been helpful to you then: you know what to do now!

I would also be very interested in a Pass Int 250, or possibly some other Pass power or integrated.

[Fran]

I've long enjoyed my F5 - but thats not the same type of beast as the high watt integrated amps.

[Steve]

Some very interesting thoughts there! I've long been a fan of Jadis amps after first hearing the live magic they can bring to the presentation. Over the past number of years, I've demo'd a couple of solid state options vs them in my setup (across very different pairs of speakers) and always found the Jadis amps had that extra touch in terms of involvement and 'listenability'. After extended sessions some of the ss amps came across as too lean and lacking in that micro detail that can make things come alive. Yes, the Jadis sonics can be a little coloured in the midrange but always in a way that came across as very satisfying (if that makes sense!)
Having heard about the Pass Labs amps bringing the best of both worlds, I recently borrowed the INT-250 integrated from Ivan in Cloney. Now in some ways, the comparison should be rather unfair - a Class AB integrated vs a pair of Class A monoblocks - but what I was keen to get a sense of was the Pass Labs signature sound which Ivan assured me the INT-250 was well capable of.
And with that, he was definitely correct. I was really impressed with the Pass amp. An excellent, even handed transparency, it naturally had a very firm grip on the bottom end with it's 500w into the Alexia 4ohm load. But it was the top end airiness that really got the attention. Not at all spotlit or cold, it brought an extra dimension of realism with its level of tonal accuracy and resolution. And just made you want to go on listening to the rest of album..
When switching back to the valves, yes that sweetness in the top end was restored but you did start to feel that the Pass was simply more accurate. And not in a way that was clinical. The Jadis amps brought other qualities but I did miss that natural even-handedness across the full range that the Pass integrated brought. Now having said all that, I'm reminded of the times when over extended periods (and by that I mean months) I've always come back to the valves as simply being more involving. But I'm wondering now if the likes of Pass Labs have really brought some of the lifelike qualities that we always associated with tubes to the solid state fold.
The INT-250 has just gone back to Ivan and it's certainly made me wonder just how good the likes of the XA.8 series of Class A mono's must be. The INT-250 certainly brought that quiet competence and with a sense of compelling accuracy that delivered on the magic too.
Si, you've been warned!!