How do you like the X250?

Tech Rider I like it lots! Its much nicer overall sound wise compared to my Parasound A21 and breathes so much life into all of my music. It’s a real treat every time I either spin vinyl on my VPI Prime or just hit play on my CD player.

The X250 is a beast of an amp. Bass control is impressive. However, I found the sound dependent on the quality of the preamp. What preamp have you paired with it?

Tech Rider For now I’m using my Parasound P5. It is a limiting factor but it’s reasonably transparent and spacious if not the punchiest in the low end. I’d much rather a two box Pass Labs preamp or at minimum a Parasound JC2.

I think you’re right on that-optimize the preamp. I owned the X250 and I owned a bunch of preamps from Quad to Bryson to Goldmund to Cary. The sound differed dramatically depending on what preamp was paired.

Ya why would they do it that way?

Smood47 just because the dimensions of the Caps do not fit?!

@@deserteddrake But they should find another way to mount them shouldnt they?

@@Smood47 Maybe they found in a new revision! :p

Agreed, they should just mount them on the bottom side of the board, seems there is some room

I think it is due to them making contact with the top of the chassis. If you look on the .8 series, they switched to a single 5000uf cap mounted below

Pure class A has those drawbacks

yes but remember speakers run on current, not watts

​ @00 00 It would be a little more accurate to say that speakers are driven by current (I), not volts (V). Watts (W) is a measure of "work done" (joules per second). In the case of loudspeakers where resistance in ohms is (R) : To calculate the circuit amperage the formula is I = V / R, or, I = W / V, or, I = (W / R)squared. To calculate the circuit power in watts the formula is W = V x I, or, W = I squared x R or, W = V squared / R. The bottom line is that current (amps) drives the loudspeaker cone but volts (V) carry the amps down the wire to the speaker, so for a long speaker wire length of hundreds of feet you need a 100v line amplifier with an impedance matching transformer on the speaker at the other end of the long wire, as in factory public address systems which are driven by 100 volt line output amplifiers. Hi-Fi amplifiers output to about 8 ohms because they expect short wire length to the speaker. Class A/B amplifiers consume half as much wattage because a Class A amplifier wastes so much wattage as heat. Some of the best amplifiers are class A/B so the "pure class A" amplifiers are more of a marketing exercise than an actual technical improvement.

ACE ACER, I don't have access to that, only one Pass dealer in the Midwest and they don't have those on display.

Inside Hi-Fi THANKS it's nice what you are doing.

I think they are the current source, some clever thinking that to have two boxes connected with only 3 core wires!

Robert Kohut Yes four chassis are two channels.

If you have sensitive speakers consider a pair of Pass's little "amp camp amp" amps! I just got a pair of the monoblock version with two linear power supplies for $350 shipped! They aren't on the level of these monsters but they sound truly phenomenal and the 5 watts is just dandy on 107db/1 active crossed tweeters. As an alternative to buying someone's completed kit, Pass sells a full kit to build a stereo amp (sans power supply and case) for less than 150 bucks shipped. You solder the dozen or so components yourself, find a cheap used case and a clean 24v DC bench supply and have a low noise, smooth and incredibly detailed little amp that doesn't make much heat for a class a design. Other ways to get in the Pass door on a poverty budget like ours would be a used pass aleph amp, or one of the many designs he contributed to, like the Nakamichi Stasis amps, adcom gfa-555, a few Proceed designs and others. Also the chinese market is full of clones of these awesome Pass cases. You could build aleph boards and put them in a clone of this case for well under a thousand bucks for 90% of the sound/aesthetics for a tiny fraction of the money-and still a fully Nelson Pass design! Have fun brother!

clive williams, expander or Torus AVR

You use a Torus, Wow, I use a AVR 20 for all my gear. How does it work for you seeing that the XS Amps pushes some high current ?. I saw some Kubala stuff in the video so, I thought you were plugged into the expander.

clive williams, it was plugged in to a Torus AVR60 Balanced (240v in 120v out)

0K, I understand. I did'nt look into the other Torus models. I wondered if I should have went higher than an AVR 20 ?.(120 in and out, shows 10.5 amps when system is playing). Mine sounds pretty good as is though.

clive williams, if you're in the US call Mick at Quintessence Audio, he's really knowledgeable on Torus products...

The PS appears to be an active design.

yes that's why I didn't buy them

marco not sure what you are referring to

condensers ...capacitor!

I don't have an opinion on here. I make these so you can formulate one.

It's perfectly fine the way those capacitors are mounted. No harm what so ever.

I make these videos so people can see inside... I don't have my own opinion on here. You are sure entitled to your own! Thanks for watching and making a comment.

@@insidehi-fi8734 Thanks for making this video.