Pass Labs X150.5 Has Arrived

[Jack in Wilmington]

UPS dropped it off around 1:00pm. Took my hand truck to get into my audio room. Then I rigged up my furniture dolly and some plywood so that the amp and the shelf were at the same height. Replaced the MIT bananas with the supplied spades. Couldn't use my Voodoo power cord as the distance between the back of the chassis and the rear support post on my rack were too close. Leaving it on for 24 hours to burn-in.

[Feanor]

Congrats, Jack. We'll be waiting for your listening impressions.

What will you be using as a preamp with the Pass?

[Jack in Wilmington]

Congrats, Jack. We'll be waiting for your listening impressions.

What will you be using as a preamp with the Pass?

I'll be using my Anthem integrated for the time being, but hopefully I can find a used ARC or Conrad Johnson to fill that spot.

[frenchmon]

Congrats Jack! Can't wait to read your review!

I see you have a VoooDooo PC, which one and how do you like it? I've heard great things about them.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Congrats Jack! Can't wait to read your review!

I see you have a VoooDooo PC, which one and how do you like it? I've heard great things about them.

Thanks Frenchie, the X150.5 is sounding sweet. Everything I pull out to listen to sounds a little different. I can't always put my finger on the difference, but all of a sudden, there it is.

I have the Voodoo Tiger. I was sort of bummed that I couldn't use it in my setup. The head of the plug won't fit thru the holes that are provided in the support post for wire management. I might need a 90 degree plug that goes up so I can use the Tiger.

[Mr Peabody]

Jack it will only get better as warm up and break in happens. So it drives the Dyn's pretty well?

[Jack in Wilmington]

Jack it will only get better as warm up and break in happens. So it drives the Dyn's pretty well?

It does drive the Dyn's very well. I sat down and listened for about three hours last night and I haven't done that in a while. Everything I threw at it sounded better, some times in a small way and others (like piano) sounded remarkably better.

The amp also warmed up the room nicely, which felt good on a cold night.

[blackraven]

Congrats Jack! Good choice on a CJ or ARC preamp as I am not completely sold on the X1. Before I bought it I was considering a CJ Premier 17LS tube preamp and the ARC LS25 MKII. They can be had for around $2000-2500 used.

How do you like the dynamics of the Pass? I find it truly amazing, especially on Classical music. Its ability and control to go from quiet, soft passages to loud and robust and back to quiet again is truly amazing. It is effortless and the low passages sound great.

I look forward to more of your thoughts on the amp.

[harley .guy07]

The amp also warmed up the room nicely, which felt good on a cold night.

I will say that I have my setup in my living room which is a pretty big room and my 150.5 augments my fireplace nicely. A lot of people complain about the heat, I don't because I had a super cool running class d audio amp that I did not like so I call the heat of the x150.5 a small price to pay for the sonic goodness of a Pass Labs amplifier.

I have a question, what is a Voodoo pc? is it a gaming computer rig or just one of those high end custom pc's that are built. Just wondering

[Jack in Wilmington]

I will say that I have my setup in my living room which is a pretty big room and my 150.5 augments my fireplace nicely. A lot of people complain about the heat, I don't because I had a super cool running class d audio amp that I did not like so I call the heat of the x150.5 a small price to pay for the sonic goodness of a Pass Labs amplifier.

I have a question, what is a Voodoo pc? is it a gaming computer rig or just one of those high end custom pc's that are built. Just wondering

Sorry Harley, in this case pc stands for power cord. I got it at "the cable co." online.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Congrats Jack! Good choice on a CJ or ARC preamp as I am not completely sold on the X1. Before I bought it I was considering a CJ Premier 17LS tube preamp and the ARC LS25 MKII. They can be had for around $2000-2500 used.

How do you like the dynamics of the Pass? I find it truly amazing, especially on Classical music. Its ability and control to go from quiet, soft passages to loud and robust and back to quiet again is truly amazing. It is effortless and the low passages sound great.

I look forward to more of your thoughts on the amp.

Being a class D guy, I wasn't prepared for the dynamics. It snapped my head around the first time. I have my eye on the CJ 17LS also.

[Mr Peabody]

Something JM has now come to realize, and I continue to encourage you, when considering the preamp you should look for true balanced circuitry as the Pass is truly balanced. Note in your manual it should discuss the Pass patented circuit in the amp. The CJ would take the system more to a romantic sound. I don't recall Jack talking much about what you like in sound. Have you ever had tube gear?

Jack, I mentioned that on one of these Pass threads as well, piano is stunning.

Frenchmon may have a link but a good performing power cord is Triode, they sell direct. I heard one Frenchie has on the same day we compared several, the Triode had the same type of sound or effect as the Clarus Crimson just not as good. The Triode was much better than the Pangea or my entry Transparent. Resolving amps like Pass will show the benefit of a good power cord, as well as interconnects.

[Feanor]

Being a class D guy, I wasn't prepared for the dynamics. It snapped my head around the first time. I have my eye on the CJ 17LS also.

I was also a class D guy recently too. I had Class D Audio SDS-258 which is generally a very good amp and rather amazing for $600. The thing I liked least about it was its bright top highs which could be quite shrill depending on the recording. The last quality was what drove me to consider a change. However I considered the Class D Audio to be dynamic with precise base, and transparent & airy.

Before considering the Pass I listened to comment comments by Mr P, blackraven, harley, et al., and was impressed by comments about the Pass' transparency. So I wasn't surprised by improvement in this area. But the improvement versus the pretty good CDA SDS in dynamics, "PRaT", and bass was genuine surprise.

Not only piano but all percussion instruments really come alive with the Pass X150.5 -- it seemed phenomenal to me. Bass too was improved; since I listen mainly to classical music what struck me was the the Pass was able to replicate the weight & and impact of orchestral bass, i.e. string base, bassoon, bass drum, tympani, etc. (I don't mean to imply that this bass is in the least bloated or exaggeratedly warm.)

Where I'm a little disappointed with the Pass is that I expected a little more smoothness on the top end. So while the Pass is somewhat smoother and less bright than the CDA SDS, it is by no means warm or rolled off. The practical meaning of this is that overly top-end bright recordings -- of which there are many -- still sound that way.

As for the single-ended vs. balanced issue, I have only driven the Pass with a fully balanced preamp, an ARC LS9. I do know that when I got the ARC, the CDA SDS sounded more dynamic -- but I had been using a passive preamp previously, not an active single-end.

[Hyfi]

Feanor,

Have you tried the Pass with a Tube Pre yet? That may be able to tame the highs if tubed to you liking. I have always liked the mix of Tube Pre with SS Amps. If I didn't have a Hybrid amp right now, my Stratos would be in the main system with the VAC pre and I know it sounds good that way.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Something JM has now come to realize, and I continue to encourage you, when considering the preamp you should look for true balanced circuitry as the Pass is truly balanced. Note in your manual it should discuss the Pass patented circuit in the amp. The CJ would take the system more to a romantic sound. I don't recall Jack talking much about what you like in sound. Have you ever had tube gear?

Jack, I mentioned that on one of these Pass threads as well, piano is stunning.

Frenchmon may have a link but a good performing power cord is Triode, they sell direct. I heard one Frenchie has on the same day we compared several, the Triode had the same type of sound or effect as the Clarus Crimson just not as good. The Triode was much better than the Pangea or my entry Transparent. Resolving amps like Pass will show the benefit of a good power cord, as well as interconnects.

I did have a tube integrated before I bought my Anthem. It was the Jolida 502b and while it gave a nice warm smooth sound, in the end I felt that the 60wpc was not giving me the most from my Dyn's.

I'll need a power cord that doesn't have such a large plug on the end. I can borrow an Audioquest or a Transparent from my local Hifi shop to try out. Of course they may throw me out when I tell them I bought a Pass amp and not the Bryston that I had been looking at.

[Feanor]

Feanor,

Have you tried the Pass with a Tube Pre yet? That may be able to tame the highs if tubed to you liking. I have always liked the mix of Tube Pre with SS Amps. If I didn't have a Hybrid amp right now, my Stratos would be in the main system with the VAC pre and I know it sounds good that way.

No, I don't have a tube preamp at the moment. I recently bought the ARC LS9 which is s/s.

For one thing the LS9 was all I could afford in terms of a quality, balanced preamp. Nice balanced tube pre's seem to start at about $1500 which is almost twice what I paid. For another thing I'm probably more tolerant of a slightly bright sound than most people and don't want to compromised transparency & air which are my highest priorities.

I would like to heard a nice balanced preamp, say one of the ARC's or BAT's.

[blackraven]

Jack, I am thinking about giving one of these Cullen Power Cords a try.

Gold Series

It looks like a no nonsense cord at a reasonable price. For me to spend $300-400 on a cord and another few hundred on XLR's is ridiculous as the money wold have been better spent on buying a better amp or preamp. My budget for RCA's and XLR's was about $400 once I bought the Pass gear.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Jack, I am thinking about giving one of these Cullen Power Cords a try.

Gold Series

It looks like a no nonsense cord at a reasonable price. For me to spend $300-400 on a cord and another few hundred on XLR's is ridiculous as the money wold have been better spent on buying a better amp or preamp. My budget for RCA's and XLR's was about $400 one I bought the Pass gear.

That looks like a serious power cord. I'll check and see if I can find any reviews on it.

[blackraven]

I just emailed a guy on the Audio Circles forum who has one and liked it as I read one of his threads on another forum. He is running a Pass X1 preamp and a Van Alstine 400R amp. I will keep you informed about the cable.

By the way, I will be taking home the new version of the Van Alstine FET preamp on Friday or Saturday. I will be reviewing if for Frank. While it does not have XLR's, if it sounds much better than the X1, I may upgrade my current Ultra Plus preamp to it and sell the X1. I am still considering a Conrad Johnson 17LS, ARC LS25 or 26 and a BAT if I can find a good deal on one without breaking the bank. I am not going to let XLR be the deciding factor. While it may sound slightly better, the issue is that the right preamp XLR's or not, will more than make up the difference. I don't want to compromise on a great sounding preamp for the sake of a slight improvement with XLR's.

[frenchmon]

Jack...what are you going to do with the VoooDooo cable? If you are not going to use it can you let me hear it? Are you going to sell it?

[Jack in Wilmington]

Jack...what are you going to do with the VoooDooo cable? If you are not going to use it can you let me hear it? Are you going to sell it?

I was going to wait and see if it will work with my preamp. If not I'll send it to you for a trial, if that's OK.

[Mr Peabody]

I understand a budget but it also does not make sense to spend thousands on audio gear then play it through cables that don't allow the equipment's full potential to come to life.

Jack, I used the Transparent power cords and they are good, able to benefit the gear without having a sonic signature of it's own. You should also try the interconnects/speaker cables. Their cables are well known for a nice improvement in bass, not quantity, quality.

[frenchmon]

Sure Jack...that will be cool! Let me know.

[frenchmon]

There is a voodoo thunder PC regular $525, but now $349. Used over at the Cable company in the used section. And it's 9 gauge.

VooDoo Thunder Powercord

[blackraven]

So Jack, how about a review on the 150.5 since you have had time to live with it and put it through its paces.


By the way, I am liking my X1 more. I rolled in my last of a dozen different pair of 6CG7's in my DAC. Go figure, the last pair has more of what I am looking for which is a fuller, deeper and more textured midrange with some warmth. Its not all the way there but I like it.