Well I arrived home last night from Vegas and hooked up my Pass amp that arrived that day before. Initially I had a problem with my preamp which has been rectified today. After a few hours of listening, I have finally reached audio nirvana. I am astounded at how good this amp sounds. The amp is extremely musical and dynamic. The music is more palpable and emotional. It sounds more real. The amp seems to have no sonic character of its own. It simply gets out of the way. The level of clarity and detail is much better than my A21. The back ground is completely black. The is no grain, edginess, harshness or fatigue. Bass is tight, controlled and deep, more so than my A21. The amp has this effortlessness about it. Music played at low volume sounds the same at higher volumes which is saying a lot considering my speakers are Magnepan 1.6's which tend to sound their best at moderate to loud volumes. The sound stage is huge, the amp has the ability to take compressed recordings and open them up. The level of transparency is fantastic and the music has a 3D sound. There is much improved spacing among instruments and it seems like I can pick them out of the air. The overall sound is very liquid and smooth. Before I bought this amp, I was thinking about buying a pair of Magnepan 3.6's or 3.7's. But the 1.6's sound great with this amp, I now see no need to upgrade the speakers.

If I have to list the con's to this amp, they would be that it gets hot while my A21 almost never got warm. After 2 hours of listening it warmed up the 17x17x9 room. The X250 also has a power meter on the front and at the top of the meter is a bright blue LED that is irritating when I turn the lights out and listen. I took care of this by placing a small piece of blue painters tape directly over it to diffuse it. The amp also weighs in at 100lbs and requires 2 people to move. By comparison, my A21 was 60lbs. As far as sound is concerned, the midrange could have a little more weight or lushness to it.

By the way, if any one is interested in purchasing a used X250, let me know. There is a guy selling one for about $2650. He wants to move up the line to an X350.

Anyone interested in buying a Parasound A21 for $1300, give me a buzz.