My new Pass Amps
 

I've had my Pass xa160.5's for 11 days now and they are breaking in wonderfully. Yesterday during a fun little amp shoot out (Pass xa160.5's vs Mcintosh 2301 vs Classe ca-2300) - I made a discovery that may help some of you.

I had been told by Pass to use the stock power cords and plug the amps directly into the walls. Although I was very impressed with the sound, the sound went to a whole new level when I decided to swap the stock power cords for WW Silver Electra PC's and plug the amps into my power conditioner (the massive APC S20). EVERYTHING got better - bass, much tighter bass, MUCH smoother top end, dynamic range, sound stage, you name it. Instruments had much better tone color.

I'm sure other Pass owners have made similar discoveries with Shunyata and other PC's. I'm not exactly sure if the secret sauce is the power cords or the power conditioner or both - but it works - very well.

Mike...congrats on the XA-160.5s :thumbsup: You may want to try another configuration which is just have the WW PCs connected to the amps but plugged into the wall and see how that compares to them being plugged into your APC power conditioner.

Yup! That's the plan for today. I'm almost afraid to mess with it - it is sounding so good!!

Congrats!

Mike, how did the pass amp perform against mc 2301 and the classe?

I have to run out for a few hours...but when I get back, I will post my findings.

Agree on switching power cord. I too use a silver Electra on my pass amp. Big difference with different cords.

Nice avatar iceman78 :)

Cyril
I agree with you on going direct into the wall. Even if he removes the APC unit from the amps for something else I would keep that for the sources. The battery back-up capability of the units protects you from brown outs and power outages. The only other unit with battery back-up that to mind is the Purepower. I compared my S15 against the PPP units and it held its own on sound quality.

Congratulations Mike! Glad you are enjoying your new Pass XA-160.5s. Keep us posted on the comparo.