X260.8's .....making music
 

After a 30 plus year hiatus I'm back with Nelson Pass, just received and got up and running a pair of X260.8. Right out of the box, very musical, no complaints :banana::thumbsup:

With Revel's? (That looks like their base in your pic). Did the PASS replace another power source with same speakers and source(s), or is this an all-new system?

I have INT-250 with B&W 803D2s and am delighted. Sound matters most, but company attitude and interface with customers is almost just as important. Of what brands I've owned over 30 yrs, PASS has been the most exceptional in this regard.

yes, Studio II's

yes , they replaced my Rogue M-180's and my Plinius SA102 which I recently sold.

Congratulations,
Pass is great. I also have Int-250, but upgrade bug is razing his voice, and thinking about new xp-12 preamp and amp from pass. Did you compare the 260.8 with 250.8 or 350.8?
What is your preamp?
Thank you.

yes and in the end there is little doubt in my mind that the 260's are the sweet spot in the 'X' series line up.

ARC LS28 (as of 4/18)

Wow. Congrats dave!! And you did some comparison? Anything against the XA series? I have no idea of the price points. Pics??

Congratulations Dave!! I love my Pass XA100.8's :thumbsup:

Congrats Dave, welcome to the Pass family :D

Opinion
 

Just ordered. Are you still pleased with your 260.8's?

by all means, the love affair continues ............

Looking good Dave!!!

Starting the new year right!

How many watts of class A power are available Dave?

Jack, it leaves Class A @ 34 watts.

Dave - congrats! If anything would make me move away from McIntosh, it would be Mr. Pass's most excellent electronics.
Tom

That will get your toes tapping. Welcome back to the Pass family.

Dave - very nice (much better than a Krieghoff ;)). Unless you are 'rocking out', am guessing you will be listening primarily to Class A with those Revels. Nelson's Threshold FET-10pc was my first high-end piece of gear back in the early-80s and I blame him for starting me down this nutty path. :thumbsup: BTW - should you ever wish to contact Nelson Pass he has unfailingly replied to my occasional e-mails for almost 30yr. A most approachable person.

LOL Glenn and given the price of the Pass amps that would do nothing but buy a 'basic' K80 !

Law amps
 

What do you like about them? Or anyone else. Reading recent reviews of the Theta Prometheus monos and having second thoughts. Either good or bad.

quite simply ............. everything !

I use Pass for so long and is great.

price / performance without comparison. (x250.5 - x350.5 - xa100.5 - xa160.8)

with Pass preampli vor my taste is better vs ARC ref5se. The pre Octave HP700 is one altermative.

In the last time I have listened GrandiNote: pre Domino with the monos Demone: well Grandinote wins hands down.

lbefore listen.

Pass 260.8's
 

Having installed them along with remote turn-on AND SR BLUE fuses all is well and good! Boy are they heavy!!!

I'm envious - I got me a XA30.8 but plan to upgrade eventually. Honestly though this little amp sounds much more powerful than it's rating.

Did you purchase a new air conditioning unit to go along with them? :D

If you're asking me Bill the answer is no, they (260.8's) are no where as warm as you may be lead to believe.

Dave, in what way are the 260’s sonically different from the X250.8/350.8?
I have actually never seen a review of the 260’s 😳

Pass Lover Here!
I have owned many of their products in the past and currently!
All items sound great, work and function as designed and there is no customer service better in audio then Pass Labs.
Kent English should teach a class to other audio manufactures on how to take care of customer's, make them feel like part of the family and address any questions, problems etc with lighting speed bar none they are the best!
XP-22, 30.8, Int-60, HPA-1 current owner!

sorry for the late reply........ other than the mono block configuration the biggest difference is that of all the amps in the 'X' series the 260's have the most amount of Class A bias (first 34 watts) save the the big daddy 650.

As for sonics some believe Class A can replicate the sweetness of tubes better than A/B, your call. For me they're keepers .....

Thanks for this thread — there aren’t any reviews out there in la-la land that I could find.

I just took advantage of Mark @ Reno HiFi’s Black Friday sale to order a pair of X260.8s. Depending on the audition, they’ll replace my current X250.8. Since Mark has never, ever steered me wrong through a whole series of “try before buy” Pass upgrades I’m expecting I’ll be sending him back my stereo amp. Still, it’s always nice to be able to do the comparison in one’s own system.

I’ll be sure to post my impressions of the new amps when I get some hours on them.

Steve Z

it will be interesting to hear your comparison Steve, good luck !

Thanks, Dave.

UPS says they should be getting here tomorrow (Tuesday). Looking forward to the comparison to the X250.8 stereo amplifier.

I'll keep you all posted.

Steve

How did the comparison go?

Keepers!
 

Thanks for the reminder. I’ve been enjoying the X260.8s so much it slipped my mind I owed a post or two about the new amps. The short version is, I updated my AA signature when I sent the X250.8 back to Mark Sammut at Reno HiFi. Definitely keepers.

Mark advised a good five days of 24/7 operation before doing any critical evaluation of the new amps, and based on what I heard when I started peeking two days in, he was right. At first I didn’t like them nearly as much as my well broken-in X250.8. They sounded forward, flat and peaky. Very dynamic, but very fatiguing. My first impulse when listening was to turn them down a good 3 to 6 dB from where I normally listen with the X250.8.

Thankfully, they started mellowing a bit by the third and fourth evenings. By the time I had the recommended minimum hours running in, they had settled down quite nicely. However, some 300 hours into running them 24/7 they still sound like they are slowly breaking in — that is, they keep getting better and better.

What do I hear as the differences between the X250.8 and X260.8s?

The X250.8 is a bit more laid back and relaxed in comparison to the mono blocks. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to call the X250.8 almost liquid — though not languid — in comparison. The X260.8s are more vivid and feature more transient jump. My startle reflex engages more with the monos. The 260.8s also possess more separation and depth and a more 3D quality compared to the stereo amp, and I thought the X250.8 was quite good in these areas.

I also hear a bit more detail and texture as well as image specificity with the mono twins. There is a little more rosin on the bow, without losing any essential body and weight. Soundstage is deeper and the front edge has shifted bit more forward than the X250.8, but it’s far from being in my lap. In combination these differences add up to a performance improvement that sounds quite significant and attractive to my ears.

Attributing these differences solely or even mainly as a result of the X260.8s staying in Class A longer than the X250.8 is probably not completely accurate. Nelson Pass has stated that one of the biggest differences across the entire .8 line from the prior .5 amplifiers was his decision to tailor the input and driver stages specifically to each power stage, where the earlier models basically shared the same front end and only varied power supplies, heat sinking and numbers of output devices to accommodate different levels of power output. I suspect this same customization of front ends holds true between X250.8 and X260.8s, particularly since there is a significant bias increase for the mono blocks. Since I’ve yet to see any meter needle movement that would indicate more than a transient departure from class A operation with the X350.5, X250.8 or X260.8s I’ve spent time with, I don’t think staying in class A longer tells the whole story.

I can’t discount two very large power supplies, as well as having everything else isolated on two chassis, along with bias and topology differences having their audible effects. Whatever the secret sauce might actually be, the X260.8 amplifiers are very impressive.

And none of the above takes anything away from the X250.8 which might just be the sweet spot of Pass’ line of single-chassis stereo amplifiers.

The X260.8s perfectly hit the mark with my KEF Blade 2s and what I like my particular fi to sound like. Mark suggested the XA series are even more vivid and up-front and might be a bit too much of a good thing for my listening preferences and speaker choice. So far he’s batting 1.000 so who am I to doubt?

I couldn’t be happier with the X260.8s and in fact, I’m heading downstairs in just a bit for another evening listening to music. If it goes the way it has been since the new amps arrived, it will be the early hours of the morning before I wrap it up.

Which is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Steve Z

Sexy!!

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...9&d=1544582649

:naughty:

Great system you have there.
I had the 260.5 monoblocks and really enjoyed them.
I notice you have the XP 27 phono stage.
Would you care to elaborate on your experience so far with the XP 27.

It’s been a while since anyone’s said that to me.

Oh, you meant the system.

Steve Z

Thanks very much for the kind words.

I lived with the XP-25 for a few years before trying out the X-27 this spring. It wasn’t a subtle upgrade by any means. Instrumental textures, musical detail, tonal saturation, micro- and macro-dynamics -- all are notably improved from the XP-25. If the XP-25 was a little laid-back (and I'd never thought that about the XP-25 before), the XP-27 is vivid and lifelike and very, very present with absolutely no hint of being in-your-face forward.

Some of this is probably due to enhancements to the power supply that they mention in their literature. I know that the earlier -25 was by far the quietest phono amp I’d had up to the XP-27 but the noise floor seems completely non-existant with the new XP. Dead silent even with the volume cranked and my ear next to a speaker. That includes running the London (Decca) Reference cartridge and the Decca designs are reputed to be touchy about hum.

When I chatted with Pass’ Kent English about the XP-27 he offered two observations that have certainly proved true in my experience moving up the Pass line over the years. One, that Pass doesn’t release an upgrade or new model unless it offers a significant improvement in performance over existing models. No incremental upgrades every year which is the norm for some segments of the audio field. And two, that there is a substantial amount of trickle-down from lessons learned with their Xs models.

Some have said the new line stages — XP-12 and XP-22 — have leap-frogged over the next higher models; that is, the XP-12 not only supplants the XP-10 but also the XP-20, and the XP-22 does the same with regard to the XP-20 and the XP-30. I’ve read the same thing with respect to the XP-17 and the XP-25. I haven’t heard the Xs phono amplifier so I can’t speak to how close the XP-27 is getting to that rarified territory, but I’m definitely enjoying LP play that compares very favorably to the best I’ve heard anywhere.

Hope this answers some questions,

Steve Z

Thanks very much Steve for your detailed reply.
Many people hold the XP-25 in high regard so your comments on the XP-27 are really interesting.
I will have to hear it!
One forum member had trouble with hum with his XP-25 so I am very interested in your hum comments re Decca cartridges.

Steve , your setup looks great , are your KEF Blade 2 with Stillpoints under them ?

Steve, glad to 'hear' you are as happy with your 260.8's as I am with mine !