Hi JPSpock,
I'm proud new owner of brand new Pass XA 160.5
I have them now like 2 months and improve they still do. I'm playing those babies 24h during the weekends and like 10 everyday. And I know that they still get little better everyday.
I had a AX 60.8 and here is what I wrote till now about the XA 160.5
I hope someone will read it and it will help to make the decisions better suited to someone's needs.
I was during those 2 days since I purchased the 160.5 hesitate to write something here. Ut I could not brake myself to do it.
First of al from the beginning it was very pleasant sound form 160.5. It sounded little like my pervious XA 60.8 , very good detail. But lifeless and with a little soft Bass. Very like Aleph X DIY amp yet more controlled because I think of the amount of power.
After like 24h the amps ware even more detailed and began have the crispy yet natural presence. Natural on the warm and very ORGANIC side of the sound. This is real sound for me! And I can't explain how, but I began to hear things in the treble that I was missing out my pervious XA 60.8 !!
After 36h they finally began to call me for attention with those extra information on the tracks. This nuances are very important for me and making in my head more realistic presentation. It is more emotional listening!
In comparison with XA 60.8 they are in Bass region not that detailed as I was already familiar with. The Bass punch me in belly, just not on my whole body like point 8. What I mean is that the bass on point 8 are more detailed. But this is for me less important to me. Maybe it will evolve during the burn-in time.
I have read on the net that during burn-in time the sound on the point 5 will be even more organic?! As for me I can't imagine that, but sure hoop for :-)
What for me is very important that the bad records sounds bearable to my years with this amp.
Oh boy I'm so pleased with it so far, and I want more :-)
I will update this post later on during the burn in time. For me the point 8 is very neutral amp with tight bass and the Point 5 is emotional amp and life like.
Take two:
After now 12 days of burn in those are my conclusions:
The amplifier XA 160.5 is very musical genius! It's quite emotional presentation what I was familiar to Aleph X but with far better neutrality and lighting speed and slam! They are fast compared to Aleph X with toons of meat on the bones. I mean that they reproduce very complex music with toons of information that have weight and on the same time in endless space. Just stunning for me.Believability to this music reproduction is on the top level.. This is amplifier hat combine the Aleph X series with Point 8 to me !
Now there is no comparing possible with my old XA 60.8 because there was never this kind of emotional connection between me and my point 8 Amp. I wrote about this on many more forums in desperate search for the soul in this amplifier!
What stroke me also that listening at quiet levels is more realistic then point 8 amp.
So I will now stop writing on the .8 amplifier because of this. I can't be anymore objective in 100% because of this. The point .5 is definitely my favorite series in Pass Program except the XS series that maybe will be the next big thing
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