Quote:
Originally Posted by Down Under
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.
|
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