[jdandy]

The Pass Labs XP-15 phono preamp arrived today. I was surprised at its weight when I unpacked it. Quite hefty. It took less than 15 minutes to get it installed using balanced Wireworld Silver Eclipse interconnects to the line stage inputs on the McIntosh C2300. I powered the XP15 using a two meter Wireworld Silver Electra power cord.

Pass Labs' system for setting the phono preamplifers gain and cartridge resistance loading is simple and fool proof. There are 16 dip switches arranged in two groups of eight per channel. I initially set the gain at 66 dB, and loaded the Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge with 100 ohms resistance, and began playing Steve Winwood's album Talking Back To The Night, followed by Stacy Kent's 180 gram album Dreamsville, and Joni Mitchell's album Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Then I adjusted the cartridge loading to 50 ohms and listened to Stacey Kent's album again. The 50 ohm setting was richer sounding with better low frequency definition.

The XP-15 sounds very good right out of the box, but did not outperform the C2300's moving coil phono stage. In fact, it sounded very similar, although a tad drier, which I equate to the XP-15 not being broken in, and not having the the C2300's two Telefunken 12AX7 tubes in the signal path. Switching back to the C2300 moving coil phono stage revealed a more organic presentation where voices seemed to have a hint more life and presence.

What really surprised me is the XP15 phono preamplifier is noisier than the C2300 MC phono stage. With no signal I raised the volume to 50% and heard considerably more rushing type noise through the XP-15 than at the same volume setting through the MC phono stage of the C2300. This drove me to try adjusting the XP-15 gain to 76 dB, which brought the noise floor up along with the gain, so I was hearing the same background rushing noise at 40% volume. Lowering the XP-15 gain to 56 dB dropped the noise floor but required the volume to be raised to equal a given sound pressure level when compared to the MC phono stage of the C2300. When volume was equal from the XP-15 I raised the cartridge from the groove, and the noise floor once again exceed the C2300 at the same sound pressure level. This is disappointing. I intend to put some additional hours on the XP-15 to see how it sounds as it opens up, but my opinion at this time is the XP-15 will be returned. Fortunately, the dealer allows a 10 day in home trial with a full refund if I am not satisfied. At this moment I have to say I am not satisfied. The McIntosh C2300 moving coil phono stage is quieter, and sounds equally as nice. Like I said, this is a big disappointment for me, and quite revealing of the quality MC phono stage in the McIntosh C2300.