Bryston or Pass Labs

   Which sounds better to you??

I have a .8 series Pass amp (X250.8), and I used to own an earlier version of the 4B. Thus while this is not apples to apples, my preference is Pass, but I do have 2 thoughts. First, context is everything, so what's the rest of the system? Second, have you auditioned both?

Young  dsd DAC
Audio quest and MIT interconnects
Zip cord  speaker cable
Sopra 3 focal speakers
CJ GAT PREAMP
ANDROS 1.2 Phonostage
Vpi prime signature turntable

Forgot to mention l only heard the bryston 135 sst. 

Well, what did you think of the Bryston? With the Sopra 3, I might lean towards Bryston

I didn't here the bryston with the sopras 

Do not fail to upgrade speaker cables and power cords. 

Agreed better speaker cables are at least needed and what amp are you using now?

A modified 555ii adcom. Again l just want to know has anyone heard these two amps and their opinion. 

I had a chance to perform a direct comparison between the Bryston 2.5B3 and a Pass Labs amp (I forget the model) in the same setup. They simply sound different so I believe it will really come down to which you prefer. I prefer the Bryston, but the other person who was with me prefers the Pass.

I have also compared the newer Bryston cubed amps to their previous generations and there is also a very noticeable difference in sound character. So I wouldn't necessarily take the 135SST as a good reference point if you are considering the 4B3. I prefer the newer cubed series, but I have met people who prefer the older models after performing direct comparisons.

Thank for answering my question.

To nekoaudio if l may ask why you preferred the bryston and the other listener preferred pass labs.

Pass without question.

The 350.8 us the very latest and gas several upgrades .it us a Fantastic amp. Several things to note Nelson Pass doesnot like using fuses for a good reason,because fuses suck and are bottlenecks. He uses a breaker that is  not a negative in the circuit 
He uses more mosfets on the outputs ,and several other improvements. One thing higher biasing into pure class-A
Almost 20wpc before it croses  over into class AB.
Meaning more then half of your music on normal listening 
Will sound even better being in pure class- A ,also depending how inneficient your Loudspeakers are  and doubles power into 4 ohms,and 2 .
The only amplifiers close to  this price class that may be a little more refined is the Vitus Amplifiers ,or Gryphon both from Denmark. 

The Pass amp is more than twice the cost of the Bryston. The Bryston is an 4B3 is an excellent amp.  I use the 6Bsst2 and it sounds outstanding with my Maggies. I haven't listened to the Pass amp so I wouldn't pass judgement. But , I believe you can reach a point of diminishing returns. 

Plus Bryston has a 20 year warranty! 

Why are you limiting yourself to those two amp? There are more contenders out there to choose from.

My original post stated that I was looking not limiting.

Ok, why are you looking only at those two amps?

You have a great set of speakers which certainly do not match your current Adcom amp. The new cube series Bryston is very good. Owned a 14sst myself at one time but I don't know if it is at the level of the Pass gear. If you have a chance to listen with your speakers that would be best. Also strongly agree with previous comments on upgrade to better speaker and power cords. Best wishes. 

givin2u-
you own very nice gear, especially, the CJ GAT. There are many audiophiles
who pair a Pass Labs amp w/ the GAT as they are sonic matches. The Bryston could possibly mate well w/ the GAT? At this level of price and performance it is best to audition both products. Keep me posted, I am a big CJ fan. Happy Listening!

I have a CJ ET-3 SE hooked up to a Bryston 2.5 SST2 and it makes an excellent combo. Plenty of detail and no harshness.

linnlingo- the CJ ET-3SE is a very fine pre-amp, especially, at its price-point in the used/demo marketplace.
Happy Listening!

I've owned the Pass Labs X350.5 and Bryston 7BSST2's and now Bryston 28BSST2's.

I prefer Bryston overall

I’ve owned both a Bryston amp and a Pass Labs amp and prefer Pass Labs, I visited the Bryston room at RMAF 2017 and it confirmed my change to Pass Labs XA 30.8. 

Although there is a house sound, in the pass world there's a substantial difference between the x.5, xa.5, x.8, and xa.5 lines. I've only compared the first two, but preferred the xa.5 by a substantial margin. As others have started, the same is true of the different bryston generations. I think you'll simply have to audition. As everyone always states, renohifi makes that easy for the pass products...

It all depends on your preferences.  Try to listen to both, ideally in your own system and see what YOU like better. All the advice is worthless. One may like Bryston ,  the other Pass and nobody will be right or wrong. Just different tastes ,  different preferences. Important is what you like. 

Absolutely. Thanks to all for your input on this subject.

I went 4b3 but did consider Pass X250.8 and X350.8, one main reason did not go Pass is the class A heat.  As for the sound of the 4b3 its very, very good match with my 20.7s

I am not familiar with most of the gear that you have, but I have had several Nelson Pass products, including the Pass XA100.5, XA60.8, the First Watt M2 and J2.  I also own a pair of Lamm tube amps.  They each have their own character, but I have to say that all have these things in common: accuracy, good dynamics, and most important, they are musically superior to everything else I have listened to over the 15 years I have been an audiophile   I had a Bryson amp, 4bt I believe, several years ago and I found it to be very analytic. It was accurate and it had good dynamic presentation but it was not very musical.  Just my “2 cents” worth.

These new cubed series are very nice. The Bryston could be more analytical, transparent, and neutral than the Pass, and personnally I would not want that with the Focal. I would go straight Pass !!

I know this is a old thread but I'm finding myself with a loaner 4b3 which I like very much but I also like what I read about Pass and am contemplating buying on approval from Reno or finding a used unit.  I'll note here that if you can go to the X150.8 that amp actually competes price wise with the 4b3.  The Pass products are generally grossly underrated power wise and perform 25-35% higher than their stated output.  So while the x150.8 is not as underpowered as you think it might be in comparison to the 4b3.  The 4b3 is FAR FAR more musical to me than the "squared" series, much more delicate upper midrange and highs, beautifully detailed but not etched.  It still is a little lacking in the presence department but only slightly and my suspicion is that's where the Pass will exceed the Bryston.  The Bryston is however an exceedingly "fast" amp without being etched and is also totally dual mono with two stacked transformers (one for each channel).  The build quality is astonishing and the thing can just put out a huge amount of power with no compression.  I can easily listen to 110 db peaks on large orchestra recordings on the Bryston with no compression or odd things going on at all so I am impressed.  Any further thoughts from anyone are welcome.  My front end is largely digital (Bryston BDP-1) using Audirvana and a tubed Aesthetix Janus preamp with Thiel 2.4s.

I guess I'm the only one who would select based on which amp I had a hope of moving it upstairs on my own.  Actually, I'd probably go with a 3B3 on that basis, as long as we are sticking with class A/B.

No l have not however l have heard the 3bst with a pair of maggies.

givin2u
The Bryston 3B-ST is still a fine power amp. Mate it w/ an ARC Ref5SE tubed pre-amp and you are set!
Happy Listening!

I received a Pass x150.8 yesterday and I have to say these two amplifiers are entirely different.  The Pass is very liquid, three dimensional and palpable whereas the Bryston is very analytical and revealing.  While the Pass also retrieves a HUGE amount of detail from recordings there are some that will find the Bryston preferable.  Since I'm only one day into the audition of the Pass I haven't quite decided yet but for people who believe all SS amps sound the same as long as they are high current and have plenty of power reserves compare these two because there's a huge difference.  I would say initially that I favor the Pass but the problem I'm having with the Pass is that on orchestral music and particularly loud orchestral swells the Bryston is simply more accurate and conveys more information...i.e. its more analytical whereas on the Pass I get a bit of a homogenized sounds on orchestral peaks.  I DO find the Pass amp far less fatiguing when listening to loud orchestral music.  One interesting tidbit of my experience is that the Pass idles at a far higher electrical draw than the Bryston even though they're both Class A up to 10 watts for the Bryston and 15 watts for the Pass.  The Bryston hardly ever got really warm even when it was driven hard while the Pass does produce about the same amount of heat as four KT88 tubes I would say.  The heat from the Pass is not bad but just be prepared to use your air conditioning more.

Hi, I signed up on Audiogon specifically to respond to this post because I have both these amps and have been comparing them all last evening on different material. 

Setup:
mac air with a jitterbug and audioquest forest usb cable 
Macintosh mc52 pre and dac
black cat 3020 xlr interconnects and speaker cables 
Dynaudio Contour 5.4 speakers 
Oem power conditioner and Gotham power cables. 

I had bought a Bryston for a second system and the pass 350.8 has been my amp up till now while I have been upgrading other components in my system. 

The more I learn about setting up your system I realise how much it’s personal preferences and not whether one is better than the rest. 

On paper the 350.8 is a preferred amplifier and also on reviews. When I switched to the Bryston I realised I liked how it sounded and I got a bit confused so tried with different music and material all night

I found a free track on the DCS’s website the spirit of turtle records which was some classical material with huge dynamic range and depth in the soundstage which validated my preference clearly to the Bryston. 

The 350.8 has been great with amazing detail and presence but somehow maybe my positioning and room has to be setup better because I was finding a lack in a soundstage depth and separation.

Overall the brystom felt more black and quieter with a deep soundstage, the dynamic range was amazing and the highs and mids also smoother but not muddled. 

On specific instruments and voices when I compare the pass there is immense detail in each individual instrument and depth in its own sound but somehow I felt that I was enjoying listening to the Bryston more as it felt like one integrated and deep and high soundstage. My head was saying Pass better as it felt more live each instrument but I was enjoying the dynamic range and soundstage of the Bryston more. 

It also feel a bit more like the Bryston is reflecting the sound of the Mcintosh C52 preamp more without interfering too much. This is my impression only. If there was a small negative on some songs maybe with my Dynaudios and the Bryston / Mac maybe sometimes the bass / mid ass is a bit heavier and not as tight as I would like but still not a major concern. 

This is my impression after one night of listening so if I change my opinion will update you guys. 

This is is all from listening last night and also for clarity I would like to state that I do like a mellower warmer sound similar to that of tube amps and less in ur face. Quietness from which the music emerges as opposed to it being in ur face. 

Udit very valid observations. In today's market there are many stellar powe amplifiers. 

Pass Labs builds a very respected product so does  Bryston, so does Krell, Ayre, Sim, Coda.

It will all come down to system integration and personal taste the concept that all amplifiers sound the same is complete hogwash, allthough with careful system matching you can keep many of the traits you like and amelerorate the ones you don't.

We were a Bryston dealer for a few years and found their preamps to be okay and we were also matching tube preamps to add a bit more of a glow to the ultra clean sound of the Bryston and found the combination to be superb.

The unfortunate trend we keep seeing on these posts is the glorfication of a brand and not seeing that the industry is always changing and new models and companies pop up to establish what may be a better product than some of the products being discussed.

Take the thread on the Coda Point 8 TJ compared this $6,200.00 amplifier to a $14k set of Pass Labs amplifiers and we do believe he prefered the Coda so why aren't people asking if anyone has had the same experience?

Personally Gavin we would recommend that you upgrade your digital the Young DSD is a good dac but can be bettered we have the same dac.

Which power amplifier do you currently have?

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

udit
Excellent review on both power amps. I look forward in reading more about your system as these amps settle, bloom.  Happy Listening!