Get your First Watt SIT-3 now?

The Pass Labs XA25 costs about the same as the SIT-3 and doesn’t seem to be tied to a Transistor Anachronism...both amps are well regarded nearly to the point of astonished worshipful reverence, but I want an XA25. Why? Just because it’s there, although I doubt my single ended tube amp is going to explode any time soon which would be my only reason to drop the coin on a Pass. Still...it’s there...haunting me...now if they'd just put a meter on the front...

Those considering purchase of a SIT-3 should keep in mind that its gain is only 11.5 db, which is extremely low for a power amp.  Consequently it requires a single-ended input of about 3.2 volts to be driven to its rated maximum power capability of 18 watts into 8 ohms.

That is particularly likely to be a problem in applications where it would be driven directly from a DAC, or in vinyl-based applications if an active preamp providing something like 15 db or more of gain is not being used, and of course in just about any application in which a passive preamp is used.

The XA25, in contrast, provides 20 db of gain, which is still below average but should be ok in most applications.

Regards
-- Al 

Almarg  brings up some very good points. There is more than just the efficiency of your speakers involved if you want to get the most out of this amp. I am fortunate to have one and it is a beautiful sounding amp but even if you match up everything perfectly you will might find some albums that because of the way they were recorded just won’t have enough volume. The amp sounds so good that I am willing to accept this but others might not.

Al, the xa25 is also an amp that hit my radar, perhaps for a future purchase. It would be appreciated, I think by more than a couple of us, if it wouldn’t be inconvenient, if from time to time you might provide progression reports of how it acquits itself in your system. Thanks, George

Lwin, thanks for providing the additional perspective.

George (Jetter), I've owned my XA25 for about five months now, and the early impressions you've probably seen me mention in other threads continue to apply.  Basically, I've found Teajay's review to be absolutely spot-on, and for that matter to be more accurately focused than Herb Reichert's comparably positive review in Stereophile.

The bottom line IME is that I don't miss the 300B-based VAC Renaissance 70/70 MkIII I had been using during the previous several years at all.  The XA25 comes remarkably close to the VAC with respect to dimensionality, imaging, liquidity, and other traditional fortes of high quality tube amps. It’s a bit less rich sounding than the VAC, but I interpret that as an increase in accuracy, which is fine as far as I am concerned. 

I should add, though, as you're probably aware, that my speakers (Daedalus Ulysses) are extremely easy to drive, having an unusually flat and benign impedance curve as well as high sensitivity (rated at 97.5 db/1W/1m).  Also, in case it matters (which it probably doesn't), most of my listening is to classical music.

Finally, I'll mention that as it happened I didn't have an opportunity to do much critical listening during the week I gave the XA25 the 120 hour breakin that was recommended by Mark at Reno HiFi (from whom I purchased the amp; he was wonderful to deal with, btw).  So I can't comment on how its sonics might have changed during that period.

Best regards,
-- Al