accuphase vs dartzeel

Hooper, have you ever had the chance to listen to any of the Pass Labs XA-series amps, in particular the XA-200's? If so would you share your opinion regarding how they sound compared with your killer Dartzeel's. Thanks.

Dazzdax, what speakers do you have, and what's the rest of your system and your room? What are your listening preferences? Without knowing these things this discussion is pointless.

no offense, but dartzell (in terms of sound)is less detailed than accuphase. sort of like mac(a big mac with swiss cheese if you will)....the overall presentation is quite good, the build is great but its no accuphase. from an investment standpoint(anything this pricey is just that), there is no extensive track record comparable to the cream of the pricier us, japanese,brit, and german brands. just another amp that 6moons thinks is wonderful, not that there's anything wrong with that. cult status is not in the cards.

Teajay:

I've never compared any Pass's to my DarTZeels. Sorry I can't help on that front. A friend of mine has an older X-150, and I've heard a few Pass preamps, the X-Ono, X-350, 350.5, and X-600. So I'm fairly familiar with the line. Personally, I love Pass products. The amps run exceedingly hot, but I find that they straddle the line between tube and solid state as well as any product I've ever heard. In that respect, they're very similar to the Darts. Nelson is one of the most brilliant designers out there and has been at this for a long time. He definitely knows his stuff. If I hadn't discovered the DarTZeels, I may well have wound up with a pair of the X-600s or 350.5s.

Essentialaudio: you are right, I have to give a description of my set up in the first place. Front end: Accuphase (digital and preamp), Acoustic Reality ICEpower (with ASP1000 modules) poweramps (biamped), Dunlavy SC-V speakers. I listen mostly to classical music (70%). I think the Acoustic Realities are not bad at all. In fact they bettered the Accuphase in certain respect although they cost about 10 times (!!) less than the Accuphase. I've never heard the DarTZeel, but based on your comments regarding the DarTZeel's tonal aspect, it might share some tonal characteristics with the ICEpower amp, like transparency, bass agility, dynamics, no audible coloration.