Amps in the same class as Pass XA.5 series

I would love to see comparisons of the XA.5 series versus the Gryphon Antileon Signature or the Colosseum. Maybe it'll have to be up to me to do that since I don't see many Gryphon owners here.

McIntosh MC402 is an excellent solid state preamp

Everyone is listing SS amps. I have owned a couple of Pass amps and really enjoyed them but I am now driving my speakers with a really good tube amp and would have a hard time going back to SS. If you are open to tube amps there are numerous choices that will qualify for best of category.

A couple of others you might want to compare with the Pass amps include the Lamm M1.2 Reference (110wpc) and M2.2 (220wpc), both of which are monoblock hybrids with a single 6922 tube per amp in the input stage; or the Clayton M200 or M300 (monoblock SS amps with 200 and 300 wpc, respectively). The Lamms and Claytons run fully in Class A and double their power into 4 ohms. The Lamms have a bias switch for system matching, and the Clayton M300's have a bias switch so the amps can run cooler when idling, or when critical listening is not necessary.

Good luck comparing the Clayton amps to Pass Labs amps. Unlike Pass Labs amps, which can be auditioned at home fairly easily, Clayton amps in my experience are virtually impossible to audition let alone actually compare in the same system.

The Clayton amps may sound phenomenal, but after three months of intensive effort to hear a pair I gave up.