Pass X350.5 or Krell 302e?

The 0.5 series are superior to the earlier X series. To be unnest the older ones I did not find that impressive. What kind of speakers do you use? Wenn you want the best in 3-dimensional image. The Pass Labs does a better job. There are only a few older Krell amps which sound I loved. But these days I am only interested in the best level in 3-dimensional image. Because this is the key to the absolute sound. Krell is not capable of giving the wide and deep stage as Pass Labs can give. Pass labs is also capable of letting you hear the difference between 2 acoustic guitars with ease in the same recording.

Bo1972, Which Krell to which Pass Labs did you compare, as this make a big diffence and this is, as you know very system dependent.
My Krell 400E mono with ARC Ref 5SE gives a extremely wide, deep and open image, in which it seems, that my speakers where not there.
No need to go to Pass for me, as I am extremely satisfied with the sound.
Said that Pass Labs sound almost broken on eg a Wilson Sasha, where Krell with this speaker shines, so system dependence is always the rule.
Both amplifiers are great and preference of someone also is one key rather than which is better.
And yes, I hear also very easily the difference between 2 acoustic guitars in the same recording.

Best

I auditioned pass 250.5 at my local dealer and liked everything expect dynamics and bass. I am surprised by the comment that Krell 402E did not have bass that is not as good as than older generation of Pass??? Latest Krells are great amplifiers. I own latest Krell 302e and in my house compared it with Plinius sb301, Mark Levinson 532H, Gamut d200i and latest Hegel H4SE.
Krell has better bass, more airy highs and very energetic and natural midrange with very real 3d sounstage and of cause its dynamics are awesome.
I really would like to know if in this price range (around $10K) there is something better overall . I agree with some comments here that pre-amp can be an issue when auditioning pre-amp. It needs to be a great match with the amplifier or it will kill all the goodies that particular amp is famous for.

Krell FPB Mc series. I really liked the musical sound, but the stage was not the strongest part. Pass Labs gives a different focus on the sound of instruments. I am not talking about the stage. The Krell is more focussed on the overwhole sound. There are many Krell amp's I auditioned which were not that convincing or special. I sold my XA100.5 to a client with puppy7 sepakers. Was the best puppy audition I ever heared. I also auditoned more average demo's with Wilson Audio speakers. Often acoustic problems. Many had Krell amp's. The acoustic problems were not caused by the Krell amp's.

I own the Pass Labs X250.5 which drives my Wilson Duettes in the dining room and the Krell Evo 2250e which drives my Spendor STs in the bedroom. The VTL 7.5iii is the preamp for both. They are two very different sounding amps. In a room where the accoustics are not challenging I prefer the Pass to the Krell. The Pass has an wide soundstage, and excells in the mid-range, goes very deep in the bass and does not sound like a SS amp. The Krell is more analytical has better imaging and air around the notes and instruments and the bass is so well controlled that it sounds good in any room environment. I tried the x250.5 in my bedroom, which absorbs sounds and the whole soundstage flattened and lost transparency, the Krell was largely unaffected by the room. I am using the same interconnects and speaker cables with both amps. Both amps will benefit significantly from an upgraded power cable. I hope this helps.