Pass Labs XA- ".5" ???

It was a half-baked idea but he released it anyway because of pent-up demand. He couldn't pass on the opportunity.

tarsando, I sorry but I do not understand your response. Can you please clarify?

Yes.
I talked with Peter at Pass Labs today. The XA series is about to release .5 series. So if any XA series owners I would start dumping before you take a major financial hit.

To add a .5 on your XA-160 mono block amps will cost you about $5000 per amp plus shipping round trip Ouch almost $11K for the upgrade with shipping from the East Coast !!

On a positive not the new XA-160.5, XA-100.5 and XA-200 amps are going to blow away the old XA series so I am told by Pass Labs.
Joe

Tboooe....it was all a joke, a play on words.. well not words, but the ".5" as "half. Plus "pass" = Nelson Pass. OK, so it wasnt that funny. Not funny at all... I had a bad day at the office! Anyway, sorry, didn't mean to confuse anyone.

Hi guy's, I just got off the phone with Peter at Pass Labs so here's the facts regarding the new XA.5 series amps.

Peter shared the following information:

1) The XA.5 series amps will double down as impedance drops, unlike the present XA amps that do not.

2) The sonic signature of the XA.5 series will not qualitatively differ then the present XA amps, but will offer the XA sonics to audiophiles with much more difficult speakers to drive in their systems.

So, if your a present XA amp owner and have no problems driving your speakers, the new XA.5 series really would not offer an advantage sonicly to you. On the other hand if you love the sound of the XA series but did not consider these amps because of the mismatch with your speakers, the XA.5 series would remedy that concern.

Finally, to be as accurate as I can be regarding what Peter shared with me if there is any sonic differences between the XA/XA.5, there should be no difference if impedance does not matter, but it's still "theoretical" because no one has yet directly compared a XA-100 to a XA.5-100. However, what I got out out of the conversation was that I don't think I will be sending in my XA-100's for upgrading in the near future.