Bell Canto VS Pass Labs

Maybe in terms of overall power, but definately not on sonics. The PASS X350.5 and X250.5 are both considered state-of-the-art solid-state stereo amplifiers, and imo sound better than any of the top-rated Class-D Amps that I have heard. My experience has been that PASS' X.5 (& XA.5) Amps are more sonically competitive with good Tube Amps, than with Class-D Amps.

I have owned Bel Canto Ref1000 amps, and I presently own Pass Labs XA-60.5. Whoever suggested the Bel Canto Ref1000 could compete with Pass Labs 350.5 must have either been high or a Bel Canto salesperson.

The two amps aren't even close, IMO.

Tvad he had a set of xa 60.5's used telling me the customer used those for a trade in on the ref 1000's

totally agree with Tvad. I had an x250.5 and an S300... the Pass was in a completely different league...The S300 while not the ref1000 is based on the same technology...even so even if the s300 i had was significantly better (as in ref1000) the Pass would still be the superior amp. It was a learning experience. There is no such thing as a free lunch in high end and from what I heard this class D amp was basically as good as a decent receiver. IMHO the only truly musical ss amps are based in the classic designs: class A, big power supplies, low noise topologies..lots of iron...its just one of those things.