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PASS LABS XA-30.5 vs XA-60.5

Hello all,
Has anyone heard the differences between these two amps, and have done A/B comparrisons on them? I have a XA-30.5 that I'm using with Totem Hawk Speakers. The XA-30.5 drives them very well, but I have been told the 60.5’s give you much better smoothness and cohesiveness, better imaging, better bass control, greater ease and greater resolution.

Here's the million dollar question:

I am ready for my next upgrade and have roughly $6000. Should I upgrade to the XA-60.5's or upgrade my Esoteric X03-SE cd player to the Esoteric seperates P-05 transport and D-05 DAC??

I have very appealing offers for both options.

Any Thoughts?

My system:

Pass Labs XA-30.5 amp
Pass Labs X0.2 preamp
Esoteric XO3-SE cd player
BPT 3.5 Ultra Sig. power conditioner
Totem Hawk speakers
AudioPath custom IC's and speaker cable
Shunyay Python CX power cords
roor
tvad
9,467 posts
 
I have been told the 60.5’s give you much better smoothness and cohesiveness, better imaging, better bass control, greater ease and greater resolution.

Roor (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
In my system, on Silverline Audio Sonata III loudspeakers (93dB, 8 ohm), there was virtually no difference between the XA-30.5 and XA-60.5 in the qualities you listed.

The XA-60.5 could play louder. That was its only advantage.

IMO.
unsound
6,115 posts
 
I have been led to believe that the Pass amps were designed to work best with balanced input. No c-j gear has balanced circuitry.
onemug
784 posts
 
Unsound, good point but here are my thoughts.

Pass amps are balanced, so on paper, if you had a truly balanced preamp that you were happy with, that should be the way to go.

Some preamps have balance output jacks but aren't balanced themselves. You may or may not gain by using balanced connections. You can only listen for yourself and decide.

I would always choose the better sounding preamp regardless if it was truly balanced or "rca only". In my case, the CJ's sounded better than my previous fully balanced preamp. Running the Pass with rca's is fine. For me it was a case of 5 steps forward (better preamp) and 1 step backward (not being able to use the balanced input). Net gain was 4 steps. I just wanted better and got it.
gslone
274 posts
 
If you want the full benefit of a fully balanced system, then your source should also be a fully balanced design component.. I would think.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
This whole balanced issue often gets over analyzed, IMO. Unless one has obvious noise issues running with single ended equipment, or one has very long interconnects, then there should be no problem running single ended with Pass Labs amps provided the impedance match is good.
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