This is by far the nicest sounding amplifier i have ever heard. The bass control, warnth. Tonal clarity and extreme resolution depth has astounded me. I will be holding on this amplifier for a very long time.

Hungry on power as she runs at 100 watts without music running through it. This is a byproduct of the high bias which creates the musicality. Also runs extremely hot all the time so needs to be free of cabinets.

Gran finale il PassX250.5 pugno di ferro in guanto di velluto , raffinato dolce e potente tutto in uno , pilota qualsiasi diffusore gli venga collegato con una naturalezza disarmante meglio in bilanciato dove si esprime al massimo dopo circa un ora dalla sua accensione.
Nel mio setup con sorgente Yamaha cds2000 , pre Bat VK31SE , diffusori Kharma Ce2.3 e cablaggio Audioquest chetah xlr dbs36v e Mont Blanc dbs 72v in 30mq si ottengono pressioni sonore indistorte veramente al top.
Costruzione impeccabile , blasone notevole , e prestazioni allo stato dell'arte fanno di questo finale Pass Labs un oggetto di cui ti puoi fidare anche ad orecchie chiuse , se poi lo si ascolta sarà difficile non mettere mano al portafogli.

Sound charateristics, power, conroll, build quality and reliability.
Character: at the warm side, enourmous stage, tranparency, 'air around the instruments', 3D-effect (tube charateristics), depth, resolving capabilities, speed, controll, natural sound of instruments, precision, details, loads of bass, very well balanced. Very musically, it has soul.

Size and weight.
Power consumption.

The Pass Labs X250.5 power amplifier is a true class 1 amp.
It drives the first 20 watts (the level we - at the max - listen to at home) in pure class A. It is a very reliable product, built with the best parts used and in a very simple (true balanced) design configuration. Retailers say "tube like sound but very reliable and loads of power".
The sound characteristics are: at the warm side, enourmous stage, tranparency, 'air around the instruments', 3D-effect (tube charateristics), depth, resolving capabilities, speed, controll, natural sound of instruments, precision, details, loads of bass, very well balanced. Very musically, it has soul.
I use it in the following configuration: Power-amp Pass Labs X250.5, Pre-amp Pass Labs X1, SACD Lindemann 820S, Wilson Audio Sophia speakers, Transparent Reference XL-XLR interlinks, Siltech SPX 30 mkII powercables, Chord Oddysee speaker cables.
I was looking for tube sound but reliable and enough power and controll. I found it in the Pass Labs. I have compared it with a lot of amplifiers, also in the higher price-range. These are my opinions, based on a lot of listening en talking: Mark Levinson and Krell (more aggressive, more direct, less 'air around the instruments', more analytic), Spectral (quite comparable but more analytical, less soul and difficult to match with other components if you don't like Avalon (and MIT)), Graaf GM 200 OTL (beautifull tube amp but harsch in the highs, absolutely not reliable and you need to install an Airco (42 tubes)), McIntosh solid state (beautifull amp, comparable but less controll, less stage, less air), Einstein OTL (beautifull sounding amp but not enough power hence controll, resolving capability), Audio Research (beautifull amp, comparable but a bit more analytical, less bass, less power hence controll, less reliable).

I rate it with five stars given the price/quality. The mentioned price is in USD, bought privat/second hand. Current retailprice is 7.300 euro's (appr. 10.000 USD).
It's bigger brothers (X350.5, X600.5, XA-series, et cetera) will be better but also remarkable more expensive.

Customer Service

I have no experience and 'they say' you never will have because Pass Labs amplifiers do not tend to break. If they do though the user manual wil keep you out of getting in panic. It says that whenever it breaks, also after 20 years (!!), the design is so made that it will always can be repaired. Also read their text on 'guarantee', see their website. The user manuals are on the site. It will give you confidence (and a smile).

Similar Products Used:

See review.

Suit most of gears
Powerful
good for voices - warm

Heavy
expensive

I have this gear more than a year. Before buying this, I did a lot of research and saw a lot of review on others amps. Finally, I chose this one after I had had an audition at a hi-fi shop. After a run-in period of about 2 weeks, its sound appealing. If you keep it turning on for a day, its sounds the best. It is a good amp for listening voices - maybe the reason of class A - the sound is very warm. It is powerful amp as I need to drive my Dynaudio Contour 3.0. My speaker cable is Cardas Golden Reference which is warm and neutral. Before this, I used VDH which is very good for voices but the image is not so bright.