Comments on Aleph sound - IAR

[OliverD]

Read this on http://www.iar-80.com/page8.html. (An interesting site btw.)

[...]
The previous Aleph series from Pass employed a single ended class A topology, a very unusual concept for solid state power amps. Sonically, the Aleph series had some endearing musicality through the midranges, but in our judgement the trebles were consistently much too soft, fuzzy, and defocussed, with poor individualization and poor intertransient silence. Indeed, the trebles were so strikingly different that we could often tell, when walking into a strange room and hearing a strange audio system, that the power amp was an Aleph -- and that is not a good sign, since a power amp is supposed to sonically disappear, not sonically intrude. The X series from Pass is a whole different animal, and marks a return to push-pull topology, similar to that employed by most other solid state power amps. And the X series is a very good sounding solid state amp. Most notably, the trebles of the X series are sparkling, a complete contrast with the Aleph series, and the X series also sounds very dynamic (whereas the Aleph sounded a bit passive and limp)
[...]

Do you agree?

[moe29]

for every bad review, there's a good review. In the end you have
to listen for yourself - in your sytem - in your listening room.

I think it's funny that the reviewer mentions that an amplifier
should sonically disappear. He states the (sic) trebles from the
Aleph are soft, fuzzy, etc. Then goes on to praise the X series
amplifiers as having (sic) trebles that are sparkling. It sounds to
me like the reviewer prefers his sound on the bright side - so it's
ok if the amp is sonically imposing itself, as long as it is doing so
in a way that agrees with his preferences.

[chris ma]

Recently I heard thru a couple of my friends made some similar remarks regarding the two topologies not directed to PASS products tough. I've got the feeling that some publishers/reviewer are promoting the push pull over the SE classA. Those two used to brag about their expensive SE classA gear SS and Tube; now they are saying they prefer the PP sound and revert back their gears for the PP has more dynamic etc etc, somebody is making money out of this trend recycling....

my 2 cents
Chris

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by chris ma
Recently I heard thru a couple of my friends made some similar remarks regarding the two topologies not directed to PASS products tough. I've got the feeling that some publishers/reviewer are promoting the push pull over the SE classA. Those two used to brag about their expensive SE classA gear SS and Tube; now they are saying they prefer the PP sound and revert back their gears for the PP has more dynamic etc etc, somebody is making money out of this trend recycling....

Consumers get bored after a while. Gotta keep their interest up. Why do you think half the items on the shelf at the grocery store has "NEW & IMPROVED!" all over it?

se

[eLarson]

Originally posted by AMT-freak
Read this on http://www.iar-80.com/page8.html. (An interesting site btw.)
but in our judgement the trebles were consistently much too soft, fuzzy, and defocussed, with poor individualization and poor intertransient silence. .

Do you agree?

No, not really.

With respect to individualization I can say definitely that Lyric Opera of Chicago has poor individualization, too. Heck, I was looking right down at the orchestra and couldn't hear the individualization that IAR values.

(Siegfried was excellent nonetheless. Imagine that.)

[Nelson Pass]

Gee, I didn't know that either Peter Moncrief or Peter Aczel
were still in this business.

[Petter]

Originally posted by Steve Eddy



Consumers get bored after a while. Gotta keep their interest up. Why do you think half the items on the shelf at the grocery store has "NEW & IMPROVED!" all over it?

se

I think it would be more correct to suggest that reviewers get bored after a while ...

Case in point: I am so bored I build as much as I can

Petter

[Brett]

Originally posted by chris ma
Those two used to brag about their expensive SE classA gear SS and Tube; now they are saying they prefer the PP sound and revert back their gears for the PP has more dynamic etc etc,

Then there's those of use that were right all along

[Brian Donaldson]

P!ss on 'em. My Alephs are magic. I only thought I heard full 3d magic stereo until I really road tested my Alephs. I had a older Kenwood reciever that I thought was faultless and a mid 80's HK preamp and power amp. I used the HK for subs and Kenwood for the top.
For a while I replace the Kenwood with the Alephs and was blown away by the improvement. But I somewhat dismissed it as euphoria that something I made worked at all. Then came time to take them out of the system to resolve som transormer shortfalls and finish the chassis. The Kenwood sounded very thin and flat and only sounded more strained if I turned it up. I've resorted to a walkman with my Sennheisers. After I get the second Alephs psu reworked, I'll be happy again and wait untill I have everything ready to finish it before I start.

The XA amps should sound very much like the Alephs. They are bridged Alephs with a tricky feedback setup.

You have to take reviews with a grain of salt.

[Nickolas K.]

Sometimes I wonder, how many of all those "reviewers", when listening to music, would be able to tell the difference between a violin and a viola, a clarinet and an oboe or a trombone and a tuba?

And I'm certain that none of them can tell if it's Di Stefano or Bjoerling singing in a record.

I think the majority of them shouldn't be taken so seriously after all.



Nick