German review XA-160

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moe29

moe29

Member
Joined 2002
I wonder how Pass Labs feels about the pictures included in that
article? Are the demo amps completely disassembled for these
pictures? Or does the magazine purchase it's review pair?

I suppose anyone could buy a pair and reverse engineer the whole
amp if they really wanted to... just wondering.

Could anyone translate the captions for the pics, since we're
seeing them?

(as usual, excellent workmanship! I'm sure this German magazine
fully appreciated and could relate to what they were seeing!) :)

m.
 
xcel

xcel

Member
Joined 2001
As a matter of fact, the amps are usually opened up for pictures in German magazines. Sometimes the amps are completely taken apart, and reassembled after the photo shoot, all with the approval of the local distributor.

Makes for great study material..;)

Xcel
 
moe29

moe29

Member
Joined 2002
This is what i worked out for the summary box at the end of the
.pdf article. Seems like a solid review. If you can afford a pair of
XA 160's you don't worry about Praxis! :devilr:

I agree with Peter, Pass amps are just pure works of art :)


Klang [Sound] = 61 out of 70? (or 100)

Messwerte [Measurements] = 8/10

Praxis [Practicality] = 3/10

Wertigkeit [Workmanship] = 10/10
 
zinsula

zinsula

Member
Joined 2004
More or less they say that the XA160 sound's about on the same absolute level as the X600, and there is only one amplifier they tested yet which sounded better in their opinion (62 points...). It's a Single Ended Triode I believe, and the Name is "Double Kronzilla" or similar.
The only thing they complained about the X160 is that with difficult loads (less than 4 Ohms) ist does loose a little bit control, compared to X600.

BTW, in the same issue, a fully balanced phono stage from Ayre (Charles Hansen) got an excellent review too, and plays on the same lavel as the XOno :eek: with MC. And those are the absolutely best Phono stages in their opinion.

Nelsons work is highly regarded by this magazine.

Cheers, Tino
 
xcel

xcel

Member
Joined 2001
And I've heard this single-ended tube amp (Kronzilla) in it's latest incarnation in a direct comparison with the X-600. And although the Kronzilla is obviously a superb amplifier, it was clear that the X-600's were definitely better.

But that's just little old me talking ..... although the majority of the crowd seemed to agree.

;)

Xcel
 
D

dobbeln

Member
Joined 2004
quote:
Die Drossel-Luftspulen bilden
zusammen mit den Netzteil-Elkos ein
Filter, das (anders als Induktivitätsbehaftete
Eisenkern-Drosseln)
hauptsächlichhöherfrequentere
Störungen ausschließt.

Nobody said, that they are noninduktiv! Otherwise they wouldn´t be called "coil" but "wire".
But the aircoils shall be better for high frequency suppression than ferritecoils.
Perhaps Nelson can give a hint.
I think at lower frequency it works more than a CRC , giving more "L" at higher frequencies.:xeye:

Greetings from Germany
 
wuffwaff

wuffwaff

Member
Joined 2001
dobbeln,

well, if you read it, it certainly suggest the air-core -chokes not to have any inductivity:D I suppose this was just a slip of the pen...

Did anyone notice the power measurements? 136 watts 8 ohms, 63 watts 4 ohms. Almost no influence when a little capacitance is added. This means that it is clearly optimised for 8 ohm operation.
It´s a pitty they don´t mention the power consumption though.

William
 
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