I owned the Valhalla as well. I was the second in Holland who bought it. I sols a lot of Valhalla as well. But syngery is the biggest bullshit I ever heard. I had the chance to test hundreds of hours with manu cables. Nordost as well. I see you have Pass labs poweramps. I owned the XA100.5, XA60.6 and 30.5. Now for the time being I use the X250.5. Pass labs has a very wide en deep stage. Valhalla is fast and gives a lot of air around instruments and voices. But wenn you use a lot of Nordost ( I played many times with 100% Valhalla, I hate it) you always get the same problems. You loose depth, individual focus is not that sharp as it should be. And the lack of emotion in the mid's. Wenn I changed the Valhalla interconnect by pur silver Acapella, Kimber of Audioquest I always became a wider and much deeper stage. Individual focus became a lot better. Instuments and voices are very small in dimension and foccused wenn they are not amplyfied. A violin becomes a lot more convincing in sound realism wenn I used the Acapella, Kimber or Audioquest interconnect. These days I use Purist Audio power cables. Compared to Valhalla the stage is so much more 3d and a lot deeper. And voices are much more open en more 3d. At a Odin demo of Nordost I heard the same problems. I told to them it is still the same problems in sound. They always became irritated wenn I told them about the flaws. It didn't matter in all systems I had the same results. I always say: it is as it is. Nordost is good, but only use it for a part. Or you will loose some important parts which should be there in a highend system.

bo1972 January 31, 2013 22:31

It is a very good phono stage for that price point. I do recommend the ACCU+ battery power supply option. It makes a big difference in reducing noise. I still have mine, but it's boxed up. My Pass XP-25 is a superior & much more flexible phono stage as it should be for 3 times the cost of th Balance+ with Accu battery power unit.

rockitman November 26, 2012 17:10

Hello,
Wonderful system you have! I saw that you owned a Clearaudio Balance + at some time, why did you get rid of it? Would you recommend it? Thank you.

tswisla November 21, 2012 15:37

System edited: Added links to pics large size at top of system description

rockitman September 26, 2012 17:00

"Hard to imagine they could improve the XP-30, XP-25, but you never know." That's what I thought about my XA160.5, but after reading your and other's initial testimonials of the XS, I'm convinced as long as NP and Wayne are designing products, they will find a way to continue to improve their designs. Incredible, really.

peterayer September 01, 2012 18:40

Hard to imagine they could improve the XP-30,XP-25, but you never know. If I had one word to summarize these amps...Expolsive would be it.

rockitman September 01, 2012 04:37

I know exactly what you mean. "You don't know what you are missing until you hear it", my friend said after hearing the XP-30 in my system.

Unfortunately, I can only afford my XP-20 right now. I'll have to wait for a used XP-30 (maybe yours) once Pass develops ax XS-P preamp perhaps sometime in the future. They say that anything can drive the new XS platform. Even a Pass Passive? They could compliment there new line of speakers with a super $30K preamp and phono stage.

peterayer August 31, 2012 20:05

Hi Peter,

I think it's more than just moving up in power. My speakers are 95 db sensitivity. The XA 100 bias meters barely moved. I will post more impressions and pics over the weekend. I could easily lived happily ever after with the xa's until I heard the xs's.

rockitman August 31, 2012 15:46

We want pictures. Congratulations for getting them hooked up. And as I understand it, those initial impressions are based on listening to digital. Wow, imagine what your LPs will sound like.

Some of what you describe I heard when I moved up from the XA100.5 to the XA160.5, but my speakers needed the extra power. I wonder if some of what you will hear is just from the extra headroom that these have over your old 100.5s.

Look forward to more listening impressions as time goes on.

peterayer August 30, 2012 20:57

The XS-150's are finally in place. So far, the sound has been glorious. They are big and heavy and give off quite a bit of heat. The soundstage depth, scale, imaging, transient attack and note decay are excellent. They are very musical and natural sounding. You would think you are listening to a class A tube rig but with the power and bass grip only SS can deliver. Are they worth 4 times the price of the XA100.5's ? For me, yes!!! TheXA series of amps don't reach the level of refinement that the XS series do. I'm sure I will have more impressions when I get more listening time.

rockitman August 30, 2012 20:16

I haven't listened to my system for two weeks. The cast on my right hand makes vinyl playback tricky. I think I will get them in by weds.

rockitman August 27, 2012 18:42

Well Albert, It's not like Rockitman can't listen to music. He still has the XA100.5 in the system unless he already traded them in. Then it would be a REAL shame.

peterayer August 27, 2012 02:02

XS-150's look great still boxed up in my garage. They have been there a week as I am still recovering. Hopefully one of my friends will help me get them installed early this week.

I wish you speedy recovery, I hate to have something so nice waiting on me and I can't tend to it. All of us that love music have had this happen to us.

I'm eager to hear about the Wilson speakers with Coralstone, I think it will be a marriage made in heaven. If I lived near you I would help, maybe even do images for you :-).

albertporter August 26, 2012 22:40

Come on friends, help out your buddy Rockitman. He wants to listen to his new toys, and I want to see his photos and read his review.

peterayer August 26, 2012 22:15

XS-150's look great still boxed up in my garage. They have been there a week as I am still recovering. Hopefully one of my friends will help me get them installed early this week. I feel like a kid seeing my big wrapped x-mas gift unable to open it until Christmas. I hope that day arrives soon.

rockitman August 26, 2012 20:15

Oh no! Hope I didn't jinx you! Rest up and feel better soon!

theaudioassociation August 15, 2012 02:02

Thanks guys. I hurt myself over the weekend and am confined to crutches. It will be a few days before I can install them. Hopefully I can find some help for lifting

rockitman August 14, 2012 02:27

Congratulations. Uncrate from the garage or street and move each of the four separately into the house. We are all extremely envious. I'm looking very forward to reading your impressions and seeing some photos.

If and when the Xs super preamp is developed, I want the right of first refusal on your XP-30. Just joking, but your system must be amazing.

peterayer August 11, 2012 19:17

Start pumping iron Christian! Hate to hear that you hurt yourself with those big massive beauties!

theaudioassociation August 11, 2012 18:17

Monday 8/13 is the big day. 680 lbs palletted shipping weight !!!

rockitman August 11, 2012 16:36

Christian... your system will be rockin' very soon! Congrats on the amps!

theaudioassociation August 04, 2012 02:04

Pass XS-150's ordered today. Should have them w/in a week and a half. Very excited !

rockitman August 03, 2012 16:29

Thanks Peter. I am getting rid of my XA 100.5's and replacing them with the dual chassis XS150's. I should have them next week....:-)
Wilson and Pass are a great marriage. Probably better than mine...lol

rockitman August 03, 2012 00:57

Rockitman, Yours must be a tremendous system. Last weekend I took my XA160.5 to a friend's house. He has the XP-30 and Sashas. The Pass/Pass combo really sounded nice on his Wilsons. With your Alexandrias and XP-25, the system must be incredible. Well done and please keep us updated.

peterayer August 02, 2012 20:10

System edited: System component description/pics updated.

rockitman August 02, 2012 16:10