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XP-30 Owner’s Manual
In an area of electronics where it is often thought that everything
that can improve the sound has already been done, where other
designers are concentrating on mechanicals and eye-candy, we offer
better sound.
The XP-30 is the best preamplifier line stage ever made by Pass
Labs. By extension it is possibly the best line stage ever made. It
is the result of several years effort by Wayne Colburn and staff at
Pass Labs and has undergone numerous designs, redesigns, revisions,
more revisions, adjustments and tweaks; more than any preamp
product with the possible exception of the XP-25 phono stage.
Measurably the XP-30 generates less noise, less crosstalk, less
distortion. It delivers greater dynamic range, gain, output voltage
and output current. This is not why it is a breakthrough product.
We value technical excellence, but it is always the sound that is
paramount. Many audio products have measured spectacularly well
but have not gone down as classics because they have not delivered
subjective qualities that keep listeners happy beyond the occasional
initial excitement. With this uppermost in mind we set out to create
a new preamplifier that simply invites you to listen. We want you to
anticipate listening to your entire record collection, again and again.
As part of the process in developing the XP-30 we began by
uniformly upgrading the playback systems of our listening group.
We do not do AB or ABX testing – our people live with prototypes
as long as they like in their own system, and only one component
gets changed at a time. This allows a close duplication of our
customer’s experience and makes it easier to hear differences over
extended time, with our focus remaining on the quality of the sound.
Several set of prototypes were evaluated and refined over a period of
three years. This period also saw the final development of the XP-
25, and its presence allowed us to work in as much synergy between
the components as possible. Several different power amplifiers
also participated, including XA.5 amplifiers, prototype “Concept”
amplifiers, SITs, and even tubes.
In the end everyone agreed on the sound - music flows through the
XP-30 with greater ease, spatial development and dynamic contrast
than anything else we have heard. Wayne even managed to fit in
a couple of my requested features – enhancements for bi-amping,
and enough gain and voltage swing that the XP-30 can drive power
amplifier output stages all by itself. Me, I wrote this introduction
because Wayne was too modest to. - Nelson Pass
Introduction