After what I'm experiencing with Decware, I'm missing my Pass.
Pass Labs was so great to work with. I mean they went way over the top to make sure you get taken care of whether the amp is new or used. They didn't ask and they didn't care. They simply took care of business.
I thought there might be a chance of actually getting my amp in a few weeks. I just paid for a cap upgrade, shipping and a warranty I didn't know I had to pay for. I also had to pay a $100 bucks for them to solder in the caps! I mean yikes, it's on the bench with a burned up transformer and goo all over the place... Well, at least they didn't charge me the $477 they said they saved me by selling me a warranty
The Super V's are really opening up. Wow. Wow wow wow. Wow. And with a 1K dollar amp that may not be completely healthy, I'm just saying wow. Listening to The Who Tommy "Overture/ It's a Boy", the V's take you to the performance in a balanced, detailed, non-fatiguing, rhythmic, yet dynamic picture. The image is starting to solidify, possibly helped from some additional room treatments. Again, I was mesmerized by the musical performance from a band that one might not associate with precision musicianship, this was clearly defined through the V's. This I believe was partly due to the way you could track each musician separately if you choose too or simply sit back and take in the performance as a whole. I've listening to these cuts on many a system and haven't heard it this good and this "complete". Playing Tracy Chapman "Fast Car", the song simply sounded for lack of a better word, real. Often I think, I could get caught up in a certain portion of the sound that sounded cool be it in the detail of the recording, the guttural sound of a bass guitar note, or just the rhythm and pace of the song, but then my mind would wander too what was not right, or, not being involved emotionally. A lot of that is mood I know. Heck, I loved my Zenith clock radio when I was 5 or so and loved "Red Rubber Ball". Sounded great. I'm finding myself now VERY involved and feeling after each song, wanting to stop and think about what I just heard. In fact, I played some stuff which I didn't think I would like. So much of my music is tough to listen too. It's just too bright or too harsh, and unless I spin vinyl which almost always cures that affliction, I stay away from a lot of what I used to like a 100 years ago. I usually blame it on digital and rightly so! But wait, something seems to have changed. I spun The Doobie Brothers. Nothing special except of course the song "it keeps you running". Something special about that song - a timing thing - can't explain it, not a musician. I've listened to this music millions of times mostly on the radio. It's so completely different through the V's. Same with The "Wallflowers". Each song had a different flow to it, something different to offer. There's nothing that sounds homogenized hear. I feel like it's the ability to play all the notes with ease that lets the song flow as it was intended to. It's a band with band members all performing in their own space, or in a space not yet fully defined, but you can pick them out individually. Not an etch-a-sketch here we're talking flesh on bones style, and certainly not the obese style of warmth but the kind that musically involves you in the whole portrait of the song. One problem I'm finding is that you find yourself at the volume control turning it up. That is a really good sign that some system synergy is working well (or well enough in my case). I didn't have my DB meter with me and have to be careful with Jr running around. And Jr is really into dancing with these speakers
Just don't want to blow out his tender young ears!
I didn't want to write a two-bit review until I have my amp in my system and I could spin vinyl again without Jr removing my stylus
Amp or no amp, I'm planning a get-to-gether sometime in April. Stay tuned. You gotta hear these things!
