Having the Reference 3s in my demo system led me to explore better components than the entry level Parasound HALO amp and preamp I had been using. Two customers requested the new .5 series Pass Labs amps . so I became a dealer. Part of the requirement was having a Pass Labs source and amp in my system, so I did that with the X2.5 preamp and the X250.5 amp. The improvements have been very pleasing. I begin to understand what The Absolute Sound meant when they described the HALO P3 and A23 as giving listeners a taste of the high end. Pass Labs is giving me a much bigger serving. And the Reference 3's sound keeps improving as the rest of the system evolves upward. To some of you this may seem like old news, but to me it is a discovery. My 23 years experience as an AV storefront was mostly mid fi, with only a few pieces from the high end. Now that I am a home based busienss I am allowing myself to go higher end, and I'm having a good time with it. To be fair to Parsound I've also bought a pair of the HALO JC-1s to compare to the X250.5.
