[zettelsm]

So what did I think when I heard the S250 in my own system?

Like somebody else posted about their experience -- about ten seconds into the first track I was laughing out loud. I think my first words were, "You have got to be kidding me!". There might have been a salty nautical expression in there somewhere, too.

In a good way, of course.

Now, I've got a lot of respect for Nelson Pass and his creations. He is a deserved giant in the field as is Dan D'Agostino. Obviously, you don't end up with a rack full of Pass Labs boxes without really liking what it does for your favorite music. And I still do have that respect. But oh my gosh, that S250 made my X260.8 amps sound flat, grey and fuzzy in comparison. No way I'd have believed that would be possible if someone had told me what I would hear beforehand. But there it is.

The best word I can borrow from the reviewers is "continuousness" to try to encapsulate the sound of the S250. From top to bottom instruments and voices are presented as whole, complete, solid instruments perfectly grounded in my living room. Just as we don't talk -- well, most of us don't anyway -- about the bass or midrange or highs of a violin or guitar or singer when we hear them live, we just see and hear and accept them for what they are as real entities with no analysis necessary to validate their existance, so too the images of these and every other instrument and vocalist come through with real weight and texture and palpability via the D'Ag S250.

A nice thing I noticed right away as well was how much better the depth of the sound stage became with the S250. I'd kind of started thinking my room was limiting the presentation of my Blade 2s and that short of moving or building a dedicated listening room (right after my wife's indoor pool and spa!) I was just going to have to live with them the way they were. Holy schnikies, Batman! The D'Agostino amp just knocked out the bay window behind my equipment rack and added about ten feet to that end of the room. Uncanny.

Finally, the colors and textures of everything are just drop-dead gorgeous, given well-recorded material. Not the gorgeous of everything sounds wonderful dipped in honey -- rather, the gorgeous of my goodness, that sounds live and right here right now! I can't begin to count how many times my startle reflex has made me jump when I thought something in the recording was right in the room with me.

The S250 experience sealed the deal and only furthered my resolve to add a Momentum preamp ASAP.

More to come,

Steve Z