Pass Laboratories XP-27

One of the pleasures of reviewing-and also using-products from Pass Laboratories is an encounter with Nelson Pass's writing, which can usually be found in the owner's manual and is always competent, insightful, and sometimes funny.

- IIM AUSTIN

How often do you get real pleasure and insight from reading an owner's manual? Pass Labs has a lot of owner's manuals online. Reading through one, I encountered the following passage; you'll find the same or similar language in other manuals and on the Pass Labs website. I present it not only because I admire it and agree with the philosophy it expresses but also because it captures the spirit of the product under review-the XP-27 phono preamplifier ($12,075 in silver) at least as I've experienced it during an extended review period.

Here it is, quoted at length with some slight adjustments to make it consistent with Stereophile's editorial style: "For a very long time, there has been faith in the technical community that eventually some objective analysis would reconcile critical listeners' subjective experience with a repeatable laboratory measurement protocol. Perhaps this will ultimately occur, but in the meantime, audiophiles largely reject bench specifications as an indicator of audio quality. This is appropriate; the appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. We should no more let the numbers define audio quality than we would let chemical analysis be the ultimate arbiter of fine wines.

Measurements are certainly critical, they can and do provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment of that which is pleasant.

"As in art, classic audio components are the results of individual and collective efforts that reflect a coherent underlying goal and philosophy by the major participants. If successful, they make both a subjective and an objective statement of quality, which is meant to elicit appreciation in the final product. It is essential that the circuitry of an audio component reflects a philosophy which addresses the subjective nature of its performance first and foremost.