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Introduction:
At Pass Labs we don’t change our products unless we feel that the changes are
signifi cant improvements over previous versions. Because of this we see typical
product life spans of seven to eight years.
We are constantly working on and listening to new things and increasing our
knowledge of circuits and components on sound. Eventually we fi nd some things
worth putting into production because they are signifi cant enough. That time has
come with a new series of preamplifi ers.
The new XP-22 starts with a new power supply. It uses two effi cient toroidal
transformers with both an electrostatic and Mu metal shield along with vacuum
impregnating and epoxy fi ll. This gives us a very quiet transformer both electrically and
mechanically.
The power supply circuitry itself is also lower noise and has additional fi ltering, a little
more complicated but worth it.
The XP-22 uses the single stage volume control borrowed from the XS line preamp. This
gives us one hundred 1 dB steps with lower noise and distortion while removing some
signal path parts.
The gain circuitry continues to use our favorite transistors from Toshiba but has a larger
higher biased output stage similar to the XS preamplifi er auto bias. This makes longer
and multiple cable runs easier to drive and gives us the advantage of simplifying our
single ended output circuitry while increasing performance.
Overall this makes for a quieter more neutral, musical and versatile control center for
your system.
Thank you for purchasing this preamp. It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy its
sound as much as we do.
Pass Labs