Literally, in the past year this topic has peppered the forums with many of us trying to get a straight answer. From my threads and posts by others this was a topic that I spent a lot of time researching when I was on the fence between buying the FX8 and the XL+. I asked questions, others asked questions, and I even had a rant about ambiguity and lack of clarity that Cliff answered making it seem like, for me, and many others, that the FX8 was the only Fractal product designed with optimized circuitry for 4cm (this was in the
AX8 Price Point - At what price do you get upset? thread.) Then even some moderators were stating that the FX8 was a Fractal first in its optimized circuitry for 4CM, while the XL+ was optimized for going direct in and not 4CM with a tube amp.
I don't link threads for you because there are too many. We have discussed this looking for a straight answer ad nauseum within this forum, getting frustrated. In retrospect Cliff's answer may have been just about the AX8, though other moderators definitely stated that the FX8 was a first as it optimized for 4cm and that it is the only Fractal product specifically optimized for 4cm. Cliff made it sound like he had to think up a new design specifically for the FX8 as it is not in any other product.
If the XL+ does have the same circuitry as the FX8, what I find deeply frustrating is that in the very threads where I complained about ambiguity in regards to information about this circuitry, and Cliff made an answer that made all of us speak at length about how the FX8 has optimized circuity and Opamps the XL+ doesn't have, including moderators, and this was not once corrected by anyone at Fractal? When some of these very threads had some of us stating that we would prefer to buy the XL+ over FX8 if it wasn't for the FX8's sound quality? This is not some lone post, this was a top topic of discussion many times in these forums! Some of us even stating that we have to buy both a FX8 and a XL+ to get the best of both worlds, and not once did any one step in to say that the XL+ actually has the same circuitry ???????? I would have bough the XL+ had I gotten this straight answer.
We went on for months (and moderators also added to this perception perhaps not knowing the circuitry is actually the same??) and made purchase decisions based on the FX8's optimized circuitry that supposedly no other Fractal product have and now you say that the XL+ actually has it?????
Where was anyone when pages and pages of posts were written stating that the FX8 has optimized circuitry that the XL+ doesn't have?
