Richard and Stephen: I (Larry Cox) apologize, I did not see your comments here.

I have never heard the E.A.R. 912 or at least don't recall hearing it. I've heard the 868 twice. The first time was in 2007 or so with different amplification and speakers. I loved it. The second time I heard the 868 was with my existing speakers. It seemed more resolving and relaxed than my 14 year reference E.A.R. 864 preamp as well as my current reference YBA Alpha 1.

The XP-10 doesn't sound the same as either the 864 or the 868, based on my present recollection of preamps that I have heard for at least three years. This is a long way to saying . . . it's hard to say that I recall my experience and without a side by side comparison, I cannot provide a definitive or even certain preference. My short answer is they're both terrific and they didn't have exactly the same impact on me.

E.A.R. products are very familiar to me and I think I could buy an E.A.R. preamp or amp and know the flavor of my experience, if not the particulars of each product's performance. I also owned an E.A.R. 802 preamp for 8 years and E.A.R. 509 MkII monoblocks for four years.

The Pass Labs XP-10 is a nearly equally pleasing experience to mine with E.A.R.; IF it is less pleasing it is simply because I've used E.A.R. preamps for nearly 20 years and they are more familiar to me. The 868 and XP-10 have a liquidity and continuousness (a finer cut on liquidity) that is very good, with a slight nod to the E.A.R. Where they are different is that the XP-10 has truly exceptional bass performance; not MORE bass, but bass that is more clearly delineated so that there is "air" or space around bass information. E.A.R. products exhibit deep bass it is just less nuanced than the XP-10's. In some respects the E.A.R. 868 might be preferred for those that want a preamp that also features a phono stage. The built-in phono stage means one less chassis to accommodate, one less power cord and one less interconnect to pay for. I prefer to be succinct. I'm less succinct when I'm uncertain - there's your answer. They're both very nice and I'd be hard pressed to choose. At the moment, I don't have to. If I didn't answer your questions, please post here, I'll keep my eyes open this time.