Anthem 225 vs Parasound A21 vs Emotiva Xpa 7 Gen 2

What is your SACD and preamp? First thought would be to recommend the Parasound A21. Don’t get the A23 unless you’re budget cannot afford the A21. The Parasound will use better internal components (capacitors, etc.) than the Emotiva. The Parasound will also have a slightly richer/warmer tone due to its high bias into Class A and the JFET/MOSFET input stage.

The Anthem and Emotiva will be quicker/faster amps. This may or may not be what you are looking for. If you have a very fast/solid-state SACD and preamp, I would lean towards the Parasound because you need that waveform smoothing (the Anthem/Emotiva might come out to lean and bright sounding). If you have a very laid back tube amp, then the Emotiva might be a good choice as a more accurate/neutral amp.

The Anthem 225 looks like an integrated (not a straight amp). Is this what you intended?

@jl35 - what are your source and preamp? A significant factor of amp choice is system synergy with your components. Your Khartago might work better then the A21 in a specific situation. However, remember that the OP is going to drive the amp directly from the Oppo player (which is all solid-sate LM4562 op amps). True, they are FET op amps, but it is going to be very dry sounding coming out of the gate.

If mancub1 goes in and listens to different amps that are connected to completely different source and preamp components, he will not hear exactly what he will get at home. Granted, listening to amps is a very important factor, but so it proper component matching.

I always try to listen to what the OP is trying to accomplish and recommend things based on what he wants instead of what I think is the best amp or device.

Oh, just re-reading and saw your alternatives. My comments:

Cambridge Azure 851 - Cambridge is known for being lightning fast and extremely transparent/resolution. I would not pair this directly with the Oppo, but it may be a good amp if I had a tube preamp or a multiple-circuit Class A preamp.

Audio Research 150.2 - This is a Class T design from 2003 (which is a variation of Class D). It might be nice, but the older Class D type designs were not as good and the resultant frequency response was very dependent on the impedance curve of the speaker. This translates into un-even frequency response, possibly weak midbass/bass, rolled-off highs, etc. Also, it is not a Class A bias (obviously), so it is not going to be as sweet as Parasound.

Parasound A23 - Like I said, if you have to get this because of your budget, then get it. The larger A21 does have twice as much power output, but you’re not buying it for the watts. You a buying a significantly larger power supply and more output transistors. This will mean more brute force to control the speaker -- even at low to mid volume levels. Also, the larger A21 will just be a more refined and smoother sound than the A23.