I'm a little late to the discussion, but I've had experience with the Parasound Halo 5 and the Atoll IN200 and IN300 and wanted to throw in my two cents.
I have power hungry speakers - Polk Audio SDA 2.3TLs that have been upgraded with new capacitors and resistors. For pure sound and power, the IN300 is a beast. I didn't experience the same weakness that you did. I swear my speakers are having fun when I run it. There's a presence and gravitas that doesn't show in the other two amps. I use a PS Audio DirectStream DAC instead of the onboard DAC in the Atoll. It attempts to be musical but smudges the music a little too much for me.
The IN200 has a similar sound with less power but it's still musical and clean. With both Atolls I found the HT Bypass a bit clunky. I have to switch the inputs and the Bypass switch doesn't work with a universal remote.
The Parasound is by far the easiest to integrate with the home theater. It manages sub inputs for both seamlessly. It's difficult to describe the sound because the music is just there. It's quite enjoyable. Nothing pulls my attention away from the music. My speakers disappear with it, but that be a result of the SDA effect. I really don't hear strengths and weaknesses. I just wish it had more power.
That said, your journey has me intrigued. I might take a look at the Puccini Anniversary...
I have power hungry speakers - Polk Audio SDA 2.3TLs that have been upgraded with new capacitors and resistors. For pure sound and power, the IN300 is a beast. I didn't experience the same weakness that you did. I swear my speakers are having fun when I run it. There's a presence and gravitas that doesn't show in the other two amps. I use a PS Audio DirectStream DAC instead of the onboard DAC in the Atoll. It attempts to be musical but smudges the music a little too much for me.
The IN200 has a similar sound with less power but it's still musical and clean. With both Atolls I found the HT Bypass a bit clunky. I have to switch the inputs and the Bypass switch doesn't work with a universal remote.
The Parasound is by far the easiest to integrate with the home theater. It manages sub inputs for both seamlessly. It's difficult to describe the sound because the music is just there. It's quite enjoyable. Nothing pulls my attention away from the music. My speakers disappear with it, but that be a result of the SDA effect. I really don't hear strengths and weaknesses. I just wish it had more power.
That said, your journey has me intrigued. I might take a look at the Puccini Anniversary...