Parasound newclassic 200 pre or a Halo P 5?

OP: I had a Parasound P5 a few years ago. I think back then they didn't use the word 'halo' in the model name but I could be wrong. I used it with Parasound A21 and for the price it sounded really good -- balanced from top to bottom, a bit on the warm side, could have been more resolving but that's expected at the price point. I later replaced it first with a Peachtree Nova 125, and then with a Cambridge Audio Azur 851D to serve as the DAC and preamp. In hindsight, P5 was substantially better than Peachtree and Cambridge Audio. I regretted selling it.

You can also look at it this way ... you will pay retail, or close to retail, if you get the NewClassic 200. You will always wonder if P5 would have been a better choice. Eventually, this feeling will get the better of you and you will end up selling it in the used market. Because you paid close to retail, you'll take a bigger hit. Now if you get the P5 and don't like it, your loss will be smaller if you try to sell it later on.

I say go for the P5. Emotiva should only be bought for your in-laws.

@mrgary321  - You shouldn't hear any background hiss or hum from any modern solid state pre-amp. If you're hearing hiss or hum, be certain it is being caused by the pre-amp before moving to a different model. 

I replaced the P5 with a Placette Passive Pre-Amp which is a completely different type of pre-amp. In fact, it's probably 180 degrees different from the P5. It had no "features" and essentially no active electronics inside the chassis. It a very well matched resistor array made from very expensive resistors. Otherwise, it only had a switch to choose inputs and a remote volume control. Not an apples to apples comparison as they are so different in their approach. For me, the "simple is better" approach of the Placette was a breath of fresh air, literally! So much resolution, air and all the other audiophile attributes. But utterly featureless......

My experience with the P5 matches @audionoobie experience with the P6 (which I understand is based mainly on the P5).

However, @arafiq  has a valid point too, and compared the P5 with more similarly priced pre-amps that had more features than the Placette.

Here's the deal: You can buy the P5 and try it in your system. If you don't love it, they are pretty popular, so you could re-sell it for little/no loss, except maybe shipping. That's exactly what I did when I purchased mine. I bought it used, at a good price, tried it to see if I could get great sound quality and features (that I didn't need at the time, but was considering integrating with my HT system). It didn't meet my standards for sound quality, so I resold it for what I paid, and moved on.

Good luck in your search. As you said you are "just getting your feet wet", I can only offer this. Remember, it IS all about the music. If music played through your system makes you happy, that's all that is important (IMHO).

Lastly, I moved on to a series of Integrated Amps due to simplicity. For the last 3 years I've been using a Rega Ilicit-R w/built-in phono pre-amp (no built-in DAC). I have the matching Rega Saturn-R CD player/transport/DAC. The combo is fantastic and simple. But it's also about $6K MSRP (about $3K used, approx. $1500 for each piece).

Wow, lots of good advice!  I also came to the conclusion that buying used, I can't get too badly burned.  In my searching, I've come across a P6, which is the current offering, for $950 vs $700 for the P5, new P6 retail is around $1500, so it seems like a good price.  P6 supposedly offers a better DAC, better volume control, extra optical input and higher gain for MC phono over the P5. Again, thanks everyone for the input!

Do you need analog inputs? What amp will you be running it into? Might be better off with just a good DAC with volume control depending on the above. 

Yes, I think I want analog, and phono inputs; but maybe I should rethink.  Any suggestions?  I have a pending purchase of a Parasound P6.