Parasound P-5 Halo

While the P5 is a nice preamp, IMO the phono sections in preamps in this class are just OK. Had a Parasound 2100 once and the $200 Pro-ject Phono Box S was much, much better.

And far more quiet. You could hear faint hiss coming through the speakers with the Parasound before signal. With the Pro-ject, quiet as a graveyard.

For $300-$500, there are many models that will smoke the P5's phono section.

In my opinion, the P5 phono section is good, but not that good. You would be hard pressed to find such a phono section in preamps of that price range. The NAD C165 might be better, but it has no integrated DAC.