I own a Coda #8 and in my opinion it is superior to Parasound. I was making the same considerations as you. I am lucky to live 15 minutes from the factory so not only did I buy direct from Doug Dale but he took me on a tour of their small facility, and we talked for over an hour with their history with Threshold and Nelson Pass. Two huge advantages with the coda are the versions 1, 2, and 3 are all the same costs and he will do the upgrades for free minus shipping if needed. Also, these units have a 10 year warranty with 5 years being transferable. The parts quality and build on these is amazing. I’m driving some Magnepan's with them and it sounds amazing. Many people in these forums are making recommendations on this and have never heard the Coda products. Coda was rarely at audio shows, and they don't do these anymore per their owner. Legacy used to use them at shows but that's been a while. Yes, I have heard Parasound amps many times.
Parasound vs Coda
All,
I've been doing a lot of research into moving up from my current amplifier (Parasound JC5) and have scoured comparisons of Parasound to Pass Labs and others that I've been considering. Speakers are Focal Kanta 3s, Pass XP22, Lumin U1, Denafrips Terminator Plus. The setup sounds great as is but would be interested in an amp that offers a bit more refinement in the midrange and treble. Coda from all my research could fit that goal.
One comparison I haven't found has been users who've heard Parasound and Coda amps (I'm considering the Coda 16 or possibly 8) and would love to hear about what others have heard as far as preference, tonality differences, etc. Thank you in advance!
Showing 3 responses by willywonka
@bccarpenter I was also thinking about tubes but was wondering what my #8 would sound like with a decent tube preamp like Prima Luna EVO 400, Luxman or other somewhat high-quality tube preamp. Like yyzsantabarbara I'm using an Audio Holo Serene KTE, now. |
I have a Coda #8 V1 (Blue meters) with a BAT VK-80 Tube preamp. I had the Holo Audio Serene KTE preamp before, but this BAT preamp brought everything to a new level. The Parasound brand is good, and I have listened to them, but the Coda amps are better. I did consider getting a #16 Coda but with the large cost difference and the extreme weight I decided to get the #8 and couldn't be happier! BTW I don't buy my equipment used so that wouldn't matter in my case. My #8 barely gets warm driving my current hungry Magnepans. Since it's a V1, it puts out 150 watts into 8 ohms yet has the heatsinks for a 400 watt amp (V3). |