Parasound vs Emotiva

Given you liked the NCores I think you'll really like the Parasound.

Expect the Parasound to be better, but not four times better.

I think the x factor will be going from all single ended to all XLR. I know the preamp doubles its voltage and my dac is balanced. The X26 Pro is Badass. Class A, just a beauty.

Btw, initially the entire system was emotiva and I've been slowly replacing parts with large upgrades, not lateral, in cost.

Parasound is much better IMO . 

Parasound is like a Rolls Royce compared to Emotiva. I had an Emotiva DAC once, the blue LED’s could blind you and the sound brightness reminded me of those cheap $25.00 amps you could buy to boost the car radio way back in the early 70’s.

I really enjoy Parasound amps, and I feel the A23+ will give you what you’re looking for, but more so improve sound detail and depth compared to what you have presently.

I just recently went from dual Cambridge Audio Azur 851w (XD power amps) in bi-amp dual mono, to dual Parasound JC5’s in the same set up (bi-amp dual mono). Bass definitely jumped up a lot, and had to dial down my sub’s. I really love the texturing, detail and separation Parasound amps provide. Not that the 851w were lacking, they’re great and I can’t part with them and they’ll be powering my secondary system. But on a side note, one of the biggest difference I’ve experienced with my sub’s is using high level connections off my amps to my speakers (with the 851w’s). I really heard a bass jump with that and had to drastically change up how I dialed in my KEF sub’s.

If you’re looking to save money, try that and compare it to how you had your previous set up from your amp to your sub’s (if you haven’t already). I think you’ll be surprised, but you might still not like it as much as what the A23+ has to offer. But when it comes to sound improvement of a system I have learned quite early that minor jumps in performance often command large jumps in cost, often 3:1 or 4:1 in price point comparisons. If you find something you enjoy under that, then you’re really in luck. So try different connection to your sub’s and see if the extra expense is worth it to you. Also you can find the 851w second hand for about the same price or less as the A23+, and would probably say it would give you more for the money. I’d probably give the edge to the 851w over the A23+, it really is a great power amp and XD amps do have a good deal to offer.

I’m not a very experienced HiFi reviewer, but I’ve tried out about 8 amps so far and actually am awaiting the JC1+’s which I have coming next week. Gonna see what kinda jump in performance I’ll see from them compared to the JC5’s I’m trailing now. Since the pandemic instead of traveling I'm now into HiFi 😂, probably the more expensive hobby.

Also great choice on the X26 Pro, I loved that DAC. Almost wish I didn’t sell it but I want to try a R2R DAC for my second system. I went with the Musetec MH-DA005 as my primary DAC, and just smile when I listen to it.

Hope this all helped.

Happy listening 👍

Let's not bash on Emotiva, they are excellent for the money. And some of these items they have are clearly loss leaders. I would pay a grand for the t zero speakers I have and not even blink. They were 399. I still can't believe I paid 399 for them, the value is off the charts.

You get what you pay for in general though and there is better, hence the upgrades, but if I was stuck with an Emo system for life I'd still be miles ahead of the general public. Miles and miles.

Not sure how to reply to individual posts, forum is a bit of a mystery still, but thank you Ja kb z!

I think if I like the a23+ in near field then a JC 5 will be in my future for main duties.

Sounds like you have a nice system there, wow!

Any further anecdotes on the Parasounds?

I too was going to get an R2R, the Venus, but I decided what I really wanted was a Terminator+ and that is simply not in the cards, so I instead decided to go with the most advanced "conventional" dac i could afford at the moment.

That Dac has a beautiful sound! I think its doing most of the work right now. Can’t wait to hear it in balanced mode with xlrs ;)

I just now swapped one of the new pairs of xlrs between the dac and preamp and got rid of the rca. Punchiness has come up some! I think the poor Emo would benefit by being balanced. Can’t wait to go all the way xlr from preamp to Parasound in a few days!

Also, the subs are really quite good, as a $400 8 inch should be, but they will eventually transform into REL T7X :)

@borat-sagdiyev  not bashing them at all, you're 100% correct! For the money, absolutely tons of value.

Honestly, I'm still piecing things together and want different speakers and sub's for my main system, but really need to do more research and try to audition the Alta Alecs, but I also want to check out in person the JBL s3900's. Those are my two current speaker front runners with JL audio e112's.

My system is all over the place but I love it, hence why I'm not getting rid of anything.

Current system, Innuos Zenith3+Phoenix USB, Musetec 005, Technics SU-R1000, Parasound JC1+'s (coming), JBL L100 Classic 75's and dual KEF Kube 12b's, Teac TN-5bb TT with MC Ortofon Black.

Last update before I get the amp. I just went XLR between the dac and preamp and Basically uncorked all of the X26 Pro. Holy ****. I could park it here and die happy. Incredible upgrade, just enabling the whole  circuit. I was listening for months single ended.

Love this hobby! 

Thanks man!

I’m going to reply to you better when I can post on something other than my phone. This forum is wonky on it. No I was replying to another guy. Some people wanna just bash on Emotiva, and its really a disingenuous band wagon thing. Emotiva is fine gear, but they aim at being very reasonably priced for average people and new people to the hobby. Their upper echelon stuff is high performance no doubt. They wouldn’t still be here othewise. The XPR amps are legendary.

Did all of you drive a Rolls Royce as your first car? My first car was a rusted out Chevy S10. It got me around and expanded my world, and I loved that thing.

Stop being snobs, audiophiles! Nobody thinks thats impressive. New audiophiles on a budget should feel welcome here too otherwise watch the hobby die in a sea of bluetooth speakers.

If your budget is high, no reason to even look at Emotiva. You do get better with more money, nobody disputes that.

But for the same money? Good luck with that!

I will add however that over 12 years I have owned a fair share of zemotiva stuff, and every time I’ve gone to sell it (here, in fact!) I’ve always gotten damn near what I paid.

If Emotiva is "junk" that would have never happened.

I liken them to the "Honda" of audio. Nothing wrong with a Honda! The Accord is a nice car!

I agree the Parasound is a higher end amp, however, for that extra bass punch, have you played around the crossover for your sub? Dead cutoff between sub and speakers may not always sound full based on your listening environment. 

Yeah, the subs are actually quite cool in that I go straight from the preamp to the subs, and the subs have a selectable high pass filter for the speakers, and I go from those to the speakers.

I have messed with it all, extensively, and I’m just not able to get that hit to the chest.

The A300 is not a bass monster, ar all. I would call it a little lean. Maybe high efficiency speakers would be different but everything I have, Maggie’s, etc are all hard loads

But I mean, look. How many 25 pound full on class AB, 250 watt amps in a full chassis.. are $399? Again, good luck besting that.

That said it is magic from midrange on up. Magic. At least with almost 3 grand of components feeding it and cut off from 80hz and below. And last night when I went xlr from dac to preamp, good enough to call it a day. Actually got a fair bit of punch enabling both channels of the dac.

I’m getting the Parasiund because I dont want to high pass the speakers anymore, I want some midbass punch and power and control.

So fully balanced to a brand new A23+? Should be pretty sweet!

I have had extensive experience with both Emotiva and Parasound amps.  Owned all generations of Emotiva, including the latest (XPA-1, XPA-1L, XPR-1, XPA Gen 3, A3).  I also owned three Parasond JC1 and an A21.

I don't think that the Parasound A23+ is going to solve your bass problems.  These amps are really not bass monsters.  The Emotiva XPA-1 had much stronger bass in actuality. 

The Parasound will give you extremely clean midrange.  I don't know about the latest "+" models, but first generation A21 had rolled off high frequencies.  Same with the JC1, but it also had a weird dry sound in the upper mids/highs.

In the end, I actually prefer the Emotiva sound because it has better extension into the high frequencies and better bass, but if you listen closely you can hear some of the flaws.  All my current Emotiva amps are completely rebuilt, upgraded and modified to fix the flaws.  These are mostly due to cheap capacitors.

Upgrading the fuse in your Emotiva amp will really help with the sound.  Also, an upgraded power cord.

One thing to remember is I’m nearfield in this system, i sit 2 feet away from towers and subs are behind me to the right and left. I am in the sweet spot for the amp, not driving terribly hard. If I were in a big room, might not be "magic".

I take that back, its a medium sized room, but I am near field, far away from walls.

Interesting AuxInput. Yes I feel like pulling hairs out trying to tell people the amps do sound good. If it sounded like crap would have been gone months ago. I have experience with a lot of amps, maybe not as many as you, but I know good sound.

Well! If the A23+ doesn't do it I will sell it and get a JC5 in a few months or maybe something else along those lines. Monoprice has a $4000 balanced only stereo amp that looks pretty impressive. Or Kinki Studios. 

2 more days!

If the A23+ doesn't give you the type of sound you want, I'm not sure that the JC5 will. 

I'm not sure what Monoprice amp you are talking about.  The only 2-channel amp they have is $1099.  It's essentially an "Emotiva level" version of the ATI 4002 amp.

Actually, if you want a better amp with the Emotiva type of sound, I would look at the ATI AT4002 ($2799) or AT6002 ($3795). 

Kinki Studios has been said to be a very good solution as well.

Maybe, or maybe just get a pair of bespoke NC1200s built with a warrantee!

Hey ja_kub_sz, question!

 I really really love this X26 Pro dac and was thinking of adding the Gustard A18 reclocker, the $1800 model. The X26 Pro is the first device I've owned with. Reclocking port and the first device I've ever heard make a really significant jump when utilized with balanced vs RCA. 

Do you think it would be worth it?

Well I think my review will be fairly in depth and will really be of use to those looking at either brand and kind of what does your money get you.

Everything I said about the Emotiva A300 is true. There are also aspects of it that the Parasound has exposed. But anyone on a tight budget, the Emo is a real audiophile amplifier, full stop, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

And.. the Parasound is on another level. In a few areas they are close and in some other areas definitely not.

Very very nice amp! Give me another 5 days to let it settle in and I will write a full comparison. But in short, yes, the Emo is powered down and will stay that way until I need a surround amp.

Sorry, I’m going to have to rain on the parade, OP. I want you to know that it’s nothing personal.

The A300. It has internal fans. Fans!

Emotiva plays with the numbers to claim it doubles power at 4 ohms, it hits 300 watts at 1Khz at 1.0% THD. Any amp company that plays with the numbers like this and puts fans inside the chassis instead of having 2 separate heat fins can’t be taken seriously.

They simply made too many compromises. Proof? A class A/B amp that claims 150 x 2 wpc and a max power draw of only 350 watts. Class a/b amps have an efficiency of typically under 70%, so that just doesn’t add up.

Then there is the S8 sub. Passive radiators are not the best choice for music reproduction, you want a sealed sub, or to spend a lot more for ported or radiated.

I’ll stop there, but one could definitely make improvements. That amp is a good place to start.  You may need to upgrade to some musical speakers to get the most out of the Parasound…

You’re not raining on anything, I own the amp, and a Parasound, and I’m telling it like it is.

Yes the amp has fans. Have they ever come on? Never.

Again, class AB, 25 lb, big transformer, $399. SHIPPED. Is your more expensive amplifier better? Could be! Does that make the Emo bad. Not even close.

REL uses passive radiators, and with that bit of common sense out of the way I won’t even bother telling you why these 8"passive radiated subs are also good ;)

(I'm not some noob and I've owned hordes if gear, including all kinds of subs, thank you very much).

All for now.

Any amp company that plays with the numbers like this and puts fans inside the chassis instead of having 2 separate heat fins can’t be taken seriously.

Guess what?  All the Classe M300, M400, M600 monoblocks have fans!  Does that mean I should just disregard any of these items.

Also, all the latest gen Krell Solo, Duo, Trio, Chorus, Theater amps also have fans. 

I stand by my remarks, buying at the bottom of the marketplace will not give the best results.  I’ve owned many subs and amps and also products by Emotiva and Parasound.  YMMV. 

Not to be a smartass, but you must have a $300,000 system if you are at "the top".

Kudos!

I started out with Emotiva XPR-1 monoblocks in my home theater system.  I went through a big amp search to find a good sounding amp in my budget.  I tried several in my own own (ended up losing money).  I also went through and listened to a ton of amps at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.  I tried Parasound JC1/A21, Bryston 7b3 monoblocks, Classe M300 all in my own system by buying these amps.  None of them really gave me the sound I wanted and I ended up going back to the Emotiva XPR-1 monoblocks (which I have since rebuilt and upgraded).

The Classe M300 were the biggest disappointment.  They sounded flat and sterile.  The Bryston had good resolution, but just did not have enough body and oomph to keep up with the Emotiva.  The Parasound appeard to be the solution, but in the end I determined the Parasound just did not have enough resolution because it rolled off the high frequencies.

Review is coming soon, sorry I've been on a buying streak. Tomorrow in fact I have a Schiit Lyr headphone amp and Lokius EQ to play with.

Thanks.

I just compared these two amps last week (A-300 Emotiva vs A 51 Parasound (my HT amp))with my paradigm studio 100’s. I played Agnus Obel - Familiar, you really here the difference when she sings the high notes. The A-300 butchered her singing with distortion. My wife couldn’t stand it, and told me to turn it down. When I played it with the Parasound at same volume my wife’s eyes lit up. It sounded so much more clear. That said I could hear no difference in the low and mid range, but I did not play many more songs.

I did not hear the roll-off at high end that people are talking about with Parasound, but then this is the most expensive amp I own.  Maybe I’ll here it on my next upgrade.

I’ll be delegating the A-300 amp to my outdoor speakers or selling it.

I have an A23+ and it just does everything right. It sounds correct to my ear in my calibrated audio system. It beat the living hell out of a $3000 Class D Gan amp. The Parasound A23+ had more impact, better mids, tighter bass and a sweeter top end ( the gan amp does has a smooth and grainless top end, but lacks bite). The A23+ will get you more emotionally connected with the music, ime.

Well, I bought headphone gear and that had me occupied for a minute. 

I just ordered CSS 1TDX with the high end crossover. Once I build em I'll put the Emo towers to bed and give both amps a fair shake and  proper review. But my entire system 2 desktop system will be in balance, the T zeros were the cheapest thing in it. Love them but the 1tDX will guaranteed blow them away.

Hifi59, you are clearly talking about the Peachtree amps? If so that's very impressive for the A23+.

I have an A23+ and it just does everything right. It sounds correct to my ear in my calibrated audio system. It beat the living hell out of a $3000 Class D Gan amp.

Most of the Class D amps have never impressed me, even the ones for tens of thousands of dollars.  The only Class D amp that had any emotion and grit was the Channel Islands audio which is based on the older UcD board, but even this amp had its problems (the frequency response of the older Class D were really dictated by the impedance curve of the speaker).

I can see where the Parasound A21+ would be a much more emotionally engaging amp with better resolution, texture and grit.  Parasound is still not my most liked amp due to it's slightly warm signature and slightly dry high frequencies.  Just personal opinion.

With EQ, you can sparkle all day long with a Parasound. The treble is fantastic.