Parasound vs Emotiva

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.

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.

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 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.

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.