The Parasound P5 was a very popular "budget" pre-amp, full of features that many/most pre-amps do not offer, especially at the price. If you are looking for a lot of features, like DAC, bass management, phono pre-amp, balance control, etc., it might be a good choice. However, in my experience (yes, I owned one), the sound quality is decidedly mid-fi. It just didn't have the type of hi-fi sound quality I desired. I did not need the added features, so out it went.
If I were looking for a budget pre-amp today, I would certainly consider the Schiit or Topping, especially if they had a solid return policy. Otherwise, I would probably look for a more vintage used unit.
