Your Parasound JC5 Impressions


Curious about your user impressions about the Parasound JC5.  Namely why you may have owned and sold one.  It is one of the most frequently traded amplifiers available, currently 5 or 6 on the used market now and at any given moment. 

Very curious since it is a relatively expensive amp and heavy to handle and ship.  

My experience is that it was competent but not spectacular and I moved on.  Just curious about yours, so many for sale.  

avanti1960

Hello @avanti1960 , I am familiar with the Parasound JC1+ mono amps.

I have a pair of Audionet Max amps and was deciding between a second pair of the Max amps or a pair of the JC1+s.  So I had direct comparison in the same system, for several weeks, with my Audionet Pre G2 preamp, YG Hailey 2's and Tambaqui DAC.

There was no comparison.  To me, the JC1+'s were dark, veiled and slow. Everything was better with the Audionet amps.  Soundstage, imaging, speed, resolution, you name it.  The JC1+s went back and I now own two pairs of Audionet amps.  I have upgraded one pair to Heisenbergs, and they are of course even more spectacular.

The JC5 was also released in 2018, and have seen a few posts across forums and reviewers that replacements are in development. No clue if those are accurate or not. That could also be a driver of for sale ads or people trading them into dealers to trade up.

More than likely they're moving up to the JC-1 or the JC-1 plus if they can swing it? Aren't monoblocks the way to go? Michael Fremer is responsible in part for the huge sales of these amp's perhaps from what I gather. 

I currently have one and enjoy it a lot. I got it because it was good value, albeit not one I would consider end game. It does everything well on all kinds of music in my set up. It is also my first class AB amp.

 

Not sure what my next move will be, but for now I'm content. It's now by far the least expensive component but if I move on, it'll have to be a pretty significant and compelling step up to make sense to change it out.