Anthem STR Power Amp vs Parasound JC5

@jgdill thanks for the feedback. That's great to hear that you can hear the difference coming from a A21+. I know several people who said they couldn't hear a difference coming from a base A21. I guess it depends on their speakers and other gear?

@mike_in_nc you would think but you'd be surprised. Many dealers have flat out told me they don't do in auditions. Best case is you buy it outright and use their "return policy" to return it if you don't like it. That's typically only 1-2 weeks IMO which may or may not be enough time to break in and evaluate.

@listru - I don't know where you're located, but in the USA, Crutchfield sells the STR amp and offers a 45-day return policy. I think that will cost you $10. But yes, you have to pay first, then get a refund when it's returned.

I think they sell Parasound, also.

My local Anthem dealer was willing to match Crutchfield's terms when I asked them to do so.

@mike_in_nc Yes I've purchase from Crutchfield before and they are great. One of the best online dealers I've worked with. I will definitely consider them for purchase of the amp

Of course, everything is out of stock currently on Crutchfield due to chip shortages 😒

I had the the persona 7f. A local dealer had them in his main listening room for a year and I got to hear them with the str int, no dice. the separates are much better, my hegel did amazing things with the bass but put to much energy into the mids. We tried lumin and it was good if not special, a couple others also. My favorite and the reason I finally bought the persona was a Pathos Logos mk2. The persona unmasked everything they plugged into it and the str seperate was pretty cool in the way it soundstaged but the ultra tight imaging made the musicians seem like mi iatures. The pathos sweetened up the mids and gave the music a lifelike presentation.