Anthem getting into two channel with new STR pre-amp-- anyone heard it?

Interesting in that I'm also researching speakers and looking strongly at the Persona 3F.  The thing about the Anthem STR pre-amp is that, for one fourth of the price, you can get much the same functionality with the Parasound Halo P5 pre-amp, in terms of built-in DAC, MM and MC phono stage, home theater bypass, etc.  I'm not sure if the P5's DAC can decode DSD files, which the STR can.  I'm also not sure about how the P5 would compare in sound quality, given its $1K price tag.

Hello Guys,

We have the new STR preamp and amplifier on display along with the Persona 3F.

We have Parasound products as well.

There is no comparison, between the two companies. Parasound's products are good for the money, and even the high end Halo products which are well lauded are not as good as the best of the more exotic companies.

We had the JC 1 Mono blocks and the JC 2 preamp and the sound was good, it was not amazing, we compared the JC 1 to the Chord amplifiers and the Electrocompaniet products were far better sounding.

The STR amp and preamp totally caught us off guard. After getting the STR integrated and putting it on display and liking it but not being blown away by it, we had unknown expectations on the separates.

We decided to go with them because there were a few reports coming out of CES that people were blown away by the demo of the Persona 3F with the STR amp and Preamp.

So okay we put them out and boom, way way better then expected. 

The combo of the STR amp and Preamp were very strong and reminded us of much more expensive electronics. 

The midrange of the electronics were warm, the detail was very good, bass was very tight and well defined. 

Overall the sound was so compelling the combo was just so good. 

The electronics definitely brought out the best in the Personas.

The proof was when we moved the Personas out of the room and put in the Legacy speakers which also sounded amazing, but so different. 

The fact that the electronics sounded fantastic with different speakers and the same sonic qualities emerged showed that the new Anthem pieces are world class products for the price. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

@ mi4

Yes, I briefly heard the Persona 3F driven by McIntosh separates in Dallas.  Very impressive.