Parasound A23+ vs. Emotiva XPA-DR2

@big_greg..............................Perhaps I should have been clearer. Yes, I had one of their DAC’s and hated it. A buddy had a pair of their big amps he bought new 2 years ago. He asked me to listen to his system as he said it sounded hard and sterile.

I went to his house with some of the music I use to demo equipment and it sounded like S***. He had the amps running constantly for 4 months and he said the sound never smoothed out. It sounded like my DAC did, bright, sterile and hard. Not musical at all. He traded them in and took a bath on them but was glad to get rid of them. 

If you believe they are high end then there is no point discussing this with you.   I have read many stories where people had them and when they moved on to something else, realized how bad they really were.  I also don’t like the fact that once the equipment is out of warranty, Emotiva won’t repair it.  I know of no other audio company that does that.  

I'm not sure where I said they were "high end". Probably because I didn't. 

To br3098, the Parasound A23+ is not an integrated amp. It is a standalone two channel amplifier. I am surprised no one caught his reply and that error...

A23+

Got one? What did it replace?

I am buying one to rotate in every once in a while to give my tube amps a rest, and for long-term low level listening, background music. Don’t need more than the first 3 watts of Class-A operation, for what I plan to use it for. While I don't expect it to displace my tube amps, from what I read so far, seems reasonable, eh?

Received the Parasound A23+ 2ch amplifier, 

Bought it to test and evaluate with some custom speakers to sample different amps. This A23+ is stout. Already exceeding expectations.

Trickle-down JC circuit and technology it seems. I’m a tube amp guy, various SS amps and prior tube amps. Comparing to SS amps at 2-2.5x the price. Runs Class A first 3 watts (not published), auto-sensing for turn on, gain level controls for matching. Nice tone, texture, JFET input stage and MOSFET drive stage.

Currently driving it with a Cary SLP-98 (6SN7) based tube preamplifier to get insight on potential. Very nice. Not harsh, no grain or glare, not bright, and enough detail and air. Has sort of a tube’ish leaning type of sound in subtle way. Not as much layering as higher end all-tube mono blocks of course, and better than many comparably priced SS amps. Decent sound stage and focus, speakers disappear on most tracks so far. It could open up even more with a few months burn-in, we’ll see. Reading it’s a little warmer than the larger JC amps, which I prefer, particularly for streamed content. Substantial build quality.

Wondering if others have done any long-term comparisons of this amp to amps at 2-3x the price?