Parasound Halo - SimAudio Aurora or Bryston

The JC1s, without question, would be my preference. I'm about to sell mine. Why? Well, to buy a pair of the much more expensive Ayre MX-Rs. These are the only amps that could pry the JC1s out of my hands. They are that good.

Disclaimer: mine have been slightly modified with Blowtorch-type internal wiring. They were Bob Crump's personal pair before he passed away last year.

With Dynaudio's, Simaudio is the best match. There is much on the internet about the synergy of Dynaudio with Simaudio.
Forget the Parasounds - they are Taiwanese-made (okay, designed in the USA), single-ended designs with more high-end aspirations than accomplishments (and some good marketing to help). They are heavy (i.e. lots of steel in the chassis) and beautiful looking, but ultimately lack the final word in high-end refinement and musicality.
The Brystons are significantly better, and you can usually get a great deal on Audiogon, plus they have a 20 year warranty to boot. I would love to own Sims, and have listened to them a couple of times with Dynaudio, and the match was heavenly. If only Sim amps were a bit more affordable.....but price aside, wow.

Or the route I went with the better value of Selah Audio speakers and a Gemstone Amp... notice some similarities.

dna2505,

Both the Sims and the Brystons suffer from the typical solid state bugaboos. What they do well, they do VERY well indeed, but they rob the music of life by bleaching harmonic color. The JC-1s do this to a much smaller degree, to the point where it's only just noticeable. Oh, and by the way, the JC-1s have both RCA and balanced inputs.

Auditioned Brystons when I was using the JC-1s. The Parasounds proved to be the superior amps. If your looking for a VERY musical and still detailed SS amp. The Ayre V-1xe is better than both of them.

I auditioned the JC-1's and honestly wasn't very impressed... I've never been a fan of Bryston either - both are too aggressive up top to my ear.

Never heard the Sim so can't comment on that.

Good luck.

I prefer the Sim Audio and would point out the reason the gear sounds so good with Dynaudio etc. is that it doesn't bleach out the harmonics as a previous poster advised. My $0.02. If you want more tubelike harmonics you will need to throw in tubes in the chain. Sim gear is also fully balanced plus RCA's. PS I have had a Bryston 4Bsst and I use my Sim W5 and I7. I haven't used the Para gear.

No direct experience with either Sim or Bryston but I will say that after trying at least a dozen different amps (tube and ss) with my Duntech Princess (Dynaudio tweeter and woofers) I bought JC-1s a year ago and my search has ended. They offer detail and control without typical ss hardness or glare - highly musical.