Preamp: Parasound P5 vs Rotel RC1590

For what it is worth, I just bought the P5 and I am planning on sending it back, regardless of what Parasound may say you are paying for the DAC, and I had no luck with the Sub-woofer portion of the PreAmp. It just made a booming sound out of my Boston Acoustics Sub.  Consequently I paid for two features I do not need or do not like.  I have a stand alone DAC, and base heavy speakers in a A+B set up off of a McIntosh 2125 amp.  I am using a NAD old school preamp, which I can not find anything which sounds any better.  The P5 is a beautiful looking piece of gear.

@chuckhoness5343a1 Ouch, that sounds pretty bad. I was actually quite excited about the sub feature.
About DAC, I am not that excited for it. I think I will go for a DAC that have selectable filters. However, if I go for Rotel RC-1590, then I think I can be fine with it's internal DAC.

Amp will hopefully arrive tomorrow or the day after, and I will take Rotel RC-1590 for demo the same day if I can. And see how it sounds.

I’ve got the P5 and the sub integration is flawless.  The separate crossovers for sub and speakers is elegant and really cleans up the sound when compared to a unit with no sub integration.  I’m not sure what issue the other poster had, but the sub features are quite good.

Also, the  volume by remote gives increases in small increments and is a big improvement over the Nad C375BEE it replaced.  The P5 also trounced the Nad in sonics and features.  With an Adcom amp and good cables i’m seriously taken with the P5.  

Get the Rotel as it’s what you want, but the P5 really stands out in the American market at the 1100 price.  I had the P7 and I hesitate to say that the P5 images better, but I will say I prefer it over the P7.  

I’ve owned both the P5 and the RC-1590.  I purchased and promptly returned the Rotel and purchased the P5.  I didn’t like the presentation of the Rotel.  Sounded masked and had a much smaller soundstage then the P5.  P5 was much better sounding to me

@231runnin @sfseay Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences !

I have been running the amps with Rotel RC-1590 for the last 2 days. Will be returning Rotel RC-1590 tomorrow, took it only for home demo. Problems I found are:
- Power light is always blue, bright disturbing ugly blue. You can dim the LCD, can do nothing about the bright power light. So very disturbing. I would cover it with tape if I purchase it.
- There is a constant background hiss. It is definitely not the amps. Nothing after preamp’s output relays as well. When you mute it, it shuts it relays off, then there is absolutely no noise. When it is not muted, and no sound is playing, i can hear a "hiss" sound even 1 meter away from speakers. This might be related to power as well. Should buy a power filter I guess.

In terms of sound, I can’t find a fault in it honestly. Sounds so very nice to listen to, very very easy to listen to, yet punchy and clear. Nothing sounds disturbing. However, I never listened to the these amps with any other preamp, so can’t compare yet. I will try to take Parasound P5 for home demo tomorrow, from another dealer, and see how it compares at home. One thing is for sure, if I buy Rotel RC-1590 I will be very satisfied. But I need to see if I would be further satisfied with Parasound. :D

I love the digital volume control of RC-1590, can fine tune it just right at any volume, especially low volumes. Tone settings doesn’t affect the sound clarity or soundstage, there is some effect but it is soooo very minimal in comparison to most amps. Have been using it's internal DAC via optical input, no problems with it so far. No pop noises when stream changes, there are relay sounds coming from the amp instead.

I will write more after I get the Parasound.