2. amps-preamps
  3. 183367-181164

Moving on from Parasound P5 Dac or Preamp

I have a parasound P5 driving my new Nad 298, which replaced a hypex nc400 amp that died.

this drives a pair of aperion vs grande towers and an SVS sub.

I chose the P5 as it had a good home theatre bypass a knob to adjust the sub output and a dac / phono stage.

lately I’m starting to think I want a better Dac.

currently it’s fed by a node 2i.

Any suggestions for preamp or Dacs?

I was looking at a benchmark la4 preamp and rme dac 

Suggestions welcome.

looking to spend no more than 5k all in.

Also on a separate note I have a hegel bugle2 phonostage which is really great but I can’t seem to get rid of rf Humm despite being well grounded, is this common?

 

 

 

 

 

lummock
tweak1
3,644 posts
 

Over a decade ago I had the P5. It is NOT a balanced design, although as I recall, the XLRs are separate from the main boards. I eventually got the P6, a significant upgrade, but that went down the road too. For the last 4+ years my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 pre/dac has served me very well. Ive made wholesale changes to the rest of my system, the DDP-1 passes them all through. Great value if you can find one; the outboard PS is a must

hth

lummock OP
4 posts
 

does anyone else have experience with audio alchemy ddp-1 seems like can find it used with power supply for 1k. 

can you output to RCA and XLR simultaneously? (sub over rca power amp over XLR)

Benchmark DAC3B is frontrunner at this point, allowing me to keep the bass management of parasound halo p5

tweak1
3,644 posts
 

My manual doesn't say but try www.audioalchemy.com

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