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My Parasound A21 review and VS Emotiva XPA

l bought the Parasound halo a21 and the differences of improvement in the sound quality are just unreal, it's like too good to be true, before the parasound i had an Emotiva XPA and after listened to the differences btw the emo and the parasound i got to the conclusion that emotiva made my speakers sounded so bad, the sound quality is night and day differences, I'm was shocked!! It's just unbelievable, to give you a better hint of what I'm talking about, the emotiva is a Honda and the Parasound is a mercedez Benz s63 AMG, or Toyota vs Ferrari lol. I can't believe the sound just can get that good.

Emotiva is not High End they not even close to what high end sounds like, they are good products but never can consider high end, but they claim to be high end, for the price you can get a good Mid-fi sound, but they are out of the high end league, that's a true statement. it's not an opinion, It's what it's. when i demo the parasound i put it side by side with 10,000$ and 12,000 dollars amplifiers and the parasound just sounded as good as those super expensive amps.

The emotiva was my first amplifier so that's why i wrote a review on amazon saying that Emotiva was a truly High end Amp with a consumer price tag LOL, what the Hell i was thinking OMG i was soooooo wrong.

I was only getting 20% of my sonus faber veneres with the emotiva, now I believe I'm getting their full potential 100%, I believed the hype of the emotiva for a while, I was a believer but now i know emotiva is just a good mid-fi amp, nothing more!! If you looking for the best sound as possible please don't get the emotiva, emotiva is not even close to high end, you will be disappointed!! The parasound is the best AMP you can get for the money, i believe that you can spent the double of the money and won't get this kind of performance, Halo is the best Bang for your Buck and i finally found the product that i want to use forever.

to get a better understanding of what i'm talking about, let's say Parasound vs krell is like mercedez benz S Class AMG vs roll royce!!! all depends your budget and how much money you want to spent, but me personally i'm gonna stick with the parasound halo forever.

i use the Cars Example cuz i don't have no words to describe the sound of my system with the halo LOL.

the part that i was even more impressive is with movies, since the Denon X4000 receiver is running the center and surrounds i didn't expect so much differences in the sound quality in the Movie department, but the movies sound nigh and day differences also, but i still need the halo A51 to finish the full amplification department, i'm gonna save up for the A51 cuz i want the same sound quality in the surrounds and center channel, but for now i'm so happy with the performance and soundstage i got from the A21.

I'm very very happy cuz this past saturday i went to the high end show and they were demo the Devialet amps that sounded so good, but the parasound sounds better to me, i can't believe i can get 20,000 dollars performance for 2,500$, THIS IS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE!!! but it's true.
brownsugar_ny
brownsugar_ny OP
10 posts
 
Hello guys

Please chill out, it's not a big deal! I'm a former owner of the Emotiva XPA-2 Gen2 and XPA-5 Gen2, I have compared both with the Halo A21 and the halo blew them away in every single area PERIOD! it doesn't really matter xpa2 or 5 the XPA line sounds pretty much the same, I wrote this review because emotiva claims to be HIGH END with the famous Motto Rethink high end, so I was completely disappointed when I found out what emotiva is all about, to me emotiva is a good entry level product for those peoples who like ROCK and electronic music to go extremely loud and crank their speakers and make a lot of noise, but if you want real detail and exceptional sound quality emotiva is not for you, but emotiva offer a good bang for your buck but it doesn't sound high end at all.

thank you guys for all your comments and thoughts, like I always say everybody is entitled to their own opinion and mi opinion is that emotiva is not even close to high end performance.

Peace and Keep listening

Enjoy.
mjbuoni
3 posts
 
I've had the same experience with Emotiva. I wanted to like them - tried their XPA-5, 2, and 1 monos and then the XPR-2. ALL of these amps had a upper-mid/high frequency glare to their sound, although less noticeable with the XPR-2. The XPR-2 was significantly better than the XPA line (Gen 1), with a wider deeper soundstage and lower noise floor. Still, I couldn't live with it, and sent it back before the end of the trial period.
yioryos's avatar
yioryos
723 posts
 
Brownsugar
In your recent post among other things you mention the rock and electronic music.What is wrong with rock music,95 per cent of people listen to rock.Jazz is good to go to sleep and classical is bowring.
Get your facts straight,also I got the XPR-2 and under the hood is same or equivalent to Mcintosh at 1/10th the cost.
I haven,t heard the JC1 but I assure you they look very mediocre and low fi at least the XPR line looks the business .
Best
George
brownsugar_ny OP
10 posts
 
Yioryos excuse me i'm not taking anything away from Emotiva, like everybody here in this Threads has mentioned, why emotiva claims to be high end when they are not, but emotiva does a pretty decent JOB for the money, but just don't compare emotiva with high end Gear and a pair of JC1 will blow away you XPR, no question about it, and we not talking about how the amp look inside, we talking about sound quality performance, i'm sure even my A21 will blow away the XPR 2.

it's what it's, emotiva is good but not so good, i don't think is a good buy at all, i will never buy emotiva again for me it's a waste of money, but probably in the future i will get Krell or Mark Levinson.

Peace

Happy listening
yioryos's avatar
yioryos
723 posts
 
Brownsugar
I guess my point didnt come through with you.I am saying that it is not fair to compare the Emotiva gear with other brands that cost 3-4-6 and 10 times the cost.
For the money the Emotiva holds very well.
If you look at the internals of a Bryston 14b-sst and XPR-2 you will notice they are very similar.
The Bryston is over 10000 dollars and the Emotiva is 1700 dollars.
I do own Mark Levinson now and had Krells before and still own some Krell gear and Bryston. I have been in the audio for many many many years.
The XPR-2 (actually I own two) are in a secondary system for parties where high wattage is desirable.
For critical listening I use different pedigree,
Emotiva is a counter balance to all other high dollar brands and offers quality sound to more people,its a good thing.
I wish them many years of success.

Cheers
George
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