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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
yioryos's avatar
yioryos
723 posts
 
Lambeau
Nice,I am doing the very same with my two XPR-2.
Vertical bi-amp into JBL L7 , th XPR amps require 20A line for optimum performance.
George
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,369 posts
 
XPR amps require 20A line for optimum performance

George,
This should be a generic statement and not just for Emotiva. Emotiva's target audience is different.
runnin
397 posts
 
I don't get why people buy $6000 speakers at all. But if they do, why use a bargain brand amp? Those Tyler Acoustics go for over 7000. Why don't you save some REAL coin and buy some Crown pro amps for 500-600 a piece. What's the point? If you want to save money on the amps and got Emotiva, you should have saved money on the speakers in the first place.
wolf_garcia
6,694 posts
 
I've used the cheaper Crown PA amps at shows (part of a house system) and they simply are not very good...loud maybe, but the sound quality was worse than some other QSC, Crest, and older Mackie amps I was using at the time. Pro PA amps of any sort generally don't display the tonal refinement of amps designed for home hifi, although some can come close. You get what you pay for as the more costly Crowns really do sound better.
lambeau
26 posts
 
A method to my madness .

This hobbie had me at age 14 with my first system and the tweeking started .

Many moons and systems later I finally have started to build my first real system . Speakers having the most impact on sound took Priority "Tyler D1x speakers "
Large floor standing full range speakers with looks to die for and hand built by one of the best guys in audio .Done.
You don't get this soundstage with small speakers. I can go on but enough on the speakers .

Having a great speaker lets you hear different signitures in sound that amplifiers have . As I stated in an earlier post , this has led me on a journey that unless your an audio nut most will not understand .Making them sound the way you want with what you listen too and at a volume that is to your preference .

I have tried many amps from tubes to solid state .
Crown xl 2000 were run as mono blocks and were ok but not what I wanted just to cover the previous suggestion .
Cary , Threshold , Rotel and many others were on the hot seat. All of the amps have pros and cons . Then I tried the XPR 2 . Bass that felt like my subs were on but faster and punchy . Highs and mids did take a long time to settle down . About four months of a lot of play time from casual listening to rock concert levels .I cant say the number of hours . I will say if they did not , this amp would be for sale also .

I am a hands on type of guy and have to try it for myself to feel comfortable . I felt comfortable and bought a second XPR 2 to run in a vertical Bi Amp set up .Yes another long break in process for the second amp but it is worth it . Now 2 Great looking amps with power and finesse sitting on what else , Tyler Acoustics amp stands .

To be fair in my assessment, I did not consider the Parasound A 21 amp with only 250 watts per channel .The JC1 mono block amps would be a closer match at 400 per side but I do not have a dealer within the area to allow me to try them out for 30 days . I will not give an assessment of a product if I actually did not hear it in my system . I am quite sure they are a quality product . Will these be my final amps that I buy . Hell no , I found out I like tubes and will be setting up a small tube based system on much smaller efficient speakers .

I do not mean to sound condescending . I know there a many great systems and amps to choose from but with my budget this was right for me . I loved the process and really enjoy audio .I have two friends that love this as much as I do .My other friends and family think I im crazy but love listening to my system .( Go figure ) We are all hear for the same reason , the love of audio . Keep it lite

Lambeau





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