Parasound A21 vs Bryston 4bsst 2

"Name a great amp that can be had for the same price of the A21."

You can probably find a Pass Aleph, older BAT SS and maybe an Ayre V-3 in your price range.

Zd542,
I think you need to compare the A21 with Pass Aleph while driving the Aerial 7T. The Pass would probably do great with high sensitivity speakers, but might not sound good with the Aerials. Ricred1's room is also not a small one, so the Pass would not help there either.
One thing is - the A21 does not loose it's value as much. So Ricred1 could always sell the amp if he wants to upgrade. For now I think he has made the right choice. My only suggestion, based on personal experience would be, to go with a preamp that has XLR outs. It may have been my TVC, but my A21 is in a different league when used with the TVC connected through XLR Vs the RCA.

I'd recommend against a preamp with an integrated DAC. While I understand the convenience factor, digital technology is advancing at a blinding rate. It's the one area of my system that I expect to be obsolete quicker than any other. Being tied to an outdated DAC because it resides in my preamp is not something I'm interested in. Yes, you can always add a outboard DAC down the road, but then you spent money on a feature you are no longer using.

Just food for thought... Good choice on the Parasound over the Bryston.

Congrats on the Parasound - they make great sounding gear. I love Bryston, but for the money (unless you really want that warranty) they're going to sound exactly the same. Level match them within half a dB and they'll be indistinguishable.

I also agree about having a separate DAC from the Pre - much better options with separates...

"09-30-14: Milpai
Zd542,
I think you need to compare the A21 with Pass Aleph while driving the Aerial 7T. The Pass would probably do great with high sensitivity speakers, but might not sound good with the Aerials. Ricred1's room is also not a small one, so the Pass would not help there either."

Sorry. I was in a hurry when I typed that out and couldn't go into too much detail. I've heard the Pass Aleph's many time with Aerial speakers. Its true that the Aleph series didn't put out that much wattage. That said, they were extremely clean. I had several models myself. For example, I took my Aleph o's, rated at 40 watts/ch and drove a pair of B&W 802s3's with it. At the same time, I also had a Krell KAV250a. Power wise, you could hardly tell the difference. The Krell, of course, had better bass, but beyond that, there was very little difference as to the amps ability to drive the speakers. If you looked at those 2 amps on paper, they are vastly different. The Parasound is an excellent all around amp. Its a really hard amp to screw up with. I just brought up some alternatives given the qualities that the OP said he was looking for.

Since we're comparing amps, I think its worth noting that while most people would pick the Bryston over the Parasound, there's really no guarantee that the Bryston will out perform it. Its entirely possible that some may prefer the way it sounds for any number of reasons. Just because its a more expensive amp doesn't always mean its better in every way. Overall, I see both amps appealing to the same type of person. If you like one, you'll probably like the other.