Parasound A21 vs Bryston 4bsst 2

"Let me see if I got this right; the Parasound is flat out better than the Bryston, and the Bryston is only good for the warranty but not sound quality?"

The point I was trying to make was that people (“professional” or otherwise) make amplifier comparisons that don't carry much weight... One must A/B two components that are perfectly level matched – tiny level differences make a big difference in sound – you will hear a difference in a component if one is louder than the other - it's just the way our ears work, but it's not necessarily the truth..

I'm not saying all gear sounds the same, but there's a lot of prose out there that is based on emotion and in unreliable test settings...

I'm a big Bryston fan – I've heard their amplifiers countless times in studios and would always recommend them. But when someone is concerned with cost, sometimes other options are better. In my experience, both amps will sonically provide Ricred1 with what he's looking for, and if budget is a concern, go for the less expensive one...

One other comment about Bryston – they claim that going up the product line will only provide you with more power – the sound is the same from model to model (unless you're running a lower powered model beyond it's intended abilities – thus the need to move to a more powerful model)...

Zkzpb8, thanks for your thorough explanation. Much appreciated. There's both pros and cons in subjective and objective testing. I have no problem with how anyone feels about Bryston anymore. I used to get upset about it, but life's too short...

Zormi, yes I read that review about the Bryston amps. I can't say whether it's right or wrong, because my experience with Bryston far outweighs that of Parasound. Anyway, Bryston is definitely not the best in sound. They are what they are, and that is good, solid workhorse amps. There's nothing really wrong with them, but one can do better, I suppose. That review became very infamous for a good amount of time. That won't be the last controversial review in the audiophile press!

Yeah Dave - I was the subject of a test recently, with two amps playing, one a .5 dB louder than the other. Needless to say that almost everyone liked the louder one (including me - I had all kinds of great things to say about it). It was pretty educational, to say the least...

Ok, that's interesting. I'll make a note of it. :D