It is too bad the P-5 has been scaled back from the original prototype from last winter. When the price was originally set at $1500.00, the unit weighed 23 pounds and the current final version weighs 14 pounds. Since 1992 I have owned three Parasound Preamps, the P-FET 900 MKII, the PLD-2000, and the P-3. I recently heard a Preamp from Onkyo that smokes the Parasound Pre's, the Onkyo P-3000R which retails for $1695.00 and can be purchased at a lower price. The Onkyo is superior to the Musical Fidelity and Pass Preamps that I have owned in the past. The Onkyo weighs just under 25 pounds and is sexy as hell with its satin black finish. It comes with a MM phono stage, has a built in Burr-Brown DAC with USB or XLR input. Has bass and treble controls and a headphone jack. I heard the piece just over a week ago and my jaw dropped from the sound quality. Very pure, ultra clean clarity with a dimensional holographic space typically found in very high priced Preamps. Very smooth with a pleasant warm character.
