Parasound P5

Any thoughts on why they would build the P5 to almost the exact same weight as the JC2 for only 1500? Was it another one of your contacts who told you this? Why was he so far off? I doubt Parasound would have started off with such a hefty unit and then basically go back to the drawing board and pop out a unit in well under a year. It just doesn't make logistical sense.

Hi Audiozen: I've been looking at that Onkyo for a while now. It's really that good, huh? Would you say it outperforms the Bryston BP6 that I currently use? Is it a safe buy from say, Amazon? I haven't seen it at a lower price except from accessories 4 less, but those a refurbished units. Let's hope Onkyo doesn't discontinue this unit anytime soon...unless they come out with a better one.

I see the Onkyo also has upsampling and a pure direct button.

Very few preamps have this kind of functionality. The only ones I can think of at the moment are Accuphase and McIntosh, and those are much, much more.

Is the Onkyo a case of don't let the low price fool you?

The Onkyo has a lot going for it at its price that is unmatched anywhere on the market at this time and will easily hold its own against Preamp's in the $10K range. Its that good and is truely a best value component with its patented low distortion technology, and beefy power supply with two transformers. Hook it up to a pair of D-Sonic M3-600M mono amps,(Abletec Amps), 600 watts per channel at $1950.00 a pair, designed by the current leader of Class D technology in Europe, Patrik Bostrom, and you will have the best value combo on the market.

Audiozen,
Parasound JC2 and Jeff Rowland Capri fall in the $10k range. I have not heard any of the preamps discussed here. But I have reservations that the Onkyo is as good as those two - at least from online reviews.