I've owned the Parasound P5 and A23 separates. They sound pretty decent. I'm glad the P5 has bass and treble controls. My speakers need a bit of EQ-ing. I'd boost the bass up a bit and the treble down a bit.
I don't know about the Musical Fidelity stuff; I've never heard any.
Saying that...I used to have a Modwright KWI 200 integrated and a pair of Legacy Focus SE speakers. It was an incredible system! The KWI 200 has a huge amount of capacitance to handle the peaks. It was a wonderfully smooth-sounding integrated. Not harsh, not muddy. I'd play it really loud and it would still sound nice and clear. Bass would shake the room.