My Parasound A21 review and VS Emotiva XPA


l bought the Parasound halo a21 and the differences of improvement in the sound quality are just unreal, it's like too good to be true, before the parasound i had an Emotiva XPA and after listened to the differences btw the emo and the parasound i got to the conclusion that emotiva made my speakers sounded so bad, the sound quality is night and day differences, I'm was shocked!! It's just unbelievable, to give you a better hint of what I'm talking about, the emotiva is a Honda and the Parasound is a mercedez Benz s63 AMG, or Toyota vs Ferrari lol. I can't believe the sound just can get that good.

Emotiva is not High End they not even close to what high end sounds like, they are good products but never can consider high end, but they claim to be high end, for the price you can get a good Mid-fi sound, but they are out of the high end league, that's a true statement. it's not an opinion, It's what it's. when i demo the parasound i put it side by side with 10,000$ and 12,000 dollars amplifiers and the parasound just sounded as good as those super expensive amps.

The emotiva was my first amplifier so that's why i wrote a review on amazon saying that Emotiva was a truly High end Amp with a consumer price tag LOL, what the Hell i was thinking OMG i was soooooo wrong.

I was only getting 20% of my sonus faber veneres with the emotiva, now I believe I'm getting their full potential 100%, I believed the hype of the emotiva for a while, I was a believer but now i know emotiva is just a good mid-fi amp, nothing more!! If you looking for the best sound as possible please don't get the emotiva, emotiva is not even close to high end, you will be disappointed!! The parasound is the best AMP you can get for the money, i believe that you can spent the double of the money and won't get this kind of performance, Halo is the best Bang for your Buck and i finally found the product that i want to use forever.

to get a better understanding of what i'm talking about, let's say Parasound vs krell is like mercedez benz S Class AMG vs roll royce!!! all depends your budget and how much money you want to spent, but me personally i'm gonna stick with the parasound halo forever.

i use the Cars Example cuz i don't have no words to describe the sound of my system with the halo LOL.

the part that i was even more impressive is with movies, since the Denon X4000 receiver is running the center and surrounds i didn't expect so much differences in the sound quality in the Movie department, but the movies sound nigh and day differences also, but i still need the halo A51 to finish the full amplification department, i'm gonna save up for the A51 cuz i want the same sound quality in the surrounds and center channel, but for now i'm so happy with the performance and soundstage i got from the A21.

I'm very very happy cuz this past saturday i went to the high end show and they were demo the Devialet amps that sounded so good, but the parasound sounds better to me, i can't believe i can get 20,000 dollars performance for 2,500$, THIS IS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE!!! but it's true.
brownsugar_ny
To all The emotiva lovers, please don't take it personal, i'm just being honest here, emotiva is a good value mid-hifi entry level, but please they not even close to high end performance, i don't know about the XPR line, i saw the review of XPR-1 mono blocks in audioholics and they are insane according to the review, but anyway i'm gonna stay with HALO forever, i'm not buying Emo again.

if anything i would buy another brand like krell, pass lab or jeff rowland, but just class A amplification, in class A is where the magic happens. Happy listening

peace
I will concur w/ Brownsugar-

even the older Parasound power amps are still excellent. I found the best pairing w/ a Pass Labs XP-10 or XP-20 preamp for outstanding results. For those who cannot afford this level of performance, Emotiva or Vincent offers great value.

Happy Listening!
I use a couple Emotiva amps and, if you look at my systems, it's not because money is an object.

Granted...I use one of their big amps for just low frequency drivers on my Wisdom speakers and another Emotiva for just rear channels in my HT.

However, I've tried the XPA2 amp in other capacities and it's gives very strong performance on a super modest budget. If you try to pick this thing up, you quickly realize it's not your typical cheapo product. It has a big toroid transformer, good heat sinks, and speaker terminals/switches/connectors that compare well with virtually anything out there. Some parts could be improved internally, but you can say that about many amps charging $5k+

Their pre/processor is a bit clunky and "cheap" with the interface, but it actually sounds very nice, which is what I value most.

If you've got better speakers that are more resolving of differences in equipment than my Wisdoms or Maggies...plus a dedicated room with full treatments...and an active crossover/room correction like mine for even more refinement...more power to you.

Here's the problem with threads like these.

First, the original poster never mentions which Emotiva model he tried. Was it the same power rating?

He never mentions which preamp is feeding the amp. Parasound is a great value brand just like Emotiva, but I once made their JC1's sound terrible by driving them from a high quality Resolution Audio CDP that supposedly could go direct to amps. On other amps, it worked fine, but not the JC1s with the cables we were using. This is just one example of why these clowns who make categoric statements about brands without providing any details earn my "clown" title.

Next, he mentions using these amps on Sonus Faber Venere. I find it odd that someone would choose a solid state amp versus a tube amp for this speaker, but nevertheless, it is also very sensitive to setup and listening axis. Thus...just like the JC1s...I could easily make this speaker sound horrible with even $100k amplification.

Few people realize how much a speaker crossover impacts the sound from the amplifier. A tube amp can sound terrible on Speaker ABC which needs lots of current, but sound great on one that needs an amp to swing voltage.

Even without the drastic difference of tubes versus solid state, you can have large swings in performance within solid state and tube categories based strictly on the speaker.

For example, my McIntosh amp is rated at 250watts per channel. It will mate great with almost any speaker...especially because it has an autoformer. Thus, it has outperformed amps well above its price on many speakers.

Conversely, my modified Mccormack amps are among the best sounding (super transparent, liquid, and detailed) solid state amps I've heard...yet...they only do 125watts and can sound much less impressive when asked to drive certain demanding speakers full-range.

In short, be careful who you listen to and be wary of anyone making categoric statements with little experience or details.

Also, for the record, Benchmark, PSB, Emotiva, and Parasound are my recommendations for "best-bang-for-the-buck" brands.
I've had 3 Emotiva products, including an amp that I compared with an A21. Emotiva is certainly not the equal of Halo amps any way you want to slice it. The point is, Emotiva is out there claiming that they are High End and why pay more, and once claimed in an ad that their UMC-200 was the equal of a $4,000 processor. People are going to call them on their wild claims, and don't be surprised if you come across another thread or two like this, Labtec.

I used to consider them good bang for the bucks spent at the 5-999 price points. But after I was able to clearly hear the difference with the A21, and got treated like an idiot at their forum btw, I don't consider them a particularly good buy at all.
I don't doubt you might prefer a Parasound product to Emotiva. I mentioned that Parasound was one of the best bang for the buck brands out there.

However, did the products you compared sell for the same price?

What find surprising is how many threads like to call out Emotiva for their claims, yet there are tons of brands making even more outlandish claims and charging 10x more than Emotiva.

I guarantee your Parasound will outperform many amps that cost 2-5x what you paid...Why do people call out the brand that sells for much less instead of the real phonies who charge much more.

If you don't find Emotiva a "particularly good buy at all", I wonder if you've ever looked under the hood of most other amplifier brands that sell products for the same price or much more. Most have nothing better than a fancier machined aluminum casing and worse measurements on a test bench.

In fact, I would take an Emotiva amp over the $100k Siltech amp based on the horrible measurements and defects in the recent Stereophile review.

Not saying this applies to everybody, but I think some Emotiva haters are just people who spent way too much on their mediocre products and would rather speak negatively on the products that cost less, than those that cost more.

Here's my litmus test for a legitimate Emotiva criticism...Do they list better products at the same price or do they only compare them to more expensive?