Parasound a21 V.S. Vincent sp-331

Submitted By: jackfish

senior member

Location: Western Wisconsin

Joined: Dec 19 2005

Posts:

#1

The Parasound will control your Thiels better than the Vincent.

Posted: January 29, 2013 - 5:12pm

You sure you don't at least want to try an Emotiva XPR-2 or XPA-2 before you drop $2300 on a Parasound.

Submitted By: Kal Rubinson

member

Joined: Sep 1 2005

Posts:

#2

Four grand? MSRP for the A21

Posted: January 29, 2013 - 5:15pm

Four grand? MSRP for the A21 is $2299.

Submitted By: jackfish

senior member

Location: Western Wisconsin

Joined: Dec 19 2005

Posts:

#3

Corrected it.

Posted: January 29, 2013 - 6:07pm

Thanks.

Submitted By: mediumrare

member

Location: Iowa

Joined: Jan 21 2013

Posts:

#4

XRA-2

Posted: January 29, 2013 - 9:16pm

The XPA-2 is unavailable, and the XPR-2 interests me but it seems like overkill. What is your opinion? I am not crazy about having to put in a 20amp circuit for the XPR-2. I only started looking at the Parasound while at my local audio dealer. I had the Vincent in mind and the salesman started pushing the a21.

Submitted By: zfreiman

member

Location: Midwest

Joined: Apr 28 2007

Posts:

#5

What about the Halo A23

Posted: January 31, 2013 - 4:39pm

Do you need the headroom to justify the A21? If not the A23 would be a good fit to get the Para-Sound... I've heard the A23 and P3 Pre-amp many times, driving Focal towers. Very impressive with good imaging, separation, and grip on the mid-bass drivers.

Another option would be the Odyssey Khartago built in Indiana by Klauss and crew.

30 day money back trial period and a 20 yr warranty.

http://www.odysseyaudio.com/products-khartago-stereo.html

Submitted By: Demondog

senior member

Location: PacificNorthwest USA

Joined: Feb 22 2009

Posts:

#6

Odyssey amps don't get

Posted: March 9, 2013 - 12:29am

Odyssey amps don't get mentioned enough around here. I have a friend bi-amping with a pair.

Submitted By: commsysman

senior member

Location: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Joined: Apr 4 2006

Posts:

#7

AMPLIFIER

Posted: March 11, 2013 - 3:23pm

IMO the Vincent is a much better-sounding amplifier than the Parasound A21. It will be a perfect match for your speakers.

It has enough power to drive almost any speaker you can buy for under $10,000.

The Parasound A23 is a lousy amplifier. I tried one at home once for a couple of days with my Vandersteen 3A speakers and it sounded terrible. A NAD C326 is a better amplifier. (I suspect that the A23 could not handle the low impedances of the Vandersteens without distorting, which tells me that the power supply is an inadequate design)

I ended up buying a Bryston 3B-SST2 amplifier, which is absolutely wonderful!

The Vincent is almost as good, and was my second choice if I hadn't bought the Bryston.

mediumrare wrote:

Allright fellas, with your help, I've narrowed it down to either the Vincent sp-331, or the Parasound a21. I will be using a Peachtree Decco as a preamp/DAC. and will be running all of this through Thiel CS2 speakers. I just installed a power conditioner and surge protector on the outlets in my listening room (my depression-era home has terrible wiring), and I am ready to pull the trigger on a power amp. Please if you have an opinion or experience with either of these amplifiers set me straight. Thank you in advanced.

Submitted By: Bill B

member

Joined: Jul 28 2012

Posts:

#8

Parasound v Vincent

Posted: March 10, 2013 - 3:19pm

1. I don't know. 2. Given that, I've heard good things about both. I lean towards Vincent since I'm already planning on getting that SP-331 - not right now, but this year. I got a Vincent preamp and am very happy w/ it. I've also heard good things about Parasound, and heard that just a few people find them a bit hard sounding. I hasten to add that I haven't heard them myself (refer to #1). Your Peachtree might be a little bit warm sounding (a good thing) and perhaps would mesh well w Parasound. 3. On the other hand, I have a glove.