Setup & listening
Like the Halo JC 1+, the JCA100 has single-ended RCA and balanced XLR input jacks, along with pass-through output jacks. The two amplifiers share the same two pairs of high-quality loudspeaker binding posts, switches to set the voltage gain to 29dB or 23dB, and to select Normal or Low output-stage bias. The JCA100 operates in class-A up to its full power into 8 ohms when its bias is set to Normal, which is how I used them. (Parasound said that with the switch set to low, the JCA100 delivers up to 15W in class-A.) It runs hot. To allow sufficient ventilation, I placed the amplifiers on small, wheeled dollies. Source components were my Roon Nucleus+ server sending data via Ethernet to an MBL N31 or a PS Audio DirectStream MKII via USB. I set the amplifiers' gain switches to Low in order to be able to use the D/A processors' volume controls set sufficiently high so that the full resolution would be preserved. The processors were connected to the Parasound amplifiers with 10' of Ayre/Cardas balanced interconnects. The loudspeakers used were my long-term reference KEF LS50 standmounts, relieved toward the end of the review period by GoldenEar BRXes. I was well familiar with the sonic signature of the Halo JC 1+ as, after my review had been published, I arranged for a long-term loan of the amplifiers so I could use them as a reference. The JC 1+ offers low-frequency delicacy and authority combined with smooth and clean high frequencies that are similar to what I experience from a good tube amplifier, superbly precise stereo imaging, and a deep, stable soundstage.
Replacing those amplifiers with the JCA100 Tributes was interesting because at first I couldn't hear any differences. The sound character seemed identical. But as I worked my way through my reference recordings, both commercial releases and recordings I had engineered or produced, I started to be aware that I was hearing deeper into those stable recorded soundstages. (Playback levels were closely matched throughout my auditioning, so this improvement was not due to any differences in loudness.)
One of the recordings I had mentioned in my JC 1+ review was Stereophile's June 2020 Recording of the Month, Translations, performed by the Portland State Chamber Choir conducted by Ethan Sperry (24/96 master WAV files for Naxos 8.574124). Producer Erick Lichte and I had spent a lot of time optimizing the spatial elements of the performances so that they were true to composer Eriks Eenvalds's markings in the works' scores. In the album's final track, "In Paradisum," an off-stage viola represents the composer's late grandmother's soul. As shown in the photo above, we had placed the viola at the far left behind the altar in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mount Angel, Oregon, and while I had placed a spot microphone above the instrument, most of its sound in the mix was from the ORTF cardioid mike array and the spaced omni mikes in front of the choir, which was in front of the altar. As appropriately far away as the viola had sounded with the Halo JC 1+ amplifiers, the relationship between its image and the church's warmly supportive acoustic was even more precisely defined with the JCA100s. The sense of distance was even clearer.
Another aspect of the Parasound JCA100's presentation that I noticed was the enhanced listenability. I was going to write that the sound was "smoother," but that word implies that recorded detail was being smoothed over and obscured. That was not the case. Instead, while I was always intensely aware of the smallest sonic aspects with every recording I played, this had not been achieved by the amplifiers thrusting those details at me. Instead, the JCA100s were stepping out of the way of the musicians' efforts.
For example, in my Roon library I have a DSD64 version of "Exactly Like You" from Ray Brown's classic Soular Energy album (ripped from a Groove Note SACD). I use Roon's DSP equalizer to apply some low-frequency boost with the KEFs and GoldenEars, which, as long as I don't play my music too loud, usefully extends the bass. With both these small speakers driven by the JCA100s, Brown's double bass had an excellent combination of weight and articulation, with the occasional fingerboard buzz naturally presented. Gerryck King's drum breaks illuminated some subtle studio ambience. Gene Harris's piano was placed across two-thirds of the width of the stage, though with a noticeable "hole in the middle" between the left- and right-hand registers that I hadn't been fully aware of previously. And as I had found with the Halo JC 1+, the slight amount of flanging on the bass guitar in Joan Armatrading's "Willow" (24/96 FLAC, A&M/Qobuz) and the reverb tails of the damped tom-toms that punctate the song's chorus were models of clarity.
I finished my final critical listening session with two albums by Russian pianist Anna Gourari, Elusive Affinity (24/96 FLAC, ECM/Qobuz) and Brahms: The Late Piano Pieces (16/44.1 FLAC, Berlin Classics/Qobuz). J.S. Bach's transcription for solo piano, BWV 974 of the Adagio from Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor on Elusive Affinity had me forgetting to breathe, so hauntingly beautiful was the sound with the GoldenEar speakers driven by the JCA100s. Brahms's contemplative Intermezzo in A Minor, Op.116, No.2, had me similarly entranced. This amplifier allowed me to forget the system and focus on the music.
Conclusion
The JCA100 Tribute is the best-sounding Parasound amplifier I have heard, better even than the Halo JC 1+, which I described in my review as "a superb-sounding amplifier that will get the best from every loudspeaker with which it is partnered." It equals the earlier amplifier's smooth, clean high frequencies and low-frequency authority while offering an enhanced involvement in the music-making.
This achievement is obtained at a price. A pair of Halo JC 1+ currently costs $19,998, significantly lower than the JCA100's $30,000/pair. But given the new amplifier's superb sound quality, that price is competitive with those of other high-performance amplifiers reviewed in recent issues. And the limited issue and the tribute to its designer incorporated in its genesis makes the JCA100 Tribute a collector's item. As I wrote in the conclusion to my JC 1+ review, well done, Mr. Curl. And well done, new Parasound team.
Like the Halo JC 1+, the JCA100 has single-ended RCA and balanced XLR input jacks, along with pass-through output jacks. The two amplifiers share the same two pairs of high-quality loudspeaker binding posts, switches to set the voltage gain to 29dB or 23dB, and to select Normal or Low output-stage bias. The JCA100 operates in class-A up to its full power into 8 ohms when its bias is set to Normal, which is how I used them. (Parasound said that with the switch set to low, the JCA100 delivers up to 15W in class-A.) It runs hot. To allow sufficient ventilation, I placed the amplifiers on small, wheeled dollies. Source components were my Roon Nucleus+ server sending data via Ethernet to an MBL N31 or a PS Audio DirectStream MKII via USB. I set the amplifiers' gain switches to Low in order to be able to use the D/A processors' volume controls set sufficiently high so that the full resolution would be preserved. The processors were connected to the Parasound amplifiers with 10' of Ayre/Cardas balanced interconnects. The loudspeakers used were my long-term reference KEF LS50 standmounts, relieved toward the end of the review period by GoldenEar BRXes. I was well familiar with the sonic signature of the Halo JC 1+ as, after my review had been published, I arranged for a long-term loan of the amplifiers so I could use them as a reference. The JC 1+ offers low-frequency delicacy and authority combined with smooth and clean high frequencies that are similar to what I experience from a good tube amplifier, superbly precise stereo imaging, and a deep, stable soundstage.
One of the recordings I had mentioned in my JC 1+ review was Stereophile's June 2020 Recording of the Month, Translations, performed by the Portland State Chamber Choir conducted by Ethan Sperry (24/96 master WAV files for Naxos 8.574124). Producer Erick Lichte and I had spent a lot of time optimizing the spatial elements of the performances so that they were true to composer Eriks Eenvalds's markings in the works' scores. In the album's final track, "In Paradisum," an off-stage viola represents the composer's late grandmother's soul. As shown in the photo above, we had placed the viola at the far left behind the altar in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mount Angel, Oregon, and while I had placed a spot microphone above the instrument, most of its sound in the mix was from the ORTF cardioid mike array and the spaced omni mikes in front of the choir, which was in front of the altar. As appropriately far away as the viola had sounded with the Halo JC 1+ amplifiers, the relationship between its image and the church's warmly supportive acoustic was even more precisely defined with the JCA100s. The sense of distance was even clearer.
Another aspect of the Parasound JCA100's presentation that I noticed was the enhanced listenability. I was going to write that the sound was "smoother," but that word implies that recorded detail was being smoothed over and obscured. That was not the case. Instead, while I was always intensely aware of the smallest sonic aspects with every recording I played, this had not been achieved by the amplifiers thrusting those details at me. Instead, the JCA100s were stepping out of the way of the musicians' efforts.
For example, in my Roon library I have a DSD64 version of "Exactly Like You" from Ray Brown's classic Soular Energy album (ripped from a Groove Note SACD). I use Roon's DSP equalizer to apply some low-frequency boost with the KEFs and GoldenEars, which, as long as I don't play my music too loud, usefully extends the bass. With both these small speakers driven by the JCA100s, Brown's double bass had an excellent combination of weight and articulation, with the occasional fingerboard buzz naturally presented. Gerryck King's drum breaks illuminated some subtle studio ambience. Gene Harris's piano was placed across two-thirds of the width of the stage, though with a noticeable "hole in the middle" between the left- and right-hand registers that I hadn't been fully aware of previously. And as I had found with the Halo JC 1+, the slight amount of flanging on the bass guitar in Joan Armatrading's "Willow" (24/96 FLAC, A&M/Qobuz) and the reverb tails of the damped tom-toms that punctate the song's chorus were models of clarity.
I finished my final critical listening session with two albums by Russian pianist Anna Gourari, Elusive Affinity (24/96 FLAC, ECM/Qobuz) and Brahms: The Late Piano Pieces (16/44.1 FLAC, Berlin Classics/Qobuz). J.S. Bach's transcription for solo piano, BWV 974 of the Adagio from Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor on Elusive Affinity had me forgetting to breathe, so hauntingly beautiful was the sound with the GoldenEar speakers driven by the JCA100s. Brahms's contemplative Intermezzo in A Minor, Op.116, No.2, had me similarly entranced. This amplifier allowed me to forget the system and focus on the music.
ConclusionThe JCA100 Tribute is the best-sounding Parasound amplifier I have heard, better even than the Halo JC 1+, which I described in my review as "a superb-sounding amplifier that will get the best from every loudspeaker with which it is partnered." It equals the earlier amplifier's smooth, clean high frequencies and low-frequency authority while offering an enhanced involvement in the music-making.
