Has anyone heard new Parasound Halo integrated amp? - would love a review of it

pglbook

I was wondering if anyone has heard the new Parasound Halo integrated amp.

It looks like a great unit and I would love to read a review of it by someone who has heard it.

polkfarmboy

PG, check if audioadvisor has one, the have free 30 day return policy on nearly all items.

xsmi

Excellent integrated. I heard it with the new Wilson Sabrina.Lots of bass slam and a tad on the warm side.

Polkie2009

polkfarmboy wrote: »

PG, check if audioadvisor has one, the have free 30 day return policy on nearly all items.

This Parasound Halo integrated amp is on the cover of this month's issue of AA.

pglbook

Thanks for the feedback.

Would the new Parasound Halo integrated be a step up from my current set up or merely a lateral move? I currently run my Polk SDA 2B TL speakers with a Parasound HCA 1500A power amp and a Parasound P/LD 1500 pre amp.

I am not in a financial position at present to get the new Parasound Halo integrated amp but want to do some research about it. And perhaps next year I could be in a position to get it if it will be a major step up from my current setup.

One can dream, in an case.

Mr. Sharpe

from the rear connections, it basically is a P5 PREAMP with a power amplifier built on. Looks nice though, it's expensive too, not surprising though, it's Halo.

Emlyn

The amp section in your HCA-1500A is stronger. You would gain a lot of versatility with an up to date USB DAC and phono preamp built in. It may be a more convenient and simplified solution for many systems.

I'm looking forward to seeing a few reviews too!

gce

This sounds like a good solution for my all in one system. It sounds as if it will power the fronts via bypass for HT and then when HT is off will be used as a 2 channel setup.

Nightfall

DSkip wrote: »

Anyone interested in this piece should give me a month to figure out where I'm heading. Parasound might be on my list of products.

I speak for many people on the internet and members here - We hope it is.

Polkie2009

Nightfall wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Anyone interested in this piece should give me a month to figure out where I'm heading. Parasound might be on my list of products.

I speak for many people on the internet and members here - We hope it is.

Amen to that brother! +1000

Brion

I have the amp for audition. It has a very clear sound, although it also has, like other Parasound products, a somewhat lightweight bass and lower midrange. I have, in the past, found Parasound to have a nimble bass, but without the weight of "the real thing." In other words, a bit different than what I hear in Carnegie Hall or most other halls, where, when you hear a trombone, it has quite a bit of power to it.
It sounded similar in the dealer's showroom, and he was using it with the newest small Wilson speakers, Transparent MusicWave cable, and I forget the CD player. The sound is quite open, and revealing of differences in power cord orientation (I float the CD player). I once had the Parasound preamp (I think it was the JC2, but did not keep it. It came out around 2010 or 2011) and this sounds similar to it. I think it's Parasound's "house sound" and it's a good one.

Rhythmically, it is good, but not with a stop-on-a-dime propulsive push in the music I've played so far (opera, symphony and pop). However, it is extremely good on female vocals, such as Sarah Vaughn singing September song, where you can hear the consonants very clearly, indicating a low noise floor with no "fuzz" around the notes. Depth is good with my Nola Contenders, but not outstanding, although ambience retrieval would rate a "very good". I'll listen more, but so far this is my impression.
I must say, I got the same impression in my room as the dealer's room, so in case someone is inclined to say that it is my system: it is not. The dealer's components are completely different than mine.
One more thing: the dealer told me it had 50 hours on it and that it should be broken in, but I'm hearing it break it, as evidenced by the bell tree on a Mercury Living Presence CD from the box set. There is one bell that is clearly being shaken harder than the other, about 15 seconds into the cut. Last night, I could not hear it as differentiated clearly - as I know it should be - but today, when listening with a pianist friend, it was obviously being shaken harder, so perhaps the integrated still needs more break in time. I only have this for another two days, so I'll be playing rock later tonight and tomorrow to see how it rocks out.
It is a very good sounding integrated, no question there. I have another integrated I want to hear, too, by Hegel, so that I can compare the two. I think the Parasound will appeal to many and if it had a slightly fuller - and more dynamic lower midrange and upper bass, it would win my heart. For now, I admire it more than love it.

Brion

I meant to say, "I'm hearing it break in more, as evidenced…" Sorry, missed that.

Brion

By the way, I just saw the comment by xsmi, and I was curious what the music played was. I had, at one time, WATT/Puppies (the first 3 generations) and have always found Wilson speakers to have the slam (dynamic alacrity), so I'm wondering if it was the speakers or the Integrated. But the speaker I referred to in the dealer's showroom was the Sabrina, and the "slam" was not evident in the showroom, so I suspect the break-in time is not complete.
One more thing I do want to note: I did also hear a guitar recording, and it had very good presence in contrast to the recording not the same CD before it, bespeaking a not-everything-sounds-the-same from recording to recording. That in itself does also confirm that you will hear considerable difference from CD to CD.

Brion

It would seem, 24 hours later, that the integrated is not fully broken in. I spoke to Parasound, and they suggested 150-200 hours as the suggested break-in time.
There is certainly a noticeable difference in the amount of low-level detail and inflection of instruments, as well as a fuller lower midrange (a clarinet is now quite distinguishable) and mid-to-upper bass weight.
I agree, Dskip, but this is, for me, just an audition of the unit. I am not waiting for it to break in so I can decide to buy it. There are several more units I want to hear first. That said, I've played it for 48 hours so far, and the dealer stated it had around 50 hours on it back when I heard it two weeks ago. When I picked it up Saturday, they had moved it to another spot, and it wasn't playing, and he'd been gone a week, so I've no idea if they even played it. It is counterintuitive for a dealer to have a unit he loans out to customers that has not been fully broken in. Customers will not hear what the unit actually sounds like, and be disappointed. I experienced this when I auditioned the Antique Sound Lab Hurricanes back in 2003 at Lyric HiFi in Manhattan. I walked out thinking, "I sure wouldn't buy it from them after that poor audition." If I hadn't trusted HP's review, I'd never have bough them, but I did trust him, I bought them from someone else, and they were everything he said - and more.

And when I bought my Nordost Frey 2 and Tyr 2, it took - fully - 30 days, playing the Frey 24/7, for the brightness on top to go away. I'd borrowed those from a dealer, too, but at least this dealer told me they hadn't been broken in. Since I'd owned most of the Nordost line - Quattro Fils, then Frey 1, Tyr 1 and Valhalla - for at least 12 years, knowing what they sounded like, I grew impatient, and auditioning them for weeks wasn't an option (the dealer wanted them "just in case another customer wants to hear them") I just bought a brand new 2 meter pair and broke them in, listening intently and paying attention to the changes in sonics. I remember the moment I heard them fully broken in, because my conductor friend had come by to listen and I immediately heard less brightness (along with less harmonic information, but that was the integrated I was using (an NAD C325BEE) at the time. The NAD is not great on harmonic information, being a "midrange" type unit with good bass. it's highs are merely adequate, but the Frey punched it up so much that the arc of a triangle on a Mercury Living Presence CD could be heard moving across the stage (that is, until the Frey broke in and was less bright, at which point the NAD still sounded good, but more like the C320BEE and the C326BEE models, which I have pushed friends wanting good, but inexpensive units, to buy).
But the Parasound has clearly improved to the point where the Rolling Stones CD, "Aftermath" is much more a rock album than last night, where it sounded almost like a subdued version of itself. Last night it sounded like the band had taken Geritol. So, I will see how it sounds in 12 hours, as I'm sure this is breaking that I'm hearing, rather than the unit at its best.
I always wonder, as not only a former reviewer for several magazines, but as a consumer, why dealers are so casual about loaning out things that aren't broken in, and could lose them a sale. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know you simply hit "play" and "repeat" on a CD player to get an integrated broken in - and you don't even have to have the volume very high to do it. It's not well-thought out at all to do business in this way.

Brion

I enjoyed my time with the Parasound, although my impression at the end was that the top was just slightly either "dry" or rolled off. The resolution was very good, as was sound staging, but I could not rid myself of the impression that the lower midrange and bass are still somewhat lightweight, although not lacking in slam. In other words, the dynamics are there, but not the "gravity" that causes the mid bass solidity to make instruments seem completely present. The Goldmund Mimesis 9 had the same sound to it, although, up top, nothing at that time could even come close to it. It manifests (the Parasound) as a slightly incompleteness to the body of an instrument, as in hearing more string than hollow body on guitars, although it's not much. You'd either have to hear guitars live a lot, or else listen to how a tubed amp reproduces the sound, and many will automatically say 'tubes are fat,' although that day is long past. The Hurricanes' mid bass is more perfect than any other amp I've owned, even VTLs, while solid state amps/preamps and integrateds that I've heard have a purity to the sound at the expense of the full weight of the sound. The fact that something is dynamic does not mean it is reproducing the full body of an instrument, as heard live. The Parasound is great, just the slightest bit dark (and only in comparison to say, the Goldmund). It rounds off the edges of transients a tiny amount, thereby slowly the rhythmic 'jump' of a composition, but not so much so that good rock doesn't rock out. It is just missing that 'nth' degree, but thn, it's $2495.00 I still admire it more tha love it, but if your front end or preamp have full-bodied lower midranges and especially mid bass, this will make you jump! The Hegel arrives in 2 days and will go into the same system, so it will be informative to hear the differences. Also, I have two systems, and moved one to the 23' x 45' basement and, it is as i remembered: the basement imparts a solidity to the sound that will make any system sound better than my 13' by 20' ASC-wall damped room. I'll get the Parasound again and play it in the basement in two weeks (after the Hegel) to see if it improves in there.

xsmi

Brion, I wish I'd have seen your question sooner. I can't remember the specific compositions. They were recordings mastered by the Wilson Audio rep giving the presentation. They were different genre's of music from jazz, classical (large scale-chamber), rock to intimate folk. So there was a cross section of music. The idea was to show that the Sabrina's could be handled by a modest system as well as an ambitious system. I did not hear the leaness in the midbass that you heard. It may have been the speakers as you alluded to as those Sabrinas are marvelous.

Brion

xsmi, I want to clarify: I didn't say the Parasound was "lean" in the mid bass, I said, "lightweight." Across the frequency range, everything is there - and probably measures flat - but it didn't register the "body" that some other amps have. I found this to be the same when I had their JC-2 preamp years ago, so I could only go by the dealer's Sabrinas. They were using an Ayre CD player. I have no idea of the Sabrinas were optimally placed or for that matter, the Halo, as I might have mentioned before. I am sure that if the front end has more body to it, then it will not be apparent. For example, my Arcam FMJ 23 has good bass in the mid bass, but it is not a champion in that region. If I put in my JVC XLZ-1050TN, suddenly there is an abundance of weight to the lower midrange to mid bass region.
TAS did a review of the Halo in the October issue and they found it "neutral." So, perhaps the unit I used was not completely broken in.

xsmi

I understand.