Hi guys. You haven't heard from me in a while because I have been enjoying listening to my 2 channel music with my t1s.

The reason for this thread was to ask anyone if they have made the jump from emotiva to parasound? I hear some people say the parasound blow the emotiva put of the water and others who say emotiva is as good if not better than the parasound. These second group are usually on the emotiva boards.

The reason I ask is I find when I turn up my t1s to moderate to high sound I feel in some way the music gets harsher to the point I want to turn it back down. I don't think it's power but it does get harsher.

I have heard this can be called 'sibilance' in some respects and I have read the emotiva can have this where the parasound don't.

So you know I am running a xpa5 gen 2 across all 5 speakers I have in my home theatre. I am asking cause u have found a second hand parasound a21 for pretty cheap and was considering running the l and r through this and run the rest through the emotiva as I am now and leaves me with a 7 channel option in the future as I have 2 freed up.

Any thoughts or feedback at all ok this thought process I am having? Any other 2 channel amps that can be recommended? It's not power it's quality I am looking for.

Steveo,

I have two XPA-1Ls, the XSP-1, and the Oppo103d feeding my T1s and I don't get any harshness to my ear. There is a lot that plays into sound. Harshness can come from the music, source, pre-amp, or the amplifier. What other gear is in your signal path from start to finish? Parasound makes some fine gear and I'm sure that the A21 would sound better than the XPA-5 but how much better is tough to say. You may get a better return on your investment to upgrade you source player, DAC, and/or pre-amp first.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Thanks TCobe. I have in the last few months upgraded my source from a lowly apple TV playing mp3 s to a Sony hapz1 1tb hard disk space player and playing now cd quality flac files all the way up to dsd. This has single handedly made one of the biggest differences and music sounds sublime. It's. Just sometimes if it is up too loud it makes me feel like it is a little harsher as I mentioned and have heard the parasound isn't so thus could be the difference.

Another pre out an option. Tell me have you heard of Deqx? This is basically a supercharged digital preamplifier with phase timing and extremely detailed room correction technology that apparently can make great speakers sound even better.

I have been reading heaps of reviews about it and they sound amazing. WWW.deqx.com I might creat a whole topic on this. The technology sounds amazing and the video on the site explains the overall concept.

Also I notice you have an xpa 5. Do you get harshness in that? If you have this album try track 14 on Norah Jones come away with me to see what I mean.

Steveo,

I think you may be onto something with room correction. It could be some bad primary or secondary reflections. You may want to look up some easy to implement acoustic treatments. Temporarily hanging a few small blankets on your side walls may well solve your problem. YouTube has some good videos. Placement of the treatments is key. I'd start with some low cost troubleshooting first before spending money on a new amp that may not solve your problem. That's just my opinion. hopefully a few others here may have some ideas.

I did not find my XPA-5 harsh. I found it less dynamic, detailed, and 3-dimensional than my XPA-1Ls. I noticed the biggest difference between these amps on my SCXL. Hooked up to the -1L, the SCXL sounded almost like a new speaker to me in my setup.

I have a Nora Jones DVD concert but not her CD. I can take a look later today to see if that track is on there. Does is matter what source you play the song through? Is it harsh on each?

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hi Steveo,
First, welcome back and I am very happy to hear the reason you have been missing is because you have been enjoying the Triton Ones.
Well you forced me to get out Norah Jones and listen to track 14, "The Nearness of You". That is the track, right?
No, there is not any sibilance, not any harshness or brightness, I don't hear any digital aritfacts, nothing objectionable.
What I do hear all through the WHOLE CD is the bit of rasp that her microphone interacting with her breath causes. Or that is what it sounds like to me. It is in every song, and you can definitely put it down to her mic because on track 14 you can hear the piano notes are crystal clear, like a bell, OK, heck, like a piano note.
And I put that down to the great resolution of our speakers to be able to hear the differences in mics used!
Can you get a chance to listen to the Parasound first before buying? It would be a shame to buy it and then hear the same thing because it was from something else.
It MIGHT be your amp, but shot, that could be many other things too.
Wish I could help more, hope you find your dream match up.
God Bless,
Wayne