Hey Odedia,
Try looking at the Balanced Audio Technology VK-76SE.
That bad boy is balanced and should do the trick!!!!
My older Vincent Hybrid tube/transistor amps are balanced as well, not sure about the newer ones.
Happy hunting and listening,
God Bless,
Wayne

Just a quick note, the current XPA-1 amps available from Emotiva are still the Gen 2 amps. They have not come out with the Gen 3 monoblock yet. The current XPA Gen 3 amps are all multi-channel. I have the 5-channel version and it is a bit more detailed than the Gen 2.

If we're strictly talking music here, my preference would likely be Parasound. I've never heard BAT, but I'd bet they are good. I think they are pretty pricey...

Cheers,

T Cobe

Thanks!
If we're looking at specs only, it seems like the parasound can push 6 watts at class A, while gen 3 can push 60? Is that even possible or just marketing hype?

odedia wrote: Thanks!
If we're looking at specs only, it seems like the parasound can push 6 watts at class A, while gen 3 can push 60? Is that even possible or just marketing hype?

Bench tests of Emotiva are always very good and they tend to be pretty honest about their published specs. If anything, They seem to consistently exceed their published numbers. Since their amps switch between Class A and AB, it is really hard to tell the difference. The impedance of speakers greatly impacts the total class A wattage it is able to push out. From reading the posts on their forum form their engineers, it seems as the speaker's ohms dip, the class A power is diminished. It's a bit technical for me, but if your speakers dip into the 4-ohm range, you would probably be around 30 watts in class A.

That said, my XPA-1Ls sound great and I can't really tell the difference between the amp classes if it is switching and it has half of the power of the XPA-1s. What this all boils down to is your preferences and budget. Would I prefer a set of Krell, Bryston, McIntosh, or Pass Labs monoblock amplifiers? Yes I would, but I'm not willing to pay the money required to obtain this level of performance. Parasound is certainly a tier up from Emotiva, and I think the A21 sounds great. In the grand scheme, it is also a pretty good value compared to the other brands I listed.

I think I'm in my sweet spot and don't plan to make any moves for a while. I'm more interested in getting my Atmos speakers and a new sub than any amplifier upgrades. Right now I have 12 channels of amplification that sound very similar to each other. Throwing in a different brands sound would disrupt the synergy. If I was simply doing 2-channel, I'd look at a high end integrated amp and call it a day. The Halo Integrated would be a good place to start and I also love Hegel. Just my .02.

Cheers,

T Cobe

For what it's worth, Stereophile's Herb Reichert reviewed the Triton 5's a little over a year ago and seemed to think that the Simaudio integrated 340i amp performed the best with those. He believed the parasound was a little boring with them. I'm not sure how that translates into the T1's, but it has definitely had me thinking.

Interestingly my dealer who sells Parasound and PS audio has told me the new ps audio stellar range sounds better than the parasound a21 s for less money.


Here are the details for the mono blocks at 300 w per channel

www.psaudio.com/products/stellar-m700-power-amplifier/

The interesting thing about these is they have class D power but it outputs to class A.

The dealer described it as a game changer for the price. I liked the fact that he sells Parasound as well so he has no need to sell one over the other.

The dac/preamp looks interesting as well

www.psaudio.com/products/stellar-gain-cell-dac/