Parasound Halo P-5

"Heartily Recommended" – Stereophile

Parasound’s
Halo P 5 replaces the popular and long-lived Halo P 3 stereo preamplifier.
Among its many advantages over the P 5 are a high-quality DAC with coaxial,
optical, and USB inputs, subwoofer outputs with analog bass management,
Parasound’s most advanced home theater bypass to date, a phono stage with
moving-coil capabilities, and a precision, motorized volume control. 

It
does so much, founder and president of Parasound, Richard Schram, calls it “the
Swiss Army Knife of stereo preamps.” 

How
good does the P 5 sound? “It’s audibly superior to the P 3 in every respect,”
observes Richard. Considering the superb audio performance of the P 3, that
makes the new P 5 extremely special. 

"What's Not to Like?"

"This
is about as fine a $1095 preamp as I can imagine in 2014. Heartily
recommended," reports Art Dudley in his April 7, 2014 review for Stereophile.
"Exceptional clarity. Exceptional dynamics. Neutral without being
colorless. Very well made and complete for the price. What’s not to like?"

"It
performs exceptionally well, quiet for a preamp, a low noise floor, balanced
input/output, digital processing and bass management," notes Piero
Gabucci, in his Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity review
for July 21, 2014. "The fact that it replaces up to four
separates is more than just space saving, it’s smart in our economic climate,
for me anyway." 

"Power and Performance at a Ridiculously Low Price"

"Parasound
is one of the very few companies in the world that has a reputation for state-
of-the-art sound quality and engineering as well as a reputation for delivering
superb value for money, and in looking at this duo, it’s easy to see why,"
reports Greg Borrowman in his joint review of the Parasound Halo P5 preamp and
Parasound Halo A 23 power amp for the May / June 2014 Australian Hi-fi magazine.
"Buy this pair and you’ll be getting an awful lot of power and incredible
performance for what, quite frankly, are ridiculously low prices. And that’s
true no matter whether you buy the P 5, the A 23, or both." 

A Value-Conscious Upgrade

"For
10 years, the Halo P 3 has been a mainstay of our line for value-conscious
audiophiles," reports Richard. "However, new technologies have
changed the ways audiophiles connect to and enjoy their music. So, the addition
of a high quality DAC was an obvious choice for the P 5. There has also been a
resurgence in turntables, so we upgraded the MM-only phono stage to also handle
MC moving coil cartridges with a choice of load impedances." 

While
the P 3 has outstanding two-channel sound, many audiophiles today have
2.1-channel stereo speaker systems with robust subwoofers. The P 5 actually
creates a sub channel output for 2.1-channel listening. 

Adjustable Low-pass and High-pass Crossovers

Among
the P 5's many benchmark features is the ease with which it allows you to
integrate audiophile stereo speakers with a home theater surround system. It is
probably the only audio component currently on the market that includes
switchable and adjustable low-pass and high-pass crossovers.
Infinitely variable rear-panel controls let you set both crossover points
exactly where you want them. 

The
addition of an XLR balanced subwoofer output contributes to the convenience in
a home theater set-up. Most people like to position their subs on the other
side of the room, so a balanced output makes excellent sense. And for
connection versatility, two RCA unbalanced outputs are also provided. 

Built-in DAC

The
Parasound Halo P 5 incorporates a very high quality state-of-the-art DAC. This
DAC can process a wide range of digital sources with its coaxial and optical
inputs accepting up to 192 kHz rates, and the USB input accepting up to 96 kHz.
The P 5’s Cirrus Logic Digital Receiver scrubs the digital clock to attenuate
jitter not only for the USB but for all inputs. This enables its acclaimed
Burr- Brown PCM1798 DAC to achieve outstanding, natural sound quality for all
of your digital sources.

Five Line-level Sources Plus a Phono Input

The
Halo P 5's analog audio inputs include consist of RCA line-level stereo input,
one pair of balanced XLR inputs, a phono input, and a front panel 3.5mm mini
jack for portable audio players or smartphones. The line outputs are balanced
XLR and unbalanced RCA, plus a choice of balanced or unbalanced subwoofer
outputs. The main and subwoofer outputs can be run full range or placed under
the careful regulation of variable frequency analog high-pass and low pass
crossovers. 

The
phono input is compatible with all moving magnet cartridges, and virtually all
moving coil cartridges, with a 100 ohm/47k ohm switch to select the appropriate
load impedance matching. 

Defeatable Tone Controls and Much, Much More

The
front panel has a headphone jack, controls for source selection, level, bass,
treble, tone defeat, balance, and subwoofer level. There is an auxiliary input
with an additional 12-dB gain stage to compensate for typically low output of
portable devices. An included remote control duplicates these functions. The IC
volume control of the P 3 has been replaced with a premium Alps motorized
potentiometer. 

In
addition to upgrades to the analog audio circuitry, the P 5 features a 0.5
watts standby power consumption to meet the new Energy Star requirements. A
12-VDC trigger circuit and a IR connection and loop-out make it easy to
interface with sophisticated AV systems.