Предусилители — Parasound HALO P6

The Halo P6 is a 2.1-channel stereo preamplifier from Parasound that combines analogue line stages, a phono input, a D/A converter, bass management and a headphone amplifier in one 2U case. Parasound lists it at USD 2,600 and guarantees parts and labour for three years from purchase.

Key specs that matter

Analogue inputs include one XLR pair and five pairs of RCA jacks, plus a front Aux input with an automatic +12 dB gain stage. Input impedance is 24 kOhm unbalanced and 100 kOhm per leg balanced. Frequency response is 10 Hz to 100 kHz, +0/-3 dB, and 20 Hz to 20 kHz within 0.5 dB. Total harmonic distortion is below 0.01%. Input sensitivity is 300 mV for 1 V out, total gain is 10 dB and maximum output is 7.5 V. The signal to noise ratio for line and DAC inputs exceeds 108 dB IHF A-weighted and 88 dB unweighted. Crosstalk is better than 78 dB at 1 kHz and 70 dB at 20 kHz. Preamp output impedance is 100 ohm unbalanced and 470 ohm per leg balanced. The phono stage accepts MM, MC and MI cartridges, with 38 dB gain for MM and 52 dB for MC and a load of 47 kOhm or 100 ohm, and A-weighted noise figures of over 80 dB for MM and over 67 dB for MC.

Engineering and use context

The DAC section uses an ESS Sabre32 Reference ES9018K2M chip with a Savitech SA9227 asynchronous USB 2.0 controller. USB carries PCM up to 384 kHz and 32 bit, native DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256, plus DoP, while the coax and optical ports handle PCM at up to 192 kHz and 24 bit. Bass management works in the analogue domain, with high pass and low pass crossovers of second order and a subwoofer level control on the front. Outputs comprise balanced XLR and RCA stereo pre-outs and one XLR and two RCA subwoofer outputs. Volume runs through a resistor ladder, and a relay can take the bass and treble controls out of circuit. A Texas Instruments TPA6120A amplifier with 10 ohm output impedance drives the headphone jack. A home theater bypass input links the P6 to a surround processor, and the rear carries IR in and loop jacks and a 12 V trigger output. The case is 437 mm wide, 381 mm deep and 105 mm tall on its feet, and 6.3 kg in weight. Standby draw is 0.5 W, and operation draws 15 W from 100-250 V mains.

Pairing

The P6 needs a stereo power amplifier, either through balanced or RCA outputs, and its separate subwoofer outputs let one or two active subwoofers join the system under the P6 crossover.

Alternatives

The Parasound NC 200PRE is a compact NewClassic preamplifier with a Burr-Brown DAC, MM/MC phono, a variable 20-140 Hz high pass and two subwoofer outputs.