# Parasound Zamp v.3 goodness



## GuardianKnight

I just recently bought a Parasound Zamp v.3 Zone Amplifier to supply power to my speakers. It definitely makes a real difference, I am noticing many new and clearer details. My current setup needs more low end sound though (that is why I have a HSU STF-1 subwoofer on order). It also comes with a headphone output jack so I was pleasantly surprised when the sound output from my MS-1s was also increased as well. Anyone else have any experiences with Parasound amplifiers?


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## Kwisatz

I also bought one of these suckers to amplify my XT2's. Its pretty much the only amp out there that I could find with that small a form factor while maintaining a power handling capacity over a few watts. I feared a small T-amp just wouldn't have been up to the task of driving speakers of 85dB/W sensitivity with any real headroom. Not to mention the solid, metal chassis of the Parasound appeals to me much more than the T-amp's. So far I have no complaints other than the initial dialing in the gain of the left and right volume levels to be as balanced as possible. I haven't bothered to try the headphone out on it and probably never will considering my Corda HA2 should whoop it every which way to Sunday (that and none of my headphones aside from earbuds and IEMs have a 1/8" plug). I think it will serve me quite nicely till I have the room for something larger - which probably won't happen for a long time.

 Might as well get a pic of it in here while I'm at it hehe. (Threads are always better with pics about the topic! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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## jlingo

The Parasound Zamp V.3 surprisingly is able to drive 86dB sensitivity speakers such as ELAC 310.2 Jet.

 This is what I'm using:
 Freeway 2 -> m902 -> CablePro Reverie V.2-> Parasound Zamp V.3 Amp -> Kimber Kable 8TC -> ELAC 310.2 Jet speakers.


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## spacemanspliff

Hey, the Parasound Z-Pre has a really decent headphone jack btw. Better than the amps. I had a Z Pre w/ the Z amp, both v1, powering a Stax setup. Nice sound. Would use it again if I can find them at a good price.


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## pichonCalavera

Same opinion here, I use my Zpre2 to drive my headphones, and they get the job done pretty good, and to top it off, you can use the remote control to adjust the volume from a distance


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## sling5s

Just purchased these from eBay. Looking forward to it. I already have the MicroZOTL2-S and Elise Feliks tube maps but couldn't resist trying it (especially with the price).


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## snellemin

sling5s said:


> Just purchased these from eBay. Looking forward to it. I already have the MicroZOTL2-S and Elise Feliks tube maps but couldn't resist trying it (especially with the price).


 
 It's a really nice sounding amp.  If you are not happy with the sound, you can swap out the opamp in the middle of the board.  Not hard to desolder the stock opamp and installing a dip 8 socket, for opamp rolling.
  
 I personally like the V.3 sound.  I've done opamp rolling in the V.1 version.  Currently running Opa1611 in it and love it.  Before running Muses02, Muses 8920 and Opa2134.


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## sling5s

Does the v3 headphone out sound better than v1 or v2 (without opamp rolling)?


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## snellemin

sling5s said:


> Does the v3 headphone out sound better than v1 or v2 (without opamp rolling)?


 
 To me the V3 version is perfect as is. Looking at pics on the web, I see that the V2 and V3 have the same board layout, but the parts used could be different.
 The V1 is totally different and runs pretty warm compared to the cool running V3.  I swapped out all the caps in the V1 of mine, which also changed the sound by a tiny bit.


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