BAT vk-3ix and Parasound Halo A21 match?

This is the problem you have when you take a chance and just guess on a new component. Preamps are way too important to not get right. Given that, you probably will get lucky. BAT is very well made and should work with a large variety of products. The only advice I can give beyond that, is that if you are not happy, you will not make the situation any better with cables. You may think you will, and when you ask, you will get an endless list of recommendations on what cable you should buy to fix the problem. In the end, though, it just wont work.

Also, it is not clear if you already have the Parasound amp or just plan to buy one. If you don't already have an amp, I would strongly urge you to consider a BAT amp to match the preamp. Doing so can eliminate a lot of problems.

I didn't mean to sound harsh or anything, but if you read your origional post, it does seem like you are a bit unsure as to your decision. That's why I thought you were guessing. Also, BAT and Parasound are very different sounding products, in general. That threw me off as well.

The upside to this is that you shouldn't have any trouble at all getting the amp and the preamp to work together from a technical standpoint. As far as sound quality goes, you'll probably be very happy, as well. I've always felt that the preamp is the most overlooked component in most peoples systems. If you don't get it right its just one problem after another. In your case, the BAT will probably be the strongest component in the system. That's a very good thing. Everything should get better: imaging, resolution, transparency, dynamics should all be enhanced from what they now are. I think you will be surprised at just how big the difference will be.

Milpai,

Is your passive unit balanced? Also, what do you have going into it for a source? I don't mean to pry but I'm a big fan of passive preamps. Not that many people see the value in using them so its always good to get opinions from other users.

To the OP, I posted a reply after reading your reply to mine. That was about 4-5 hours ago. I hope it turns up. I just wanted to clarify that I think you made a very good decision to go with the BAT. I list a few reasons why.

Milpai,

I took a quick look at the specs on the A21 and found this: Input impedance: 33 k Ω unbalanced; 66 k Ω balanced. Even though your CD player is single ended, you can sometimes get away with running a SE component into a balanced component; without having to switch the balanced unit over to SE mode. I've tried it myself and it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it usually sounds much better. Honestly, I'm not sure why. The only technical reason that I can come up with for the better SQ is that when running in balanced mode, the impedance goes up. With the A21 in balanced mode the impedance is 66k at opposed to 33k for SE. The higher impedance should be an easier load for whatever component is upstream; in your case, that would be the SA8260. Keep in mind, though, that’s just by best guess and could very well be wrong.