New Preamp or go Integrated

That parasound certainly didn’t deserve a 5000 dollar preamp.

I highly doubt any 70+ year or even 45+ year old end user forum guy’s ears have some critical listening ability as good as the soundmaster guys at yamaha, , luxman, whatever.

And oh yes, the measurement....keep measuring till the day’s blue,,,,i am sure you’ll see a flat FR with all these amps and sinad within some ballpark. I’ve had a AP kit for years...It’s real boring, y’know, keep measuring sht that doesn’t have any major deficiencies, all within a ballpark of engineering competence, but, all sounds different... But, I am sure the ASR guys claim all amps sound the same, so you can sleep easy (don’t get all stressed out).

a) The A23+ was rated around 9/10 based on professional reviews, not anecdotal impressions from casual users / average joe like you. Under that context, it is difficult to argue that it is not a great piece of equipment.

b) You appear to assume you know the original poster well enough to discount his assessment, even referencing his age (over 70) as a basis to question his ability to characterize sound. That is an ad-hominem argument, not a technical one. Familiarity with a person’s age does not supersede objective evaluation of sound quality.

If the discussion is about audio performance, then it should be grounded in engineering, measurements, and critical listening criteria, not assumptions about the listener. Most importantly, try to control yourself and avoid personal attacks. Doing otherwise will only reflect your own shortcomings.  Do you actually understand sound reproduction well enough to refute the assessment on technical or sonic grounds?

I think the A23+ was a good value amp at it's original $1495 (when most of the good reviews are from), not so much at the current $2299...regardless, I would not spend for a Pass XP-12 or preamp in it's class for that amp...

Devialet expert pro very very good. Better than my separates.  

I was someone who was always about separates.   I bought my first integrated (primaluna evo300) and will never go back to separates unless  had a really big budget.  I feel separates bring cables too much into play.  Integrated you can spend on a better power cable.   I think all Primaluna products punch way above their weight class.  They also don't put much stress on tubes.   I did tube rolling which really helped. 

imho  

I recently purchased a used Pathos InPol2 integrated amp, and I'm very pleased with it.  I have primaluna separates on my other system, and the Pathos sounds better (although I like the primalunas a lot).  The Pathos will sound better yet after I replace the power cord with one from Nordost.