Parasound P6 - Roon-friendly?

Audio Gear Talk
1

Thinking seriously about a Parasound P6 Halo pre-amp to be combined with an A21+ amp, but trying to determine:

  1. Will it be detected and work OK with Roon?
  2. Is there a way to stream Spotify through it? Doesn’t look like it’s Spotify-direct
  3. Does the P6 DAC decode/render MQA files? (I thought it did but I can’t find confirmation ).

And if there are any fans out there, I’d love your thoughts about this combo, which would do music and HT-bypass double duty.

Thanks!

2

The Parasound Halo P6 is NOT Roon Ready, not even Roon Tested and the DAC does not support MQA. I have a P6 in my system that I use basically to listen to 2 channel music but as a source I have an ARCAM ST60 Streamer which will be Roon Ready soon. Right now I use Roon with the ST60/P6 combo via Airplay.

image
image4032×3024 3.05 MB

2 Likes
3

And I guess you use your Arcam to feed Spotify to the Parasound?

4

I don’t do Spotify, I do Tidal via Roon.

5

Does anyone know how well the P6 cooperates with Roon (is it detected? Can I control the P6 with Roon? I don’t care about DSP)?

I neglected to mention that I would connect my Roon Nucleus to the P6 via USB, so I’m pretty sure this would work, but need to check before considering a purchase.

I can figure out easily how to get Spotify fed into the P6, and I’ll determine how important MQA is or isn’t to me. But being able to use Roon with the P6 is critical, for me.

Thanks!

6

Here is the signal patch with my MacBook Pro plugged into the P6 USB Input. The P6 shows as available Audio Device and you can turn ON exclusive mode.

Screen Shot 2021-04-20 at 9.33.33 AM (2)
Screen Shot 2021-04-20 at 9.33.33 AM (2)2234×1751 268 KB
Screen Shot 2021-04-20 at 9.34.01 AM (2)
Screen Shot 2021-04-20 at 9.34.01 AM (2)1296×1356 176 KB

3 Likes
7

Can you control the volume within Roon (without using dsp volume)?

8

Parasound P6 volume cannot be controlled with Roon volume control using “device volume” setting. I use “DSP volume” setting without a hitch.

9

I would highly recommend you don’t stream Spotify. The quality would be rather poor. Do you have Qobuz, Tidal or Apple Music?

But also that’s a good kit. I listened to the previous models.

10

Wanted Spotify for podcasts, that’s all. Ended up buying this, use this setup with Roon/Qobuz and I love it.

11

I have a P6 with a Raspberry Pi running Ropieee plugged in via USB. Sounds great. If you do Ropieee XL I believe you can AirPlay and also do Spotify. I use the P6 to control volume and turned off app control of the volume.

12

I’m assuming you use android? Apple podcast app is pretty good. But I don’t know the alternative on android.

13

I’m Apple products, not Android. I haven’t heard any real difference between Apple and Spotify on sound quality for podcasts, have you?

1 Like
14

I don’t use Spotify anymore. I abondoned them in 2015 and never used the app again. I do use the Apple Podcasts app a lot though.