PARASOUND ZPHONO XRM
Given that famous amplifier designer John Curl does so much work for Parasound, I mistakenly assumed that he must have been responsible for the company’s latest phono preamplifier, the Zphono XRM. I was wrong. It was actually a co-design that involved Parasound’s owner and founder, Richard Schram, and two other engineers he’s worked with for some years.
John Curl did have some involvement however, because Schram told me when I was fact-checking that ‘While John Curl didn’t design the XRM, he did offer me some useful suggestions that take it up a notch from ordinary phono stages.’
As for the reason for adding yet another phono preamplifier to the Parasound product portfolio, Schram says it was the result of a thought exercise. ‘I was thinking what would a vinyl lover without a large budget appreciate and perhaps salivate over?’ he said. He wanted the XRM to offer versatility and convenience and thought that the design should be informed by viewing it through the eyes of a vinyl enthusiast rather than an engineer. ‘This exercise led to the design heading off in some directions I hadn’t considered, one such being the inclusion of completely independent preamps for MM and MC cartridges… an approach that enabled us to optimise sound quality specifically for each input individually, rather than having to make a compromise to satisfy to competing requirements within a single preamp. Obviously, this approach also meant we could accommodate two turntables or a turntable with two tonearms.’
It’s likely that another reason for the introduction of the Zphono XRM was to plug the yawning gap in the Parasound’s
