Different price classes - Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated costs roughly 2.5x what Yamaha A-S501 does. Expect it to lead on paper; the question is whether you will hear the difference through the speakers you own.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated has more power - 125W against 85W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.7dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated the better fit for a large room and a very large room, and Yamaha A-S501 for a small room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Noise floor | evenly matched | Much the same signal-to-noise ratio (100dB vs 99dB). |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Yamaha A-S501 takes more analogue sources - 6 against 4. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated is Class D and Yamaha A-S501 is Class A/B. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle; Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Price | B | Yamaha A-S501 costs less - $550 against $1,399 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Yamaha A-S501 is the cheaper watt - about $6 per watt against $11. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated B Yamaha A-S501
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Yamaha A-S501 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. Think about the whole system: the roughly $849 saved by taking the cheaper one would buy better speakers or a subwoofer, which does more for the sound than the difference between two competent amplifiers.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.