These are not the same size of amplifier: Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 has roughly 2.5x the power of Marantz PM7000N. That is about 4dB, so it is a question of room size and how hard your speakers are to drive, not of one being the better amplifier.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 has more power - 150W against 60W into 8 ohms. That is about 4dB, so it plays usefully louder before it runs out and has more in hand on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 the better fit for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room, and Marantz PM7000N for desk or near-field listening and a small room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | A | Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output increases strongly to 225W, where the other increases modestly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Marantz PM7000N has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Marantz PM7000N takes more analogue sources - 3 against 2. |
| Phono stage | depends | Marantz PM7000N has a built-in phono stage (MM) and Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 does not. Decisive if you own a turntable, completely irrelevant if you do not - and an outboard phono stage is easy to add later either way. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Marantz PM7000N has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Price | evenly matched | Priced within a few per cent of each other. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 is the cheaper watt - about $8 per watt against $22. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 B Marantz PM7000N
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?
Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating. Start with the room. In a large or open-plan room, or with speakers that are hard to drive - low sensitivity, or an impedance that dips - Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 60 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 90 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear - we rate Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2 poorly for near-field use for exactly that reason.
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.