Just so I don't continue to come off as some opinionated jerk...
The Parasound 2250 I had sounded cheap to me. I think this means it was a little thin in the midrange and there was some sort of odd distorted sound in the upper midrange/lower treble region. I had upgraded from some Emotiva gear at the time, and ended up being unhappy. It took me some time to realize the 2100 preamp was not the issue. I finally took the plunge and picked up a pair of Odyssey Audio monoblocks, and the difference in sound was very obvious.
A friend of mine has a Halo amp, and when we compared it to the Odyssey amps, they were more the same than different. I've never had an issue with the sound I get from my amps, and I know they aren't anything magical. I feel pretty strongly about the strange distorted sound of the 2250 amp. All I can say is that clarity is NOT a "preference" in my book. I always say that everything sounds good until you hear something better. Many times it's a curse when you do.