diff --git a/benches/parse.rs b/benches/parse.rs
index e7b7b14..2e08c21 100644
--- a/benches/parse.rs
+++ b/benches/parse.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use criterion::{black_box, criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion, BenchmarkId};
-use nsv::{encode, decode, decode_bytes, decode_bytes_projected};
+use nsv::{encode, decode, decode_bytes, decode_bytes_projected, Reader};
 
 fn generate_test_data(rows: usize, cells_per_row: usize) -> Vec<Vec<String>> {
     (0..rows)
@@ -151,6 +151,38 @@ fn bench_projection_wide(c: &mut Criterion) {
     group.finish();
 }
 
+// ── Reader (streaming) benchmarks ────────────────────────────────────
+
+fn bench_reader_10k(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let data = generate_test_data(10_000, 10);
+    let nsv = encode(&data);
+    let nsv_bytes = nsv.as_bytes();
+
+    c.bench_function("reader_10k_rows", |b| {
+        b.iter(|| {
+            let mut reader = Reader::new(std::io::Cursor::new(black_box(nsv_bytes)));
+            while let Some(row) = reader.next_row().unwrap() {
+                black_box(row);
+            }
+        })
+    });
+}
+
+fn bench_reader_100k(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let data = generate_test_data(100_000, 10);
+    let nsv = encode(&data);
+    let nsv_bytes = nsv.as_bytes();
+
+    c.bench_function("reader_100k_rows", |b| {
+        b.iter(|| {
+            let mut reader = Reader::new(std::io::Cursor::new(black_box(nsv_bytes)));
+            while let Some(row) = reader.next_row().unwrap() {
+                black_box(row);
+            }
+        })
+    });
+}
+
 criterion_group!(
     benches,
     bench_loads_small,
@@ -162,5 +194,7 @@ criterion_group!(
     bench_projection_10k,
     bench_projection_100k,
     bench_projection_wide,
+    bench_reader_10k,
+    bench_reader_100k,
 );
 criterion_main!(benches);
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index e09ad25..4cfeb1e 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ use std::io::{self, Read, Write};
 
 pub const VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
 
-/// Threshold for using parallel parsing (64KB)
-const PARALLEL_THRESHOLD: usize = 64 * 1024;
+/// Threshold for using parallel parsing (bytes)
+const PARALLEL_THRESHOLD: usize = 256 * 1024;
 
 /// Decode an NSV string into a seqseq.
 pub fn decode(s: &str) -> Vec<Vec<String>> {
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ pub fn decode_bytes<'a>(input: &'a [u8]) -> Vec<Vec<Cow<'a, [u8]>>> {
     decode_bytes_sequential(input)
 }
 
-/// Sequential implementation for small inputs (byte-level).
+/// Sequential implementation (byte-level).
 fn decode_bytes_sequential<'a>(input: &'a [u8]) -> Vec<Vec<Cow<'a, [u8]>>> {
     let mut data = Vec::new();
     let mut row: Vec<Cow<'a, [u8]>> = Vec::new();
@@ -759,11 +759,9 @@ mod tests {
         // Test parallel path with empty rows mixed in
         let mut data = Vec::new();
 
-        // Create enough data to exceed 64KB threshold
-        for i in 0..10_000 {
+        for i in 0..40_000 {
             data.push(vec![format!("value{}", i)]);
 
-            // Add empty row every 100 rows
             if i % 100 == 0 {
                 data.push(vec![]);
             }
@@ -781,7 +779,7 @@ mod tests {
         // Test parallel path with cells containing escape sequences
         let mut data = Vec::new();
 
-        for i in 0..10_000 {
+        for i in 0..20_000 {
             data.push(vec![
                 format!("Line 1\nLine 2 {}", i),
                 format!("Backslash: \\ {}", i),