Odyssey Audio Stratos Extreme Dual Mono Power amp

ALL212

I never inhaled... I swear!

pitdogg2

ALL212 wrote: »

I never inhaled... I swear!

Bet that cookie was delicious ....

lightman1

Oi! Kerry! I'll be an hour north of you next week....
Buy that amp and I'll critique your rig.

kharp1

I'm curious myself and that's the main reason I picked this up. Just want to do a direct comparison. I've always been curious about the Odyssey stuff. Tough part is finding the time. Still 12 hour days, pretty much 7 days a week.

VR3

Congrats! Make sure you leave it on three days before giving it a serious listen /judgment

kharp1

The Odyssey arrived in great condition, but, had a hard time getting it. Fedex left two notes on the door that they had tried to deliver, but, no one was home...I was suspicious. I waited the next day and watched the delivery guy walk towards the door with the note already written out and in his hand to stick on my door. I scared the poo out of him when I opened the door as he was about to place the sticker on it. "I didn't think anyone was here" he said. I realize why he didn't want to deliver it...It's FREAKING HEAVY!!! I about had a hernia getting it in place.

Fit and finish is very nice. I plugged it in and fired it up and let it warm up a bit. Played some music that first day and the first thing I noticed was the immense weight it carried on the bottom end, so much so that I turned the level on the SVS wayyyy back. The next thing I noticed was the clarity and detail it had, however, I also noticed a very slight edge in the upper mids, which I'm hyper sensitive to. I headed warnings and left it on and walked away from it for 24 hours. when I came back I noticed the same things. after a few days of it running non stop I'm still picking up the slightest hint of glare in the upper mids. It's not so unpleasant that I can't listen to it, in fact, I'm thinking it may very well be a keeper. It has good depth and height, better height than the Butler, depth of stage about the same...very good on both amps. The Odyssey plays "louder" as I've had to back the volume levels on the Joule considerably. Background noise is excellent as well.

The system consists of my modified Joule LA100 mkIII pre connected with Wireworld Silver Eclipse 7 IC's, PS Audio Memory Player/Direct Stream Dac connected with Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7 HDMI (i2s), all connected to the PS AUdio Power Plant. I'm currently using stock power cords on the Odyssey as it requires two power cables being a dual mono design. Instead of using two different types of power cords I opted to wait and run the stock temporarily. Be curious to see what different power cords do for the sound.

Overall, the Odyssey is a much more upfront and forward sound than the Butler, but, no so much that it's disturbing. I will revisit the Butler in a couple of weeks and report back.

indyhawg

Nice write up. I am curious how the Odessey would match up with my 2.3tls.

drumminman

I run a near Kismet Stratos Stereo for my 2.3tl's, and I can say it does quite well. Mine was upgraded about 5-6 years ago with dual trannys, reference grade caps (120k mfd per channel) and some other stuff I can't remember right now.

I'm pretty picky about harshness at any point in the frequency range and I don't hear any. Imaging is fantastic with the big SDA's and I hear no reason to upgrade. Lots of choices out there and if you're thinking of upgrading an upper end Odyssey should be on your list.

Disclaimer: I also have some excellent tweaks in my system.