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Bryston VS Odyssey

has someone compared these two amp side by side, what's your suggession?. I heard my friend said that he found a lot of posts telling Odyssey over Bryston in term of performance, eventhough the THD of the Bryston is smaller than Odyssey. Does the THD tell something in audio world? is that true the smaller the THD the better the amp is? How about a other ultra high end company, I found their product rates with much higher THD than Bryston, but the price is more away from Bryston and then I don't understand why the Professional reviewer (reviewing the most ultra high end product) supposingly they claimed it sounds better even the THD much higher than other brand. Does the price of the product they review is a main factor leading them to believe the ultra high end amp sounds top-notch than other brand such as Bryston and Odyssey. I really don't understand, or because we don't have a chance to listen to those ultra high end amp therefore we have to believe and follow what the professional reviewer said, and beside I believe the specs tell the whole story about how good and capable the amp is? I'd like to have people like you to verify abovementioned point with me.
Let assume Amp A and Amp B they have same specs, but different THD number, A got smaller than B. which one U believe is good, and do you believe there is a difference in sonic performance.
Thanks for attention.
alcapone
5 responses Add your response
sean
6,231 posts
 
THD is but a VERY small part of the sonic picture. On top of this, THD can easily be lowered / manipulated via the use of high quantities of negative feedback. As a general rule, the more negative feedback that one uses, which typically results in a very low THD figure, the more sterile and lifeless the amp sounds. Sean
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rjones
23 posts
 
I compared the Odyssey stratos stereo amp side by side with the 3B ST and 4B ST last year, not the newer SST models. I preferred the Odyssey - deeper, tighter bass, no grainy treble, a much better amp IMHO - and less expensive. Klaus Bunge also will carefully adjust the bias of the amp to make your system sound its best. Also be sure to get the cap upgrade, well worth the additional money. The Odyssey also bettered the Belles Hot Rod 150A and McCormack 125 amps.
tsunami
3 posts
 
I currently have both a Bryston 3BST and Odyssey Extreme Monoblocks. I have not heard the Stratos amp so you'll have to give Klaus a call as to how it compares to the monos sonically. However, between the above 2 amps I have to agree with Rjones as to what I have heard in my system. I will add that the Bryston is a more neutral amp while the Odyssey tends to display just a bit of warmth.
mmrkaic
33 posts
 
You want THD as low as possible. Period.
2psyop's avatar
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2psyop
1,598 posts
 
That is a good question....but in my opinion, there are some important additional considerations. I had a Stratos amp, a Tempest preamp and a Candela preamp. All products developed low spurious noise and hum problems. After sending the products back to Odyssey over many, many months I did not get the problem resolved nor did I get good customer service. Klaus bought the stuff back, but I lost a considerable amount of money. Therefore, for me, customer service and reliability are of paramount importance along with sound and THD.
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