Is Odyssey Power amp Stratos better than Krell?

Sorlowski, I am sorry to hear that you feel this way.

While one of the bigger tube afficianados on the site, I think you can see where I stand as far as Odyssey goes. My friend who is not an audiophile gave it a serious listen, and found it fit into her budget after she began to hear the differences between true high end audio equipment and what she had always assumed was available to her.

Joe, thanks for the kind words.
Sorlowski, well, what can I say. If it's not your taste, then so be it. That's cool with me. However, doesn't sound like everything was 100 % then. So, did you listen to our amp or the ODL copy ? what was the system, and what about the synergy ? What was the room acoustics, and did you have an A/B with another amp in the same system to see whether you listened to deficiencies in the amp or the room / rest of the system ? Was the amp biased correctly or was it totally out of whack.

Let's assume for a minute that it was the amp indeed, and obviously something was wrong. Bias gone off or somebody played around with it. Well, if any of my customers or new owners of used amps doesn't believe that it is that good or right, then I offer a FREE !!! test and tune-up.

So, under these conditions it should perform well than.
Having said that, I've never ever claimed that it's the best amp around. Damn, there are so many amps that I'd personally rather have than my Stratos. HOWEVER, none of them remotely for the cost of the Stratos. So, I'm absolutely and strictly aiming at the bang for the buck.

Late,

Klaus

Nevermind, I did the research here.
Sorlowski, yes, you heard my room at the 2004 show. Which system was playing ? Well, was that sitting or standing near the door ? That's a legitimate question, since everybody, in every single magazine, and even John Atkinson and all the other Stereophile guys, remarked on how open the sound was. The same sound that you described as boxy in the past.

Well, to be totally honest though, the room dynamics and the fact that the system wasn't 100 % broken in didn't let the bigger system with the Stratos shine completely. I messed up with procrastinating a bit too much and yes, the sound was sub-par to me even though 9 out 10 more than liked it. Go figure.

Anyway, I really wish you could have made it to last months HE 2005 in my room, because this time I was properly prepared, and personally, very satisfied with the result.

Late,

Klaus

Yes, I have heard it on HE2004 and I believe on HE2003 too.
In both cases I did not like it, but I do have some kind of aversion toward SS, I do not find musical even Mark Levinson gear, Krell is just putting me off :)
It is very subjective of course and it is only my opinion, it sounds this way to me. Only musical SS I have heard it was Jeff Rowland and I believe Bluenote form Italy on CES2005. I was surprised because I have come to believe to SS is just not able to play music to my ears. Why it was so disappointing to me because I have heard so many good things about Stratos (some kind deal of the century according to so many), sorry its struck me as very unrefined. But it is cheap, I do not believe that one can have good refined sound for below 7-8k$, it would be the miracle, you got what you have paid for, and it can be heard.
I used to have $1500 SS amp from MF A300, never like it very unrefined too, all cheap SS amps sound that way to me. It is my curse I guess. I would love to hear music from cheap amps, I could spend many on travel instead :)

I sold my Stratos and bought the new Krell 400xi integrated amp. I'm not going back. The Odyssey was "fine". Not outstanding in anyway. But it proved to be unstable when pushed. My Krell is a monster, controlled, balanced, detailed and clear. Not as warm as the Odyssey.