Odyssey amp,excessive hiss with balanced outputs?

The Stratos is NOT balanced. Yes, you can use XLR connections, however, it's just the connection, not the topology of the circuitry, so, in essence, nothing has changed but the cable, you're still running unbalanced. Perhaps the interconnects are not shielded and are picking up a lot of RF, or perhaps the cables are simply defective?

Hello,

I have the Stratos monoblocks using 10 feet balance cable from my Audio Research LS-12 preamp with no problem at all. Make sure that the cable you are using have the right pin configuration. Check your preamp manual regarding pin assignments for plus(pin 2), negative(pin 3), and ground(pin 1) because if the preamp is used with a power amp with diffferent pin connections for positive and negative, the signal polarity being fed to the speakers will be incorrect which could be the source of the hiss! Hope this helps.

i also have the odyssey monoblocks and i am using 2m xlr cables with no problems at all.

I am contemplating buy the Stratos and would appreciate your opinions on the single amp. Are you in agreement with the 5/6 score on other forum?

Asdf, I was highly skeptical as well reading all of the reviews, most of which where poorly written or vague, not offering much for reference beyond cheap receivers and other crummy gear. However, in spite of doubtful appearances, the glowing reviews have proven pretty accurate! You'll not find a better amp in terms of transparency, coherency, smoothness, bass control and a naturalness to the presentation at anywhere nears it's price. The Odyssey amps have almost magical transparency, a rightness to the sound that I find absolutely hypnotizing and intoxicating, you completely forget about the amp or any other piece of gear and become fully drawn into the performance, which is probably the highest praise I could give to an amplifier. Is it perfect? Of course not. There are amps that do every "hi-fi" thing a little better, (especially in terms of soundstaging), but you'll pay heavily for it if you also want to keep the musical balance and involvement as well.

The Stratos recently displaced a Musical Fidelity A3cr in my system and currently is giving a PS Audio HCA-2 a run for the money, both possessing many admirable yet distinctive traits. I’ll post a 3-way review/shootout once I finish the audition, if interested.

Thanks for the input guys. I also notice that the balanced has a lot less output than the rca. It seems that the connectors aren't properly aligned like Armandarae says because it is losing some signal to noise. When I change the balance thru the remote it sounds even at about 4.5 which is about half of the rca. I'm trying to find the configuration on the amp and preamp to see if the pins are aligned wrong.

Socrates,
Absolutely yes. Please do post your review of these 3 amps. You're the only one I know of that have personal experience of these 3 particular brands. Look forward to reading your evaluations.