Parasound A21 or Odyssey Stratus

You may have made this decision, so if you have great! But if you have not I will give my thoughts.

I had an Odyssey system with a Stratos amp. I am one of a few who had issues with the gear. Low buzzing sound coming from the amp. Although Klauz is a nice fellow, I could not get the amp fixed with him. It took too much time. Ended up with a Parasound A21 and would not go back. A powerful and smooth amp which powers my speakers with ease and sounds glorious. It never seems to strain at all.

Whoa what did you end up going with I have the same speakers just running off of a marantz , and would like something bit better 

Cannot speak to Parasound, but I highly commend Odyssey. I had a Stratos Dual Mono for a good many trouble free years, and loved it. (I'd not have said it ran to the lean.)

Odyssey kit is routinely available used, and Klaus is a good guy who cheerfully supports 2nd hand owners.

You could much farther and fare worse.

John

I'd like to throw a 3rd option into the mix, and that is the Merrill Audio Taranis. Just posted a review of it. Was considering a new power amp myself and the A21 was on that list. Went with the Class D Taranis. 100K input impedance and running it with a tube preamp. Very large amount of power. Does not sound lean. You can home audition the Taranis courtesy of Merrill. Audio Advisor will allow a 30 day trial of the Halo if you wanted to compare the two side by side. Personally, found the 60 pound weight of the A21 a little intimidating. Good luck in your decision.

Get something with tone controls or a sub. It's not always audiophile approved, but you will be happier with the sound.

I much prefer the Odyssey. The higher level Stratos choices are closer in power and price to the Parasound.

Almarg............

I use an Audible Illusions Modulus 3B all tube preamp with my Stratos Extreme with zero problems.

Papostol...........

I have a Rogue Cronus Magnum in a second system and I do not find it lean at all. You can swap out the preamp tube (the middle 12au7) with a Mullard CV4003 from Upscale for less than 100.00. There will be no more leanness in your amp. I think it is the Monitor Audio speakers and not the amp. If you feel you must change the amp, I would go with the Odyssey Stratos. It is on the warm side of neutral and is not bright or etched at all.

What preamp will you be using with the amp? The reason I ask is that both amps have input impedances that are a bit on the low side, especially the Stratos at 22K. That is low enough to be a less than optimal match for some preamps, especially some that are tube-based.

Regards,
-- Al

I had the same speakers and used a Creek 5350SE on them. It was a very fun system to listen to. Not lean at all. The only drawback is that it may not play quite as loud as you want it to.

I'm not familiar with the Qdyssey, but the Parasound should be a very good match. Its a great amp for the money and it will definitely have all the power you'll need.

Odyssey is noticeably lean.