How Do Odyssey Amps Stack Up To McCormack Amps.

Wow...there's been some interesting stuff written about the Odyssey line over at HarmonicDischord.com. On paper, it looke like it would be pretty tough to beat the upgraded monos.

How about the Tempest pre? Any thoughts on that? How's the phono section?

The DNA-1 is NOT as good as the O.5. I have had both in my system. The Rev B and up are pretty amazing. Right now I am bi-amping Vandy 3Asigs with Rev B for the woofers and Rev A+ for the mid/tweets. Until I can raise the cash to upgrade the Rev B. It could not, IMO, be called sterile. My system shares the living room with lots of upholstered furniture, so the set-up is not ideal for imaging, but the timbral accuracy and detail, with emotional impact, has got my hair standing up on the back of my neck sometimes. Must be said that I've never heard the Odysseys, but a used 0.5 Rev A would seem to me to be a quite remarkable ss amp for the $.

before I purchased my odyssey monoblock amps, I compared them to the classe stereo and monoblock amps, mcintosh seperates and integrated amps, sim audio, plinius, McCormack, and bryston. i would not nor did I look at NAD or Rotel amps. whole different league of amps. i would compare rotel and nad to onkyo, integra, marantz, denon, etc...
I liked the odyssey monoblocks equal to if not more so than the amps i auditioned above (in my own setup). If I wouldn't have purchased the odyssey's, i would have purchased the classe monoblocks, which are very nice amps themselves.

I here allot of B.S. being thrown around from individuals who obviously have not tested the amps side by side. Being that they are fairly cheep I have been through the dual mono Odyssey with 120,000uf and the McCormack 125.
My digital source is a Cary CD-303/200. Phono is Herron Audio VTPH-1 hooked up to a nice custom table. Interconects are Valhalla and wire is Tara. I like tube pre amps so I own 3 (so I am a bozo some times) Audible illusions 3A, Herron Audio VTSP and Lamm LL2. The amps I use the most are a pair of DeHavilland Aries. Just so you know I gave the Odyssey away to a great friend. I played and tweeked it for about a year. Real nice amp for the $$, but out of it class when compared to more serious equipment. Listen - its a great amp for under $2,500. It has serious competition within that price range - but not allot. Once you go into the 3K and a little more range a large bulk of amplifiers outclass it in 'every' area. Granted, even in the very high price arena there are dogs as in the cheeper arena there are some stars. As for the Odyssey comparing to the McCormacks -you need a 'decent' system to hear the differences. If you dont have a system that will really resolve music for you - then buy what ever you can get cheepest and buy used. If you have something that resolves music in a more refined manner you will find that the McCormacks are easyer to listen to. In the right system they both have enough slam to scare you - really, but thats volume not refinement. The McCormacks go a couple of steps deeper into he music, but you need the ancillary equipment to hear it - and that how one should make decissions. I think that the Odyssey amp can balance real nice with a 5K to 6K well picked system. McCormacks will balance well in a 7K to 12K well picked system. In a 6K and less - both amps seem to sound very much alike in all areas.
I hope this info helps -

Haven't heard the Odyssey's. But I recently modded my DNA .5 to near-Rev A status (myself). It was a dramatic difference over the stock DNA .5 Deluxe. I also upgraded my speaker crossover components (to Sonicraft caps) earlier this year. These 2 mods improved my system tremendously. I really can't imagine it getting any better than this.

Enjoy,
Bob