Switched from well known Amp to Odyssey

I forgot to ask, do you already own a top of the line amp? or are you planning on a purchase/upgrade?

If you are planning on a purchase, and are having a hard time parting with the $4000 + for a top name, the Odyssey is a great value compromise. You would definitly have to spend a lot more money to get this quality or better in an amp.

I've had several different Audio Research amps, and last year switched to the Odyssey mono's. They simply 'blew-away' the AR amps (both tube and ss). The build quality is amazing, as well. I have begun to feel that other high-end companies are not delivering a reasonable 'audio/audible' return on investment...unless you are looking for snob appeal value. Me...I'd rather spend less money, and have as good (if not better) sound/musical quality...then there's money left for more toys or more music. Thanks Odyssey!, for bringing such sane pricing to high-end audio.

I have not switched to odyssey, but rather added a pair of stratos monos to the krell ksa50s and arc vt130se stereo amps which I own. I rotate these amps among various loudspeakers. With the deep bass limited and slightly overdamped Merlin VSM SE, the krell and the arc both outperform the stratos, at least to my taste.

With the verity parsifal encore, I clearly prefer the odyssey to the arc and marginally prefer it to the krell. While it is the most obviously solid state sounding of the amps I own (most powerful deep bass response, leanest in the mid-bass, with very slight dryness through the treble) the stratos mates terrifically with the very slightly underdamped verity speakers. As usual, careful component matching is the key. More unusual, is the odyssey value proposition, which is awfully tough to beat, even if you're relatively price insensitive.

P.S. - I would direct you to the recent odyssey review in TAS, which I found unusual in that it very closely mirrors my own experience with the product (other than explicitly identifying the rather startling deep bass capability of the stratos, which - to be fair - may be unique to the monos and not applicable to the stereo unit under consideration in that review)

Does anybody know if a pair of Odyssey Stratos amps, when configured for mono, are running fully balanced? Not having just XLR inputs, but fully balanced designs I mean. Thanks in advance.

Chris

Sheadlee, which Audio Research amps have you compared them to? I have heard the Stratos because I recommended them to a neighbor who did not have alot to spend. For the money they have no rival but I respectfiully disagree that they blow away any of the ARC tube amps. Have you compared them to any of the VT series amps? If so which ones? I personally have listened to the VT100MkII and MKiii and the VT200 and while the stratos are great for the price they are simply IMHO, not in the same league.