Personally, I have owned 2 sets of Odyssey Monoblock Amplifiers. They were enjoyable, yet both sets were sold. No plans on buying more. I have never owned a Pass Labs amp. It sounds like they are the real deal. If the Pass Amps are anything like Balanced Audio Technology Amps, I can see the attraction.
Pass X150.5 or Odyssey Stratos monos?
After months of research and mental anguish ;) I've narrowed down my search for new amplification to the two in the title. There are obvious differences like the fact that one is a stereo amp while the other are monoblocks. Anyway, if you had to, which option would you go with and why? Thanks!
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Nelson Pass' products are head and shoulders above anything Clause supplies. Not even in the same ballpark. My experience with Odyssey is, purchased a Candella/Kismet. Never had any trouble with noise from amps prior to this. This pair you could hear noise from the listening position. Clause send new power components including a new transformer and had me change things out. No help. Returned it all to Clause who withheld shipping both ways and even credit card fees from my refund. Then told me all his amps make that much noise. Really? On top of that, I wasn't impressed with the sound over the noise either. I own Pass products too. Exemplary performance. If you can afford it, go with a Nelson Pass designed product. |
Last year I bought a pair of Kismet Monoblocks in stratos cases. Thery were used and I had them sent to Klaus for an inspection and upgrade.He installed the latest soda can sized output caps and an power supply upgrade. He said that the time that this is the same configuration that he has in his personal system. I have $5000 all in. I have heard Pass Labs amps and I they are better but that degree of better costs a lot more. If you go to any audio show where Klaus in showing his room is always among the best sounding rooms in the show.I would love to own a Pass amplifier but for the money Odyssey Kismets are hard to beat. I'll keep mine until I have the $20-30K to buy a Pass product. |
I’ll keep mine until I have the $20-30K to buy a Pass product. Don’t know where you buy used Pass X150.5 that we're talking about here, but they go for $1500 to $3000 all over the place. https://www.hifishark.com/model/pass-labs-x-150-5 Cheers George |
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