Sacrilege Going from Tubes back to Solid State

Well, the Odyssey Stratos sounds nothing like McIntosh or tubes for that matter so for a guy who is used to listening to tubes would be a completely wrong advise. Here is a quote for TAS review on Stratos: "The sonic character of the Stratos kept reminding me of the SimAudio Moon designs of Jean Poulin: coolish clarity and transparency; airy, unbleached highs that have a touch of mid-treble silvering. And the sense of transient speed helped to distinguish it from the B&K Reference more than any other attribute. It's not particularly warm-sounding, certainly not tube-like. The Stratos, like the Marsh Sound Design A200s stereo amp (review, Issue 123) won't enrich a lean voice or add bloom or bloat to the lower mids or mid-bass.

Flyski, there are many reviews on the Stratos, most all being very positive. All though this particular excerpt from your above mentioned Stratos review would lead one to believe that the Stratos is certainly not tubelike inspite of the fact the reviewer's final conclusions are very positive. There are other reviewers whose conclusions are quite different and I will give you an example of this shortly. From my own personal experience and in my system the Stratos exhibits a warmer sound than other solid state amps I haved tried but yet still has some tube-like qualities without the solid state nasties. Like any amp the speakers & preamp used will have some effect on anyones final conclusions including those of pro-reviewers.

From IAR Master Guide to the best of 1998.
Odyssey Design Group Stratos:

This power amp is a sonic miracle at its $995 price and an easy IAR Best Buy. We (and then others) have praised the sonics of Symphonic Line power amps in the past. They sound very transparent, fast, and clean, with capable extension to the frequency extremes, all the typical strengths of solid state. Yet throughout the midranges and trebles where virtually all other solid state products run into trouble of one sort or another (too glazed and hard in some frequency region, or too defocused and smeared), the big symphonic Line amps stay eminently neutral giving a very natural portrayal of music by straddling the line between solid sound and tube sound (what we called the hybrid sound). Thus the sonics of the big Syphonic line amps give you the best of solid state sound combined with at least some of the best aspects of good tube sound.

Finally their opinion of Class 1 (class 1 being the best) amps are Odyssey Design & Plinius & rated musically natural. Some Class 2 amps are Levinson 33H & Krell FPB 300 and try valiantly to smooth and soften the hard edge typical of solid state, attempting to sound musical but instead they succeed only in being veiled and defocused.

I'm very certain that no solid state amp will have a 100% of the tube sound but some will come closer than others. So which reviewer is right, you decide.

Not one solid state amp I have owned or heard sounds even close to a tube amp: Odyssey Stratos Extreme Monos, McCormack DNA-2 Platinum, McCormack DNA-500, McIntosh MC7200, Bryston 4B SST, Bryston 14B SST. The same applies to chip amps: NuForce Reference 8, CI Audio D100, CI Audio D200.

The closest to a tube amp I have heard is the hybrid Moscode 401HR.

I have not heard Pass Labs, but I'd like to do so.

TVAD, you being a tube guy I am not at all surprised by your response and many tubeaholics will agree. If and when Meadowman moves from tubes to solid state the best we can suggest is what solid state amp will be the least offensive. You know, I would like sometime to try a Pass Labs myself. I personally know one member who purchased a Pass Labs amp and swore he would never sell it, he did. Maybe he purchased the next higher model, I'm going to ask him.

10-27-06: Phd
TVAD, you being a tube guy I am not at all surprised by your response and many will agree.

It's interesting to me that I have been an Audiogon member for 3 1/2 years, and I have owned solid state amplification for nearly half that time, yet I am considered a tube guy. I presently own a SS/tube hybrid amplifier, so perhaps I am a hybrid guy, but thankfully the hybrid amp has he realism that tubes bring. It's true that I prefer the sound of tubes at this moment, but I have experimented with solid state and chip amps during the entire time I have owned tube amplification. So, consider me a tube guy with an open mind to other possibilities, which I have proven with the purchase of the 401HR amplifier.

When it comes to what creates something approaching the sound of real music in my system, tubes do it.