i am new member here, one of my early posts, hello everyone!
a few months back i picked up a very nice used, 5-6 year old Stratos power amp from Audiogon... it is clearly a very well made unit, so solidly and finely built (and big too!!!)
the sound is lovely, such a refined sound with warmth and air and layering, yet with iron grip as one would expect from a powerful solid state amp
i have been running a conrad johnson premier 16 tube linestage into it, via rca inputs and all has been wonderful driving my harbeth speakers, which up till now has seen mainly tube amplification for quite a few years
recently, i tried to run a Metrum balanced DAC which has a volume control, thus, can run direct into the amp - trying to remove the linestage to see if i enjoy the added clarity
going into the XLR inputs of the Stratos, i am getting major hum and noise... whilst the rca inputs remain dead silent
i tried lifting the ground on the power cable, but the noise persists if using the balanced inputs... the noise is substantial, not at all subtle
i am wondering if anyone else here with odyssey amps have had this experience... also, are do these amps have truly balanced internal construction and circuitry? i know some equipment is fundamentally not balanced, but provide balanced connections just for user convenience
thank you in advance