AudioCircle
Industry Circles => Odyssey Audio => Topic started by: Tyson on 10 Jan 2003, 07:50 am
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Man, I've stayed up WAY too late listening to music after hooking this beauty up. I'll keep this brief cause I'm dead tired.
Looks - it's beautiful. Wife told me "That's pretty". WAF - 100%
Sound - much better than my AI Modulus 3a. I just hear more, detail, depth, precision, control, bass, speed, warmth, dimensionality, all are better w/the Erleuchtung. And it's still brand new, about 3 hours total on it. Can't wait for the next several days of break in, I think this is gonna be one of those "spectacular" additions to my system.
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I agree! It, and the CD player look so fantastic with that finish! :o I was kind of freaked out when I opened mine though, the cleaning fluid was still on it as a protectant and I didn't know what the hell it was at first. I'm glad you're hearing the same things I did as I'm a newbie to good equipment wonder if I'm describing things right. I'm kind of curious as to whether it makes the, how do I describe this....the difference between sound and no sound more apparent? That's what amazes me most about the SL equipment, but I'm not sure if it's a specific component in the system or just part of the SL sound. Enjoy, as I'm sure you are!
cheers,
Dick
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Tyson,
Is the preamp the reference or standard edition?
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So what's the lowdown on this preamp? I checked Odyssey's site and found a dead link concerning the Symphonic line. Is this tubed or SS?
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There are tubes in it, but I think it's more than that, although I haven't opened it up to see yet.
here's even better... http://www.symphonic-line.de/die_erleuchtung.htm It's in German, but I'm sure someone here can translate or there are websites that are supposed to be able to do so for you.
cheers,
Dick
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Wow :o
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Lucky are those who have $$$! :lol:
Let us know more (performance, distinct signatures, etc.) in the future. :hyper:
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hi tyson,
congrats to your purchases.. may I ask where did you get them from?
much more importantly for me, what is that cleaning fluid that comes along? If it is possible, could you take a pic of it and upload to the gallery?
thanks :)
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Tyson and hairofthedawg -
what in a nutshell do you feel are the significant qualities of this preamp that make it sound so incredible. I am looking for a pre-review sense that you both may have, of what makes this such a quality/expensive preamp.
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I'm uploading a pic of the fluid shortly. I have no idea what it is. I haven't had to use it yet, mostly just dust with a soft cloth. Fingerprints do show distinctly on the finish though, but I think most can be buffed out with a cloth unless you neglect them for awhile.
For me, the sound is clean, just very clean and pure. I just feel like I'm hearing everything, even some things I don't want to hear. Like when playing mp3s on windows media player, it clicks a little like a turntable. I'm waiting to see if Tyson confirms so maybe I have a better idea that it's the preamp that makes it so clean. Another thing that surprised me is how heavy it is even though it has a separate power supply. I should probably open it up and look around, but I don't like to turn it off. The silence is what amazes me most I guess, when there's no sound, there's no sound which makes the presence of sound that much more beautiful. I don't notice any coloration of the sound from the tubes but I'm using solid state amps.
I'm looking forward to reading Tyson's impressions. He writes a good review and I haven't been able to compare it with anything anyone else has listened to. It just sounds good to me!
cheers :beer:
Dick
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pic of the fluid is in my gallery, page two
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A few more quick impressions - I'm amazed at how dead quiet this thing is. Most other active pre's I've used have had a slight buzz or hiss of background noise, but the Erleuchtung is dead silent.
As for the music, the best I can describe it is white pearls on black velvet. The music has a luminuous quality, an irridescence, but is sharply defined against a silent (black) background. There is very little bleed or smear of one instrument or voice to another. When a performer doubles up his vocals, you can hear the over tracking of it quite clearly. Vocals especially take on a "they are in the room" clarity.
Also, music never seems rushed. Even on fast, complex music, things never sound "busy". Individual musical strands and lines can still be distinctly heard and followed. On many (even very good systems), when music gets fast and complex, things tend to run together and you get a sort of "wall of sound", where you get the gist of the music, but a lot of the individual elements are washed out. Not with the Erleuchtung. Timing, rhythm, clarity, cohesiveness, and seperation are amazingly good.
Transients are very good as well, but it doesn't sound "fast" per se, as a "fast" sound is what I associate with a piece that tends to emphasize transients, especially the leading edge. And decay is also interesting. Usually you have something that has a fast decay (usually matching a "fast" leading edge), or you have a piece with nice decay, but have to live with a sluggish initial transient. The Erleuchtung lets you hear a fast initial transient and a full decay for each note. And it manages to do it without sounding splashy. Nice :-)
Some gear sounds like a Renoir looks - gives a good impression, but are blurry and indistinct on closer inspection. Some sounds like an MC Escher painting - startling clarity, but metallic and surreal. The Erleuchtung in this context would be a Vermeer - clarity, intimacy, and naturalness.
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Tyson - how is it different from the ACA? ( Since we both have one )
And how is it that a preamp between the source and the amps, does all of this sorting out and un-rushing :D ? This is a serious question though, on how a preamp should perform, and what it should not do (that your other preamps did). I know you are just getting to listen to it, but you have heard these things already, right?
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Tsunami,
It's the standard version, the Reference version was out of my price range :-( - luckily there isn't a whole lot of difference between the standard and reference, consisting mainly of tube rectifications in the power supply, better tubes in the signal path, and one other thing that slips my mind.
Marbles,
I'm definitely going to sell the AI, but I'm keeping it around for a little bit to do some full on comparisons first.
jqp,
Your question is much more difficult than it seems. IMO, it's all about the sound you end up getting out of the speakers. To me, there is a certain sound that is closer to "real", and it involves a balance between body and speed, warmth and precision. That is what I strive for above all other things, as this is what defines "musical" to me. And more than anything else, this involves getting everything in the system to compliment each other. For that reason, I tend to prefer tube/solid state hybrid systems. Either a good SS preamp with a good tube amp, or a tube preamp w/a SS amp. So, in my system, using a solid state Odyssey DM Stratos, the ACA would not be my choice, something like the AI or the SL pre are better fits for my taste. Now, the secondary areas that I look for are relatively independent of tonality, and can be judged on a slightly more "absolute" scale - things like macro and micro dynamics, soundstage, palpability, attack, decay, etc. . . In these areas, I'd say that all 3 previous pre's I've used did quite well in these areas. IMO, the ACA is quite good, and for the $$ it is damn good, especially if you hook it to very good tube amp . . .
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Listening to Andras Schiff playing the French Suites by Bach, my wife told me it was the most realist reproduction of a piano she'd ever heard - "It sounds real".
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What always impresses me about Tyson's 'impressions' is that his source is still CD. I had an epiphany quite awhile back with a Nonesuch vinyl recording of a Bach concerto played on my lowly mmf5 turntable and Norh 4.0 drums. It was the first time I had truly heard harpsicord and strings sound so real recorded and playing in my bedroom. As distorted as a lot of vinyl can be it still amazes me every once in awhile. The other night I was listening to Beck's Mutations on vinyl and heard the sound stage for the first time stretch to the corners of my room. God only knows what it would sound like coming through Tyson's system...
So the question looms....Tyson, why haven't you gone hi-rez or at least dabbled with vinyl?! I think you're scared. :lol:
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I'm saving up for a Teres, but its going to be awhile. As for SACD and DVD-A, I'll get something eventually, but I've already got so many CD's, and DON'T want to have to re-buy a lot of my collection, so I'm investing more in getting the best sound possible from my current collection.
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Maybe I missed it, but have you given the price and whether it has a remote?
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Sounds like from your musical tastes, Tyson, SACD would likely have more titles available. I'm not into classical music much, and whenever I go to browse through the SACD sections, there's a LOT of classical titles.
DVD-A seems a bit better balanced in terms of genres, from what I've seen, anyway. And there are a few titles that I find just amazing, like Hotel California and Rumors.
Ack, sounding like this should be in the music area :)
The point behind it was: You've spent quite a bit of dough (not to mention time) selecting the right components and setting them up. With the equipment you have, it just BEGS for either vinyl or hi-res music.
Why not just pick up a Sony C555ES (under 600) and have yourself a 5 disc changer that offers wonderful SACD playback capabilities? If it sounds as good as it does through my mid-fi (well, low mid-fi ;) ) equipment, it should be breathtaking on yours. And you'll likely only be tempted to re-buy a *few* titles, hehe. A universal player is a nice idea, but I haven't seen one yet that does both equally well.
Still saving up for my hot-rodded Mono's, btw :)
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Why not just pick up a Sony C555ES (under 600) and have yourself a 5 disc changer that offers wonderful SACD playback capabilities? If it sounds as good as it does through my mid-fi (well, low mid-fi ) equipment, it should be breathtaking on yours. And you'll likely only be tempted to re-buy a *few* titles, hehe. A universal player is a nice idea, but I haven't seen one yet that does both equally well.
Not necessarily Ron, a system is limited by its weakest link, and it cannot make any component sound better than what it is capable of. I'm sure the Sony changer is a nice unit and works well in a mid-fi system, but it would probably limit the potential of Tysons's system.
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Not necessarily Ron, a system is limited by its weakest link, and it cannot make any component sound better than what it is capable of. I'm sure the Sony changer is a nice unit and works well in a mid-fi system, but it would probably limit the potential of Tysons's system.
True, the weakest link is the key. But in order to obtain better SACD perormance than the 555, you'd have to spend almost 3 grand for the 777. For its surprisingly affordable price (I think it used to retail for 1200), the 555 is quite admirable. Just do a search on HTF on it, and you'll see many accolades. From ppl with better equipment than mine, too :)