I had the pleasure of visiting Barry’s Odyssey Hong Kong showroom last Saturday with another audio compatriot, Chen.
First, let me congratulate Barry for having a very nice and cosy showroom with decent acoustics and great gear. I noticed that he has gone to some lengths to treat his room with bass tubes and acoustic foam on the walls and ceiling.
ImpressionsThe first system we heard playing was the Epiphony mini-monitor + Benchmark M DAC driving the Khartago amp direct via its output attenuator and a nice looking Ayre CX7 as transport. All cables and power cords were Groneberg. The Ayre and M DAC were fed from a balanced AC line filter and the amps were plugged straight into the wall.
EpiphonyFirst thing I noticed was how the system produced a lovely wide soundstage and excellent ambience. The system had that intangible ‘electricity’ and 'air' to notes with good decay and transient response and no boxiness at all. Next I was struck by the speed and detail of those little speakers coupled with a very nice blend of vibrancy and liveliness. The balance was mid-hall rather than forward i.e. the speakers did not throw the image out in front of the plane of the speakers.
Chen commented that the image depth was commendable but I personally don’t put a lot of emphasis on this parameter and don’t really know how to listen out for it. Tonal balance was good and the speaker sounded very coherent (sign of a well designed crossover and driver matching).
The most noticeable downside was that vocalists sounded a little lean and lacked ‘body’ and density and I could hear some ‘digital’ or SS hardness. I suspect that the M DAC’s output control was letting some hardness through and told Barry that adding a preamp would probably improve things all round. Barry added that the Ayre CX7 as a stand alone cdp sounded superior to the M DAC.
PMC AB2 vs EpiphonyBarry then switched over to the bigger system comprising of PMC AB2, Tempest pre, Dual mono Stratos, Ayre CX7 (no DAC). When I saw the size difference between the diminutive Epiphony and the big transmission-line loaded AB2, I thought, well this is where the little speakers get slaughtered…
Not quite! Via the full range AB2’s, Corrine May’s voice sounded a lot richer and the ‘body’ to vocals was back. Bass went deep and music was larger scale. All good stuff but, strangely, after a few cd’s I found that my attention was wandering and the system wasn’t involving me as much. I noticed that although the AB2’s certainly went deep, the bass was not as well defined and slightly lagged behind the rest of the music. The AB2 was not as open as the little Epiphony and sounded a little boxy and too ‘controlled’.
After noticing our preference for the smaller speakers, Barry hooked up the Epiphony to the Tempest/DM Stratos, Ayre AX7 rig. Ah! The sound took on a new level of richness and refinement and the slight ‘hardness’ heard earlier was greatly reduced. The mids were not as subjectively warm as the PMC but it sounded more natural and open. Bass was even better controlled and went deeper. In fact, I did not feel short-changed in the bass department at all. To me, this showed that the Epiphony was transparent enough to allow the refinement of better quality electronics to shine through.
We finished off the session with the Reference Recordings test disc (a little ambitious but that’s what auditions are for!)
The little Epiphony surprised me by putting out a gutsy and musical presentation. The sound did not get confused or congested even on dynamic passages but the bass driver did seem to be reaching its limits on bass drum whacks. Of course, there is only so much a little 6.5” driver can do but it was still rather impressive.
What was missing? Very little, but if pressed, it would be nice to achieve deeper bass, more natural warmth and body to the mids and slightly less peaky and more refined highs and bigger scale on orchestral works. Hence, after hearing what the ‘entry level’ Epiphony’s can do, I’m really keen to hear the Lorelei
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Great ampsI’ve been going on about the Epiphony (I like it!) but I was also pretty impressed with the quality of sound from the Khartago and DM/Tempest. The Khartago, in particular, had a clarity and vibrancy that was quite captivating. The build quality is solid and for the price, I can’t think of anything that comes close. Unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to partner the Khartago with the Tempest, which I suspect would have brought significant improvements all round.
Room acousticsBarry admitted that the showroom has some bass standing wave problems. We heard this manifest itself in some lower mid bass notes blurring and becoming a little too thick. I suggested some Eighth Nerve room treatments, which I use myself.
All-in-all, a wonderful showing by Odyssey Hong Kong. Well done!
p.s. I am not affiliated in any way to Barry and Odyssey. I don’t even own any Odyssey equipment (yet) apart from two pairs of Groneberg I/C’s which I won from the Odyssey speaker naming contest
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