Hello, I'm new to this board and I wanted to put my $.02 in regarding the Candela. I received it 2 weeks ago and IMHO this is a FABULOUS preamp. As soon as I opened the box and saw the silver faceplate, I knew this baby was a quality item. If you slide open the top lid to look underneath, you can see the high quality parts and the excellent workmanship. I've seen preamps that cost far more that don't have this kind of build quality. This is my fourth Odyssey product and it gets better everytime! I started out with a stereo Stratos plus and HT3 which were great values. I've since upgraded the stereo Stratos to the mono extreme SE's and these things take the sound to the next level - better bass, bigger soundstage, greater refinement- just better MAN !!! I remarked to Klaus that the Candela may very well be the new value leader in a product line already known with this distinction.
With the stock JJ Tesla tubes the sound was powerful. The bass (quality and quantity) and treble extension easily surpassed my Dared SL-2000A by a significant margin. The imaging was greatly improved and the soundstage was deeper and wider. But, the biggest difference was the resolution. I've listened to many of my cd's >50 times before and never heard some of the things I was hearing. The sound is not overtly tubey in my experience, but it doesn't sound like SS. I have had other preamps in my system including a Rotel 1068 pre/pro and Monarchy Audio DAC/pre and these SS preamps just don't give the 3D sound a good tube will. I got the opportunity to hear a Musical Fidelity KW500 integrated thru my speakers and I prefer the sound of my current rig. I started to tube roll after a week. First, I tried some GE 6189's - they were smoother and produced a deeper soundstage than the JJ Teslas. Next, I tried some RCA cleartop's (1950's vintage). These had all the advantages of the 6189's over the JJ's but added more detail. Instruments sound that much more real. I've ordered some 1950's RCA blackplate 12au7's and also some Baldwin Raytheon 12au7's to see if I can add some warmth, although with the cleartops, the sound is awesome. I listen to everything from alt rock to classical. Because of the high resolution of this preamp, poorly recorded stuff is exposed but well recorded stuff is sublime. My system : digital Sony DVP-s7700> Benchmark DAC-1> Odyssey Candela> Odyssey Stratos Mono Extreme SE's> Quad ESL-988 speakers. Analog: Rega Planar 3/Incognito> Cambridge Audio 640P > Candela.
