[Friskies]

Odyssey products are unavailble in my far away country, so... impossible to do trial audition. Could anyone please guide me some that what brand  Kismet and Stratos sound the most similar to?

Thanks in advance.

[Hyfi]

I can't say what a Stratos would sound like in comparison to another amp but I can say for the money, you can't go wrong. My Stratos is close to 10 years old and was purchased with the cap upgrade. Today, the units are even better and I have considered sending it back for the upgrade.

It excels in bass first of all. If your speakers can reproduce it, the Stratos will shake the dust off your walls with the right recording. Highs are also clear and detailed and again with the right speaker/tweeter it in non fatiguing. (basing my comments on Dynaudio Audience 82s)

I recently brought an old Counterpoint NPS-400 hybrid amp back to life and have been swapping back and forth. The area that the Stratos lacks a little bit in would be the midrange. That is not to say it isn't good, just that it does not compare with a tube amp costing 4x as much. It is to be expected. The Counterpoint can't even come close in bass slam but the notes are clearer and more natural sounding. Again, depends on the rest of your gear.

What I can say is that if you are looking at amps in the 1k to 2k range, you can't go wrong with the Stratos. Highly recomended!

[ducky7566]

Friskies hello ... 
to give you my experience with "odyssey". 
I bought 2 stratos mono extremes in February this year ...
blocks to replace my McIntosh MC 501 ...

my speakers are infinity KAPPA 8 A. ..
very difficult to driver ... 

the 501, though powerful on paper, 600 watts ... no reserve power ... no reservations required for the sound down very low ...
Merviel on medium high, the 501 is a little soft on the bass, and lack a bit of rapidit?e ...

the stratos is wonderful on these records ... 
  speed, held serious and transient, firmness, transparency
Last week I bought a preamp audio research sp 16 hd ...

the combination is delicious ...  :drool:just before the arc, I had a preamp HARMAN KARDON SIGNATURE 1.0.
the difference is huge ... 
I also have a pair of J B L 4425 ...
there, I bought a ROTEL rss switch 900, to connect different pairs of my HP, and switch from one to another without disconnecting every time ...
Now, I will start listening to all my cd with happiness ...
for me and all my friends who have listened to these amps, there is no doubt ...
devices fantastic quality with an unbeatable price