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| Model: | Kismet monoblocs |
| Category: | Amplifier (SS) |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $6000 for monobloc pair; $2500 for stereo amp |
| Description: | Odyssey's flagship amplifier |
| Manufacturer URL: | Odyssey |
| Review by Marc Bratton on July 18, 2010 at 21:40:34 IP Address: 65.19.15.97 | Add Your Review for the Kismet monoblocs |
Got these used for less than half of what they were new a year ago, or I wouldn't be playing in this sandbox. So, they're already broken in.
I've had Odyssey Stratos monoblocs for 3 years, and have been very pleased with their sound. At first listen, the Kismets obviously come from the same family. That same clean, open, relaxed sound is there. It didn't take too long to hear that the Kismets better the Stratos on every front. To wit:1.)Treble:The Stratos treble, while grain free, was just sort of 'there'. A bit clinical. Definitely not tube territory. Well the Kismet's treble IS in tube territory. It is more extended, silkier, much more liquid, relaxed. Best treble I've ever heard from a SS amp.(2.)Mids:More vivid, open, colorful (not 'colored')then the Stratos mids, which sound a bit veiled by comparison. (3.)Bass:Even deepier, bouncier, more supple and organic than the Stratos. Just sounds like it's coming up to you from Hades. More integrated into the flow of the music. (4.)Soundstaging:Even in my soundstage challenged venue, the contrast was readily apparent. Wider, deeper, more layered. The images just have an absolutely solid, bolted to the floor quality the Stratos couldn't quite muster. In this regard, monoblocs in general seem to do this better than equivalent stereo amps;the Kismets bettered the Stratos monoblocs a similar amount. 5.)Noise floor. Never any probs with the Stratos, but the Kismet is just blacker, and DEAD quiet, which allows all kinds of subtle cues to emerge in a very natural and beguiling manner. What this amp sounds like is that Klaus took the basic Stratos circuit lay out and over worked every single component and signal path for maximally low noise floor, and coloration, while retaining the soul of the music. He has succeeded, probably beyond even his expectations.
I think what I'm trying to convey is that the Kismets are just more transparent and natural sounding than the already excellent Stratos, in a big way. They revealed that my turntable and preamp are capable of far more than I'd heard up to this point. Paired with my Quicksilver preamp, and with a natural sounding recording, they just put to bed this whole stupid tube/SS debate. There is nothing left but the music, and the venue.
I am humbled, and elated. These are the best amps I've heard in my system, tube, or SS. I'm done. They stay forever.
| Product Weakness: | Heavy, expensive, hard to manuever. You'll probably have to replace the famous Odyssey blue LED's at some point. |
| Product Strengths: | Most natural sounding amps I've heard in my system. Drop dead gorgeous build quality. Seemingly just endless amounts of power. |
| Amplifier: | Kismet monoblocs |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | Quicksilver full function |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Teres 200/Morch UP4/V15VxMR/Jico stylus |
| Speakers: | Magnepan MG12/QR's |
| Cables/Interconnects: | Cardas TwinLink |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Orchestral, chamber music, rock |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | see my x system x |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | see my system |
| Time Period/Length of Audition: | 1 month. Long enough. |
| Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | Brickwall PWR2AUD on front end |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
did you play around with the stereo amp version?
H.F.N.
Nope. Klaus once told me THE SINGLE biggest jump in sound quality with any of his amps is when you go from stereo to monoblocs. Khartago, Stratos, Stratos Extremed, or Kismet...doesn't matter. Just the nature of the beast. If a stereo Kismet had come up, I'd have certainly considered it. But oddly enough, having two monoblocs off to their respective sides works better in my setup than one stereo amp in the middle (or muddle...). So I stuck with that format.
x
Odyssey link mispelled/not working. Nice to see a comparison between the Extremes and the Kismet
It's www.odysseyaudio.com. Not that it matters, because the links on his site to the Kismet section don't do anything yet.
Edits: 07/19/10
for monoblocks. At that price level, they are competing with some real competition, SS, tube, and "digital" which the Stratos did not have to compete with.
In addition, it always disturbs me to read comparisons of old (Stratos) vs. new where the previously-adored favorite is made to sound almost broken in comparison.
When dealing with Odyssey amps, you must consider the fact that they are almost always on a constant upgrade path during their production life span. An older standard Stratos monoblock sounds very dissimilar to a current production amp of the same model. My first Odyssey amps were 11xx S/N amps, and they were considered tobe a bargin at the time of their manufacture. I had them rebuilt to "extreme" specs, and they were a completely different animal. Later I had them rebuilt again to what we refer to as the "glass ceiling" version (mine were the first). Each one was a leap forward, and the latter was more of a giant leap compaired to the other two. How a Kissmet sounds; I haven't a clue! Most folks tend to get an idea what they sound like in the first seven to fourteen days, and this is dead wrong. They are so over built that it takes a minimum of four hundred hours to get tem up to speed (my glass ceiling amps were closer to 600 hours by the way). So when I hear a guy say they sounded like this or that after a week I know he's out in left field.
We all tend to judge an amp differently, and we all tend to look for different qualities in the amp(s). I judge mine by the way the duplicate piano music. Are they perfect no! (perfection for me is a CJ 140 monoblock)
I would be interested to hearing how the Kissmet amps develop as time goes by. So far I've heard nothing but good stuff about them
gary
Gary
I suppose you're right, it's the nature of semantics. But I really didn't mean to imply there's anything WRONG with the Stratos, using phrases like 'already excellent' etc. In fact, lest anyone think I'm damning them with faint praise, I'll go further and say that the Stratos monoblocs, regular or Extreme, are probably THE biggest bargain in conventional SS amps today. Why? Because they probably give about 80-85% of what the Kismets give, maybe more, for about a third the price (mine were closer to $7300 new, in full nick. I got them for a cash outlay of less than 2K, after subtracting what I got for my monoblocs). That last 15% makes a huge dif, but it's not cost effective, point of diminishing returns, and all that. In fact, the gentleman I bought the Kismets from replaced them with a pair of WaveStream V8's. A 50K pair of tube amps that he got for 25K. He said they are indeed better than the Kismets, but not THAT much better.
And I KNOW everyone wants to know how they compare to other giant slayers in their price range, ie the Pass Labs, the Ayres, etc. I'd like to know also, but am unlikely to. Neither my wallet or my back can take moving amps like these in and out of my upstairs condo on a regular basis. These were the deal of a lifetime for me. My point being, the Kismets are good enough that I no longer CARE.
Just like my Teres. There's a point where the ear says "OK, THIS is what I've been holding out for!" The Kismets are that point.
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