12-27-2005, 05:39 PM
Hola,
Este es el review de Soundstage:
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/odyssey_system.htm
Musical Odyssey
As we audiophiles are keenly aware, each of us hears music differently and appreciates the defined aspects of musical reproduction in different ways. We all may believe in absolutes, but it's equally true that we don't admire those absolutes equally. I have articulated my personal musical values in many reviews, but I'll sum them up here by saying that if given the choice, I will choose the sound of tubes to solid-state devices, and I will gladly trade the ultimate sense of resolution for a sweeter and, to my ears, more pleasing sound -- a more musical sort of reproduction, as opposed to one that has sheer revealing of detail as its goal.
Well, the Odyssey Khartago and Etesian are both solid-state products, but coupled with the Epiphony speakers and Groneberg cables, they produce a most musical outcome -- one that's sweet, forgiving and easy on the ears; one that's thoroughly high end even with the decidedly low-end price of the entire system. Initially I played a few piano-laden recordings in order to get a sense of how the Odyssey system would handle a single complex instrument. I was coming from large speakers and very pricey electronics, so I expected a piano that would sound diminutive and lack the power I was used to hearing. Not so -- the Khartago amplifier leans slightly to the warm, full side of the sonic spectrum, which helped the Odyssey system reproduce piano with weightier-than-expected presence and a larger-than-expected image.
While I couldn't hear as deeply into a recording like Marcus Roberts's As Serenity Approaches [Novus 63130-2], I was hearing a very good facsimile of Roberts's solo piano in my listening room -- more of a "they are here" presentation than a "you are there" one. The piano's scale was somewhat reduced, but not nearly as much as I expected. Again, the $1500 system's fullness and weight fleshed out the playing and made for very satisfying listening. The old reviewer's adage "I stopped reviewing and began listening" applied, although it was impossible to forget that I was enjoying an entire system that cost under $2000.
One experiment I was eager to perform was whether the $1500 system had enough resolution to convey the difference between CD and SACD. Even with the little Sony player as a source, SACD's superior transparency was audible. The Odyssey system's fullness did obscure some inner detail on discs such as Duke Ellington's Blues in Orbit [Mobile Fidelity UDCD 757] -- the listening-to-the-master-tape sense was diminished. However, the SACD layer was still a little better than the CD, and when I played this hybrid disc in the Audio Research CD3 Mk II, the Odyssey system easily showed that the ARC player was in another league from the Sony. I suppose you want to know which sounded better -- SACD with the Sony player or CD with the ARC. To my ears, CD playback with CD3 Mk II was superior, and more like what I know SACD's sound to be -- a combination of high-frequency ease and the ability to hear deeply into each recording.
Este es el review de Soundstage:
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/odyssey_system.htm
Musical Odyssey
As we audiophiles are keenly aware, each of us hears music differently and appreciates the defined aspects of musical reproduction in different ways. We all may believe in absolutes, but it's equally true that we don't admire those absolutes equally. I have articulated my personal musical values in many reviews, but I'll sum them up here by saying that if given the choice, I will choose the sound of tubes to solid-state devices, and I will gladly trade the ultimate sense of resolution for a sweeter and, to my ears, more pleasing sound -- a more musical sort of reproduction, as opposed to one that has sheer revealing of detail as its goal.
Well, the Odyssey Khartago and Etesian are both solid-state products, but coupled with the Epiphony speakers and Groneberg cables, they produce a most musical outcome -- one that's sweet, forgiving and easy on the ears; one that's thoroughly high end even with the decidedly low-end price of the entire system. Initially I played a few piano-laden recordings in order to get a sense of how the Odyssey system would handle a single complex instrument. I was coming from large speakers and very pricey electronics, so I expected a piano that would sound diminutive and lack the power I was used to hearing. Not so -- the Khartago amplifier leans slightly to the warm, full side of the sonic spectrum, which helped the Odyssey system reproduce piano with weightier-than-expected presence and a larger-than-expected image.
While I couldn't hear as deeply into a recording like Marcus Roberts's As Serenity Approaches [Novus 63130-2], I was hearing a very good facsimile of Roberts's solo piano in my listening room -- more of a "they are here" presentation than a "you are there" one. The piano's scale was somewhat reduced, but not nearly as much as I expected. Again, the $1500 system's fullness and weight fleshed out the playing and made for very satisfying listening. The old reviewer's adage "I stopped reviewing and began listening" applied, although it was impossible to forget that I was enjoying an entire system that cost under $2000.
One experiment I was eager to perform was whether the $1500 system had enough resolution to convey the difference between CD and SACD. Even with the little Sony player as a source, SACD's superior transparency was audible. The Odyssey system's fullness did obscure some inner detail on discs such as Duke Ellington's Blues in Orbit [Mobile Fidelity UDCD 757] -- the listening-to-the-master-tape sense was diminished. However, the SACD layer was still a little better than the CD, and when I played this hybrid disc in the Audio Research CD3 Mk II, the Odyssey system easily showed that the ARC player was in another league from the Sony. I suppose you want to know which sounded better -- SACD with the Sony player or CD with the ARC. To my ears, CD playback with CD3 Mk II was superior, and more like what I know SACD's sound to be -- a combination of high-frequency ease and the ability to hear deeply into each recording.