It's hard to call it a downgrade when it sounds better. Here goes though. The best actual savings I had was to use Discovery Essence interconnect between table and phono stage. It replaced a pair of Transparent Reference MC phono interconnects and netted me about a $300 savings, and sounded better in every way.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention a ODL amp thats currently in my system. It probably doesn't qualify, because I don't own it. I just sold my Threshold T400 in search of a tube amp. It sold quicker than I expected, so I not quite ready for the new amp yet. My friend Larry lent me this ODL, which is supposedly similar in design to the Odessey Stratos. While I won't claim that it's better than the T400, I will say that it is surprisingly close. The T400 was a little more refined in the treble. The ODL reminds me a lot of a Classe CA-200 which I owned before the T400. Larry only paid about 25% of what I sold the T400 for, but I would say it delivers over 95% of the performance. Quite a impressive little amp for around $500. I don't think I've heard a SS amp that sounds better that has a list price under $3K.
Cheers,
John
I would be remiss if I didn't mention a ODL amp thats currently in my system. It probably doesn't qualify, because I don't own it. I just sold my Threshold T400 in search of a tube amp. It sold quicker than I expected, so I not quite ready for the new amp yet. My friend Larry lent me this ODL, which is supposedly similar in design to the Odessey Stratos. While I won't claim that it's better than the T400, I will say that it is surprisingly close. The T400 was a little more refined in the treble. The ODL reminds me a lot of a Classe CA-200 which I owned before the T400. Larry only paid about 25% of what I sold the T400 for, but I would say it delivers over 95% of the performance. Quite a impressive little amp for around $500. I don't think I've heard a SS amp that sounds better that has a list price under $3K.
Cheers,
John