- Rich,full sound (amazing detail)

- Tubes are low current (5W) for longer tube life

- ZERO FEEDBACK

- Class A gain

- Low output impedance

-Very versatile; compatible with solid state and digital amplifiers.

- NONE

I recently upgraded to the Candela from the Odyssey Tempest pre-amp. It was a no brainer. The sound detailing was superb across the spectrum. The Candela's stunning performance with all genres of music was second to none. It features many inputs and should be a staple in a any audiophile system. I'm using the Candela with the Stratus Mono Extremes and Loreli speakers. Odyssey products at their price points are remarkable. It's no wonder that folks gathered in numbers at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest to listen to Klaus's high end system featuring the Candela and his other incredible products. Any one considering a high quality,top performing pre-amp...look no further than the Candella.

I've been using Odyssey products for 5 years and would STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU BUY A COMPLETE ODYSSEY SYSTEM

GO TO WWW.ODYSSEYAUDIO.COM for more details.

Customer Service

Second to none. Klaus is very useful and will not pressure you to buy. For over 20 years Klaus has formed a top notch reputation within the audiophile community.

Phenominal sound and build Quality. 20 year warranty

None

This is my first review, and as i am not one to have ever put sound into words. I will keep it simple and breif.
I have bought and sold several amps and preamps (Tube and Solid state) over many years looking for that just right sound.
I have found that sound with Odyssey!
They have Smooth liquid mids, tight and deep bass, smooth and extended highs, Soundstage and instrument placement like no other in it's class.
The Odyssey products make listening to music a true pleasure like is should be.
Klaus talks about your system needing to have synergy! Well I have SYNERGY! and it is truely what i have been striving for for years. Thank You Klaus.
My system consists of Odyssey Statos Monoblock extream SE recently upgraded by Klaus, Odyssey Candella Tube preamp, Jolida jd100a cd player,
Pro-ject RM5SE turntable,
Jolida jd9a phono preamp, Furman ref 15It power center, a pair of Magneplaner MG 1.6qr speakers and a pair of Vandersteen 2W Subwoofers.

Similar Products Used:

Krell, Classe, VTL, Cary, Bryston, McCormack

All of the above...

Remember - these are hand assembled one at a time. It may take a while but Klaus is very up front about any potential wait and it WILL be worth the time...

A long overdue review – or – My first experience with Klaus and Odyssey Audio.

WARNING – long and exhaustive review…

A few months ago I found myself looking for some new audio gear to pair with some speakers that were on the way. I had decided that I was in the market for a tube preamp and solid-state amps. I enjoy the tube sound but I was looking to bring back the punch that SS provides. I posted looking for some recommendations and a few folks chimed in with a few suggestions and Odyssey was one. After spending some time lurking on AC, doing lots of research (mostly on the international sites), and hearing story after story of Klaus’ level of customer service, I decided to give Klaus a call. The short version is - we had a great chat that ended up with me placing an order for a new Candela and a pair of upgraded Stratos Monoblocks in Khartago cases. I knew up front that there would be a wait as this was just after RMAF, which left Klaus buried in new orders…

Fast forward a couple of months to the day that the Mono’s arrived. BIG and HEAVY are a couple of words that come to mind. I had some real second thoughts (while waiting) about going with the “lesser” Khartago case as opposed to the Stratos from an aesthetic standpoint. I can now safely say that I am 100% satisfied with the appearance of these amps. They look great, and are very robust and well made with a very uniform brushed black aluminum finish.

As my Candela was still weeks away and I was currently using an integrated with no preamp outs, I ended up going with a SB3 direct for my initial setup. This is a bit of a departure from my usual rig, which was interesting. As a frame of reference my current 2-channel rig t the time consisted of:
Onix SP3 tube integrated
Perpetual Technologies P1A/P3A(w/MW level II mods) and Monolithic P3B PS
Onix Strata Mini Speakers
Onix XCD-88 CDP

After setting everything up, it was finally time to flip the switch. Well – they worked! No explosions and no immediate issues. I have to admit that my initial reaction was not all that I had hoped. Everything sounded pretty flat and lifeless but as my own research and my conversations with Klaus had confirmed, these are amps that need some break-in time. I also discovered a slight buzz in the left channel amp that defied all of our efforts to trouble-shoot. The right channel was dead quiet but I just wasn’t satisfied with the left. Klaus suggested that it come back to him so I sent it back. Klaus basically rebuilt it and returned what amounted to a new amp. No problems, no hassles, just excellent service and a fairly quick turnaround given what Klaus has on his plate. These are heavy amps and who knows what UPS had done to it…

I hooked it up immediately on arrival and it was absolutely perfect. If anything it was even more amazingly quiet than the first one. These are powerful amps and when you can ramp them up and still have a noise floor as low as these amps, it’s really pretty amazing.

Oh, and did I mention that my Candela arrived at the same time? It was perfect timing and allowed me to set everything up with the new gear I had purchased just for this system. The new rig consists of:
Candela Preamp with dual-outs and silver knobs
Khartago/Stratos Mono’s
Onix XCD-99 CDP
Lite DAC-60 and/or P1A/P3A/P3B
Onix Strata Mini’s

So setup is complete, initial tests are done, everything works and now it’s time to break everything in. While I didn’t want to deprive myself of listening pleasure, I also wanted to see if it was the equipment breaking in or my ears. If you don’t believe in break-in then stop reading now because what I heard over the next 2 weeks was nothing short of magical. I would leave the system on all day while I was at work and turn it down or off when I got home. It took about 3 weeks before I did any real listening and WOW, this is a really amazing system. I was a little concerned when I first heard them but now I don’t think you could take them away from me!

Everything just sounds amazing – the depth and separation/placement of instruments is unreal and the SS “punch” that I wanted is right there. The Candela sound fantastic! I was a bit worrind about using a tube DAC in conjunction with a tube pre but after spending some time doing a few A/B’s, I love the sound. Very smooth but not at all “muddy” or “smeary”. The noise floor with the Candela/Khartago combo is so low as to be inaudible, even with the source paused and the volume on the Candela maxed. All I can say is that this is one clear circuit path with some quality components. The DAC-60 adds some tube hiss at ultra high levels but that disappears with the P3A in the chain. I am planning on modding the DAC-60 anyway so that may help a bit.

After having spoken with Klaus and Alex on multiple occasions and seeing and hearing the quality of the Odyssey products for myself, I can wholeheartedly recommend the company and it’s products. If you find yourself sitting on the fence – GET OFF!!! The longer you wait, the longer you will have to go without. Call Klaus and just get it over with – you won’t be disappointed…

Does everything well

No phono stage?

Having read a fair number of reviews trying to find useful posts and information regarding audio equipment I have arrived at the conclusion that words are limited in conveying anything meaningful as there is too much inter-reviewer dependencies. So I'm keeping this simple, no flair.

The Candela is one nice preamp. To my ears the lows, mids, and highs, the entire spectrum, are balanced, full and clean. The soundstage is wide and spatial. Music has an energy or excitement level that keeps me listening. Instruments and vocals are well portrayed. The recorded event is recreated/simulated with a sense of realism, especially given the limitations of monkey coffins (speakers) in reproducing the live event. The Candela doesn’t add or subtract from the source. I have read that tube rolling (see audiocircle.com) can slightly tailor the characteristics of this preamp but I haven’t rolled any tubes.

I also own a Primaluna which has received a number rave reviews, is dual mono, has top name parts etc and the Candela sounds better. I have owned several solid state preamps and although they were good, there is something intangible about the sound of a tube preamp.

The build is of quality too. It’s housed in a simplistic but sturdy aluminum case with faceplate color options if you don’t like black.

One caution though. The Candela inverts phase and although I’ve read about half the recordings made invert phase, and so do many other components and speakers, I recommend switching the +/- speaker cable leads to the left channel and the +/- speaker cable leads to the right channel, either at the speaker or the amp. I heard the difference. Some say you shouldn’t, others say you can’t. But I couldn’t place what I thought was not quite right with the sound so I did some reading and Alex at Odyssey had written about the phase inverting. So I switched the leads and the music sounded right. Who knows? But it is worth a try if the sound doesn’t meet with your expectations.

In its price bracket the Candela is at the top and for $1200 (The price above is incorrect.) this pre is a good buy since anything 2-3 times the price won’t sound 2-3 times better. It warrants a listen.

Customer Service

Excellent. Klaus continually provides great customer service. And a 20 year warranty to top it off.

Similar Products Used:

Present:
Odyssey Candela (linestage)
Primaluma Prologue Three (with phonostage) pre-
McAlister PL-10 Limited Ed. (with phonostage)

Past: Chronological
Odyssey Tempest Extreme
Rotel RC 1090
Rotel RC 995
Rotel RC 970

i thought the BAT VK 3i provided a clear window into the sound,but in comparison to the Candela the VK 3i seemed a bit veiled and sluggish. the Candela is very clean, fast, detailed and has a wide open soundstage and it's sonic presentation is way ahead of the previous tube preamplifiers that i have used in my system. lets keep in perspective that both of my previous tube preamplifiers were excellent performers in thier respective price ranges. the Candela is a phenominal tube preamplifier and can compete with preamplifiers costing three or four times as much and easily hold it's own.it operates in a Class- A single ended configuration with zero negative feedbackand the circuit design is based on a modified classic" current source loaded grounded cathode amplifier(mu-follower)" using a pair of ECC82/12AU7 (one per channel) Tubes. the top shelf parts include Alps ,Sonicaps. Dale/Vishay resistors Fairchild ultra fast recovery diodes.and a custom toroidal transformer made in the USA.the signal phase is inverted so i had to flip my speaker cables to correct the phase. i was very happy to get the very first Candela built with a remote volume control

there are no weaknesses whatsoever. the build and the sonics are first rate. my turnaround from ordering to the delivery to my home was 2 1/2 weeks which is very reasonable considering they are built to order one at a time.

I recieved my new Candela linestage preamplifier on sept 25 06. this is the best looking piece of gear that has ever come out of the Odyssey workshop. this is the third tube linestage preamplifier that i have used in my two channel rig. the first one being the Anthem Pre 1L, the second one being the Balanced audio Technology VK 3i. the Pre 1L sounded very good and with select NOS Tubes, my favorite being the Amperex 7308 goldpins. the Pre 1L was the most euphonic and sweet sounding of the three. the Balanced Audio Technology VK 3i was my second Tube preamplifier and i prefered its more clean and neutral presentation over the more euphonic Pre 1L..nothing could have prepared me for how good the Candela sounded cold right out of the box

Customer Service

by far the best customer service in the industry bar none

Similar Products Used:

Anthem ,Balanced Audio Technology