I decided to wait until I had given my new Odyssey Khartago Stereo Extreme some break in time before sharing my thoughts about it. I ordered it in late October and received it the week after Christmas. I have been playing it for hours nearly every day since then, and while it may not be totally broken in yet, it has to be pretty close to fully broken in by now. The unit I ordered was the Plus model with various additional improvements. In addition to the base model this amp has the increased doubled output capacitance of 120,000 Auf total and the full SE board upgrade which includes Vishay/Dale resistors and WIMA metal film capacitors, etc., wired with Groneberg shielded signal cable, and an encased shielded toroidal transformer to reduce RF/EMI. I also had Klaus add a set of balanced inputs to the unbalanced inputs that come standard. The SE version upgrades take the basic 110 WPC to 130 WPC into 8 Ohms. These upgrades added an additional cost of roughly 90% to the base Khartago.
The amplifier came well packaged, double boxed and arrived unscathed. Although quite pedestrian in appearance, the Khartago is a solid piece of kit and exudes build quality. I needed an amp that has solid control over my hard to drive Magnepan 1.7i's and I must admit that it does so with aplomb. The Khartago is powerful, smooth, detailed and combined with the Schiit Freya Plus and Magnepans the resulting sound stage and depth is as good as I have ever personally experienced in my home. I can honestly say that it is everything I have read about it; maybe more. I had my concerns that this amp would get hot when driving the Magnepan's. I took voltage measurements from the outlet the amp was to be plugged into 3 times a day for a week and sent the average to Klaus. He set the bias based on my measurements and assured me that the amp would only get 5-6 degrees warmer than room temperature. He was right and the result is an amp that barely gets warm even during prolonged 80-90db SPL use.
Much like my Magnepan 1.7i's, I believe I have hit upon yet another of those great audiophile bargains. I don't believe I could do better unless I was to spend upwards of 5-6k. My humble stereo system has been vastly improved in 2021. This amplifier is highly recommended.
The amplifier came well packaged, double boxed and arrived unscathed. Although quite pedestrian in appearance, the Khartago is a solid piece of kit and exudes build quality. I needed an amp that has solid control over my hard to drive Magnepan 1.7i's and I must admit that it does so with aplomb. The Khartago is powerful, smooth, detailed and combined with the Schiit Freya Plus and Magnepans the resulting sound stage and depth is as good as I have ever personally experienced in my home. I can honestly say that it is everything I have read about it; maybe more. I had my concerns that this amp would get hot when driving the Magnepan's. I took voltage measurements from the outlet the amp was to be plugged into 3 times a day for a week and sent the average to Klaus. He set the bias based on my measurements and assured me that the amp would only get 5-6 degrees warmer than room temperature. He was right and the result is an amp that barely gets warm even during prolonged 80-90db SPL use.
Much like my Magnepan 1.7i's, I believe I have hit upon yet another of those great audiophile bargains. I don't believe I could do better unless I was to spend upwards of 5-6k. My humble stereo system has been vastly improved in 2021. This amplifier is highly recommended.
