Where's
@ogodei ?
I'm curious to read his impressions about the upgraded Stratus vs Stellaris . I own the first one and heard the second but never compared directly.
I’ve had just over two weeks to compare my Stellaris head-to-head with a Stratus with the latest updates. I did some critical listening sessions during the holiday time off, some casual listening sessions, and invited some people with better ears than mine over to hang out and give some opinions. Jump to the findings section for conclusions.
Critical listening was done with matched sets of tubes in both amps. I used two sets of rectifiers, either Western Electric 422A grey plates or Mullard/Philips Miniwatt metal-base 5AR4s. Power tubes were Shuguang Nature Sound 2A3C-T s and drivers were matched Voskhod 6N1P-EV for all sessions, the only double sets I had. I flipped tubes back and forth between the amps to make sure I wasn’t just hearing tubes.
Hardware chain was PC, playing either Tidal via Roon or DSD & FLAC via JRiver, streaming to an SOtM SMS-200 (W4S PS-1 PSU) > iFi USB > Singxer SU-1 > HDMI i2S > HoloSpringDAC > goldpoint balanced level controls > Balanced Splitter > Balanced cables to the amps. For the Stratus I converted balanced to RCA using either a Jensen ISO-MAX PI-2XR or Sescom SC15XJR. I tested only against the balanced input on the Stellaris cause that’s what I bought it for.
Amps were level matched, headphones used were the Audeze LCD-MX4, SE cable; stock Senn HD-800s with stock balanced cables; Utopia with a custom balanced cable, and a ZMF Auteur Blackwood with the neutral pads, balanced and SE cables. I did a lot of casual listening with other tubes and headphones.
Findings:
Both amps are end-game territory. The differences noted here all at the hypercritical edge.
Bass was
very slightly extended and pushed on Stellaris in the 10 to 30dB region on some tracks but I didn’t find this to matter with most material. More importantly, low bass was better controlled on Stellaris which helped with clarity and timbre in the mid-range, especially in orchestral or very busy material. This was probably the most noticeable difference between the amps and it became very clear on the comparatively bass-pushed headphones (e.g., Audeze, ZMF, Denon). Stellaris was also faster, with speedier attack and decay on most headphones. I found the difference reduced when using the Philips vs. the WE422A, with the Stratus almost reaching up to the level of the Stellaris. Another listener didn’t hear that change though, so, grain of salt.
Treble extension, dynamics and noise floor seemed identical. Openness and imaging were essentially the same except when heavy or persistent bass was involved. Another listener stated that the Stratus seemed ‘almost congested’ compared to Stellaris on one track, then we laughed our heads off at the idea of the Stratus ever being called congested.
Other comments were that Stellaris consistently had better ‘layering’ of sound, was faster, was clearer in overall presentation. The consensus, which I totally agree with, is that the Stellaris sounds slightly better but the Stratus is the better value.
