Gryphon Diablo 300 or Pass Labs Int-250 to Sonus faber Amati Tradition

Don’t rule out the Boulder 866. It is an excellent integrated amp. 

REGA OSIRIS can match up to these other contenders

there is no identifiable “ best” at this strata of equipment…only different bespoke sonic signatures for you to personally distill out to the one that  stirs your drink in terms of synergy with the rest of your system ( all of source, cables, and speakers)

It depends on what kind of sound you are looking for, I strongly recommend the Diablo, Amatis have a smooth personality and Pass 250 has it too, too much smothness in my opinion...

I don’t have experience with the Pass integrated but when I was home demoing amps I was testing separates, including those McIntosh amp preamp models, I couldn’t find any amps that didn’t make some genres of music sound harsh and grating to my ears over extended listening. Then I tested the Diablo 300. There was no comparison the Diablo sounded far superior than any of the separates that I was testing, that together cost about the same as the Diablo. Plus with the Diablo you don’t need an added interconnect and power cord.  I ended up buying the Diablo and I’ve enjoyed it for a few years now.

@soix yes indeed, I tested both the Vitus Ri-101 and the Diablo 300 at home.I mainly listen to classical music and the Vitus just sounded muffled whenever the musical message became complex, like on an orchestral tutti or on a piano arpegiatto. With the Diablo 300, there was life, flesh and drama in the music. Definitely not the most neutral amp out there but not in the bad sense of either « bloated syrupy » or « ear-pearcingly euphonic », quite the contrary. It’s well balanced and enhances the musical experience.

For the Boulder it’s a nice amp, but when I listened to it on the Dynaudio Confidence 60, it didn’t feel more enjoyable than my own integrated which retails at $7k. Everything was nice and all but compared to other amps in its price category I heard, I feel the value is less attractive.

Unfortunately for the Pass Int 250 I don’t have a dealer around me and I see magazine reviews which are often very contradictory. So if somebody who tried both the Gryphon and the Pass could elaborate on the differences between them, it would be very much appreciated.