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I listened to the Gryphon Diablo today , what an experience !

I just had an opportunity to audition  the Gryphon Diablo 300 at Evolution Home Theater. They have recently become the authorized Gryphon Dealer in Atlanta. First a little background.  I normally listen to my Sonus Faber Amati Tradition powered by a Plinius 9200. My music is from Tidal, played through a Cambridge  Audio Azur 851N network player or via my network hard drive. I thought that this combination sounded great and was very happy with my system until today when I heard the Gryphon.Although I expected some  improvement with Gryphon, I did not expect to be blown away by the amplifier, However after hearing the amplifier for the first time,  that is exactly what happened!The Gryphon 300 was set up to use the internal DAC with Tidal via a music server.  The speakers were the Sonus Faber Serafina’s. I had previous heard both the Amati’s and the Serafina’s  on MAC equipment and thought the Amati’s sounded significantly better on the MAC gear,When I listened today  and compared the music with my own system, I heard significant improvement with the Gryphon. The first thing I noticed was the pinpoint control the amplifier exerted on the speakers.  This was manifested by an extended frequency range with both improved  bass and treble. It seemed as though a veil or haze had been removed from the music with a marked increase in clarity, detail, and analytics.  Yet the amplifier showed no coolness or harshness and after listening for several hours to a variety of music (mostly jazz, classical, and rock) there was no evidence of fatigue. The soundstage was large, three dimensional and detailed.  It was an improvement over my Plinius in every way.It also changed the way that I look at my music system.  I used to think that it was all in the speakers and with great speakers all that was needed was a good amplifier.  I learned today that a great amplifier with very good speakers, can sound better than a good amplifier with excellent speakers.I can hardly wait until I can make the time to be able to demo the Gryphon in my own music room with my Amati speakers.
hemoncdoc

Showing 3 responses by denon1

denon1
329 posts
 

Hemoncdoc, I currently have SF Amati Tradition. Great speaker for sure, to my surprise it disappears better than Serafino that I also had in my home for almost a year. And guess what drove Serafino - Gryphon Diablo 300. Yes great integrated, in different league from plinius 9200. I had all pliniuses with exception of latest Ref. A-300. Great amps for a money, but lacking air and refinement  in compare with other like latest pass, Sim audio, GAmut monos. I had to sell Gryphon about 8 months ago for financial reasons. Since that I had luxman 509x - good integrated but no match to gryhpon or pass int-250 that I currently have.Pass int-250 is great integrated, but Gryphon was  better with better micro details, dynamics and articulation, pass has bigger soundstage and midrange is more bloomy.

Keep in mind that Gryphon Diablo 300 is a little on dark side ( like very good dark chocolate) not warm so, but a little dark, so even it will greatly drive Sonus Faber but,I personally think that the even greater match for Amati will be high current /high power, low noise  fast and refined amplification like Dagostino progression, or Sim audio 870A, or class A/B Rowland (may be 625 S2) or T+A (may be).  I am not mentioning ultra high end brands or tubes since I don't have any expose with them. Couple dealers I know swear by T+A 31000HV integrated and I considering it strongly, but I will not proceed (at this level is a requirement) without home demo that so far I can't arrange. So for now I'm staying with pass.

denon1
329 posts
 
Hemoncdoc, always glad to share. From those I mentioned I only heard the progression and not in my system, but also with Amati.
I also really prefer integrated path. But the Momento integrated out of my reach. Another one that you may to consider is Vitus integrated. I heard it driving rockport speakers and think it will be sideway move from Pass. Yes Gryphon  should be good, but based on my own hands on with Diablo and Sonus Faber I don’t think it’s the best match. Gryphon is a great match for speakers like Magico.
So if we exclude separates and tubes it’s leaves the pass int-250 that much better than what you have now and T+A. Btw I had Plinius Hiato also, pass int-250 is better and it also better ( to my ears) than gamut 150le that I also had.
Bass with Amati and pass is tight, deep and multilayered-great.
The area I see for improvement is top end should be more airy, and dynamics little  more articulated. The midrange is great so.
One thing l’m very happy with are the Sonus Faber Amati Tradition speakers They are not going anywhere for a long time.
denon1
329 posts
 
Nyev, yes a little warmish with a lot of texture. 
I think it also depends what cables you match it with. When I had diablo I used full shunyata sigma loom that all copper and sounded great but again with a lot of meat on the bones. Now I am thinking if I was able to use nordost Valhalla 2 cables this would balance things between Gryphon  and Sonus Faber. Again at this leve careful component matching is must.
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