Gryphon Essence Amp and Pandora Preamp arrive

Mike

Mike

Audioshark
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Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Messages
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Location
Sarasota, FL
I encourage all my Diablo 300 customers to demo this amp!!

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johnthomas said:
Mike what's your assessment on the sound and heat difference?
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Most Gryphon amps have an ever so dark tonality, which I love. This new amp has about half of the dark sound I’ve come to expect from a Gryphon amp. It’s there, but you can tell that this is a very subtle new voicing. What this amp has in spades, even maybe on its big brothers is DEPTH! It has the width and big bottom end you would expect from a Gryphon amp, but it’s depth seemingly goes way way back.

The magic with this amp, just like all Gryphon amps is the class A bias. It’s rich and full and smooth, but at the same time dynamic and punchy with that famous Gryphon bass.

So Mike what about those 50 watts? I call B.S. I’ve pushed this amp HARD on three different sets of speakers and it gives up nothing to amps rated much higher on the power scale.

As for the heat, we are using the Pandora preamp which has the green bias cable that controls the bias level of the amp. Want to listen louder? The preamp puts the amp into a higher bias and can create more heat.

But what about that heat?

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Very acceptable especially after being on all day and driven hard.

At the end of the day, unless someone has an unusually large room with extremely hard to drive speakers, I can’t imagine this amp being everything a Gryphon amp lover would crave. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. But as others have reported, don’t judge a book by its cover. This Essence is a Grand Slam Homerun for the post-Fleming era at Gryphon.


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Dguitarnut said:
Do you know what happens to the selectable power if it’s paired with a preamp other than Gryphon?
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Larry, you can run, but you can’t hide. Shall I meet you at the store tomorrow? Bring the SUV. We will load it all right in the back.

It runs at high bias. Don’t worry Larry, I’ll loan you the Zena or the Pandora.

Resistance is futile. One listen and you’ll know.
 
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The Essence not even breaking a sweat driving the M2’s in the big room (20 x 25) to 95db. 47 on the VC. 50 watts my ass. I would estimate 120.


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GSOphile said:
Mike, how would you characterize this Gryphon pair with the Luxman 900u stereo amp & pre?
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This Gryphon Essence at ~$20k is the $20k champ. It beats the Colosseum IMO and nips at the heels of the Mephisto.


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High praise. For someone with a Diablo 300, what in your opinion are the best ways to feed it? I don't see much discussion of the Essence pre. I am a solid state guy. Are there good SS pre-amp alternatives that would be suitable mates, e.g., Lux C-900u, Pass XP-22 or -32? (Normally my first inclination would be to get an amp and a pre from the same manufacturer.)
 
I would do XP22 or Essence Pre.


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Would be interesting to do a comparo with the Sim Audio 860V2, Pass X350.8, and Luxman 900. All under $20K.
 
nonesup said:
Mike how would you compare it to an Antileon Evo, which would you prefer of the two.
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The Antilleon Evo is the only Gryphon amp I haven’t owned. I have the Mephisto, owned the Colosseum, Diablo 300, Diablo 120, etc. The Essence is better than the Colosseum, but not quite as good as the Mephisto. The voicing of the Essence is intoxicating. I find it needs a “one song warm up” and then song two it’s really opening up and singing. It has better DEPTH of soundstage than even it’s big brother IMO.

For me, if I was shopping for an amp/preamp combo, I would personally pick the Essence amp with the Pandora pre over say the Antilleon Evo amp and Zena pre (which I also own). This is my second go-around with the Pandora pre and this one I’m keeping.

You can read more about my thoughts regarding the Essence above. But in the ~$20K range, this is the winner for me. I’ve now tested it on four different pairs of speakers. All of them - a rarity, I felt it was the best ~$20k amp for all of them.

Let’s keep in mind that the Essence is still 50% more expensive than the M900u and 25% more expensive than the 860 v2, so price does play a role. But if someone can swing that ~$20K, this is the one I highly recommend.
 
I think those 4 amps are terrific at their price points. Clearly a great field of solutions at $20K or less. A great time to be in audio.
 
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