Anyone bought a Gryphon Diablo 333?

To add a little substance to this forum here are some comments and reflections about GRYPHON DIABLO 333. I finally had the opportunity to meet the beast on Friday, March 22, 2024 at the Montreal audio show.

 

@roccl007 thank you for relaying your account of the Diablo 333 and I suspect the reviews won’t come until Gryphon sends units to reviewers and they have had at least a few weeks or preferably longer to evaluate. I’ve heard a few reviewers say they currently have 333’s on the way to them (Terry at Pursuit of Perfect System is one) so I expect reviews to come within the next couple of months.  

IMO I wouldn’t be too alarmed about Gryphon’s mention of shutdown during overheating, this is likely simply standard safety and self-protection management that is good to see in a well designed product.
 

@ricky64 , my Makua arrived, and yes the holographic presentation is truly great. All issues addressed and there are major improvements on every performance dimension I can think of over the Tambaqui feeding the Essence directly. I really wasn’t expecting this degree of improvement. And this was right from the first cold power-up of the Makua on Saturday night. It’s early days but I really don’t feel the need to look at other preamps now. Yes, it’s very transparent but as I mentioned before my speakers are warmer and more relaxed, so the sound is very, very easy to listen to for extended periods. The sound is much more dynamic and incisive, but is also very full-bodied, and the images within the soundstage are specifically placed yet fully fleshed out into a natural presentation. And the bass is fantastic too - very energetic, defined and palpable.

I expect the sound and my perceptions to change over the next 4 weeks or so, but right now I feel like I’m getting way more performance than I anticipated. And that performance is in service to the music and not for the sake of performance which is fantastic. I’m not typically one to convince myself that I like something simply because I bought it. More times than not I am more like “ah crap, this wasn’t right….”, even to a fault. But not this time, at least at this point. The gamble seems to have paid off.  In musical enjoyment that is; most certainly not financially!

@nyev I am glad to hear your new Essence and Makua are treating you so well! I enjoyed reading your write-up thus far and look forward to hearing more as they continue to burn-in and as your re-terminated Dragon gets put back into your system.

@62truck , I received the reterminated Dragon back and installed it last night, and my system performance went down - there was a loss in clarity and dynamics vs the stock cable.  I replaced the stock cable to be sure, and noticed that the bass was a touch cleaner on the Dragon but the top end was clearer, more present and dynamic with the stock cord!

 

It must be that that both ends which are new need to be burned in, or simply that the cable needs to resettle after being moved around and likely having the DBS system disrupted.  I’ve noticed that all of my new AQ power cords have not sounded good for the first 20 or so days of on-time, so maybe it’ll take some time again.  Not good that the stock cable sounds better (aside from the bass) at this time but hey at least it’s proof that power cords make a difference, lol.

 

@nyev 

I’ve only heard of Mola Mola TAMBAQUI DAC until your post about the Makua preamp, so I researched both the Makua preamp and the KALUGA MONO POWER AMPLIFIER.  The Makua reviews were impressive and their optional DAC and phono are surprisingly very high sonic quality.  The Kalua was also a surprise- as massive but controlled feedback yields an “effortless” sound in which I’m after.  Last time I heard “effortless” was when I heard Gryphon Commander + APEX at an audio show, but it’s way past my budget.  Thanks for sharing.  

@nyev , glad to hear the pre is working so well for you. Not sure the exact science of it, but the MMT directly into the Essence amp suffers greatly compared to having a pre amp in the chain. 

@ricky64 , not sure if you’ve read the same, but I’ve read quite a few articles stating why DAC’s with digital volume controls going direct to amplifiers will lack dynamics, depth, and body, while being “edgy”.  Christiaan from HiFi Advice has an article on this topic (a reviewer I respect quite a bit), as do others.  Apparently has to do with software manipulation of the source signal prior to converting to analog, when a digital volume control is used.
 

 

@kennyc yes the Mola Mola gear all looks to be top notch.  I was only willing to take a gamble on the preamp based on my experiences having owned the standalone Tambaqui which has been fantastic, feeding my Diablo 300 as a standalone DAC and without it using its digital volume control.  The reviews led me to believe the sound signature (or lack thereof) to be the same with the preamp.

The Mola class D amplifiers look very interesting but have not had the opportunity to hear.  These don’t seem to be anywhere as popular as the Tambaqui, likely due to people’s preconceived notions around Class D, however, from the reviews which I have no reason to doubt (as they all have similar comments), it seems Mola’s amps may be quite special.

The build quality and software is also truly unique in terms of how well done it is, and the quality of life type of convenience and flexibility features the software offers is just fantastic.  Given how bare bones the front face of the unit is (which I love), it’s unexpected to see how fully fleshed out the configurability options are from the app.  You can tell they really cared about this in the design and that their products are the result of a labour of love.

Same with the Gryphon, but IMO I think Mola has a slight lead on build and physical design (I have never been a fan of Gryphon’s use of acrylic on their front faces), and also with how truly flexible their products are through the very slick app.

 

 

@nyev 

How goes everything these days? I’m intrigued to hear what your latest thoughts and experiences are. 
 

Also, have you tried hooking your Essence up to your Torus RM 20? I have been reading up on that piece and see lots of people actually get positive results with not just their low-current gear, but also amplifiers. I know you had originally liked the 300 on the RM 20 but after your recent gear changes, went back to the wall for your 300 (prior to bringing in the Essence).

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I still am loving the 333. I moved up to A5’s, and added Tyr 2 speaker cables. Loving everything so far. 

Hi @62truck, great to hear from you and congrats on the A5’s! I am enjoying my Mola Mola Makua and Gryphon Essence immensely as well.  I ended up moving to a Puritan PSM-156 instead of the Torus.  They both were quite good and the Torus may have provided a hair more resolution but I found the Puritan just a hair more free-flowing with bigger and bolder mids. I do feel like there are some benefits hooking the amp up to either device. But ultimately I prefer it just slightly more when the amp is connected directly to its own dedicated 20A AC circuit. Just sounds a bit more natural to me.

The change that really blew me away is when I got a Townshend platform under my Gryphon amplifier.  Everything opened up, the soundstages became bigger and grander, and imaging improved.  I’ve used IsoAcoustics and Herbie’s products in the past but this goes way further, and the best part is it doesn’t impart a tonal signature of its own like other vibration control products do.

I have a second platform on the way for the Makua preamp and I will be purchasing others as well.

Finally, one other tweak - I had my Audiovector R6 Arrete’s on their spikes sitting in Herbie’s spike decoupling gliders and this worked quite well.  However I tried putting 1.5” thick granite pedestals under each speaker and this really improved things further. Under the granite I put 5 Herbie’s fat dots to interface the granite with the hardwood floor.  Where there were slight levelling issues I stuffed a cut up sheet of paper under the foot and that seemed to work well.  In the end I have better clarity, more nuanced detail in the upper registers, and like with the  Townshends, a bit bigger soundstage and better imaging.  
 

Things are sounding fantastic now!

@nyev That is great to hear your system is providing you so much sonic enjoyment! That is interesting to learn about your experiences with the isolation products under both components and the speakers. When I added Magico pods to my speakers they improved in clarity and cohesion. I should look into the Townshe d platform for my Gryphon. Although the 333 does have spikes (with discs) pre-installed by default. I have an HRS platform but it is currently configured for a lower weight so I would need to have it re-calibrated by HRS or dealer.

That is interesting to hear about the Puritan. Other than the Torus, that is the power product I have been interested in learning more about. I’ve definitely seen people talking about plugging bigger amps into the RM but I’m happy to hear you like the Essence into the Puritan, too. It sounds like the mids are better with the Puritan but resolution is better with the RM. Are there any other details you can think of? Many thanks. May I ask what prompted you to trade the RM for the Puritan?

@62truck , I was curious about the Puritan as there was one in the system when I was auditioning my Audiovector R6’s. And a friend was recommending it as well. So that was it really.  

I think both the Torus and Puritan are great, however I personally prioritized the bigger and freer midrange of the Puritan over the higher resolution and refinement of the Torus.  The Torus may be more focused and “pinpointed” with imaging.  It’s tough for me to go to greater details, because during my testing, the quality of my AC power was also fluctuating.  So while I definitely noted differences, the main difference that I could confidently attribute to each product is the ones that I noted.  Also, just to clarify I do prefer my amp connected directly to the wall (dedicated circuit).

 

@nyev Thank you for sharing that. I'm sure it's difficult to go further if your power was fluctuating. I appreciate it. And yes, I know you have ultimately felt direct to the wall with the amp is the way to go. It sound like in most cases that is true, especially when a dedicated line is in place.

Any updated impressions on this amp?

Heard the 333 with a Magico/DCS rig and it was totally blown away when compared to the Essence pre/amp. I could not believe the difference, not even close. The essence amp is insanely underrated. 

As in the essence is better than the 333?

my god yes

Late to the party, but FYI @nyev I wound up getting another Makua for my Essence system as an upgrade to the Essence preamp. (I now have two Makuas, the other one with internal DAC in my second home.) The system sounded very good with the Essence pre but the Makua is more resolving and dimensional - even my non-audiophile wife called it “more 3D.” I also compared my Tambaqui + Makua to the Makua with internal DAC and it’s basically the same save the influence of the interconnects and power cord on the Tambaqui - in my system I had a slight preference for the slightly rounder, fuller sound of the Tambaqui with Furutech cords, but the internal DAC had a more, well, direct and incisive sound with slightly better resolution. At some point I need to find time to get through my backlog of reviews and write all this up…

Going to audition the 333 and Essence stack at my dealer this week.

As an aside, I have a 300 I paid $18K for new 2 years ago, saw a 300 used for $11K btw, wow 👌 anyone just starting out in the deep end of the hifi world would be hard pressed to get something as good for $11K.

What were your impressions of the 333? Also, would you mind sharing the contact info for your dealer with the used 300 for sale?

@kairosman What were your impressions, was the 333 better than your D300?

The 333 was better, but not much, more different than better for my tastes. And definitely not better enough at DOUBLE the price. High-end hifi right now is overvalued. Kinda like the S&P 500.

The Essence stack was clearly better, but again more different than better. The 300 is warmer than either the 333 or the Essence stack, which suits my system better.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may differ.

Heard both the 333 and 300 side by side today, my impressions mirror yours @kairosman I did not audition the Essence combo.