Considering Gryphon Diablo 300 "OR" Simaudio 700iv2 ???

Huberto wow that is a fascinating non factual statment:

Before I decided to buy Diablo 300 I audutioned and directly or indirectly (different rooms) compared with it the following amplifiers:

You can’t judge indirectly the sound of one amplifier in one room playing one set of speakers vs another completely different set of speakers playing on different gear.

It sounds like you went to a show and heard a bunch of different rooms or went to a dealer with multiple rooms and listened to different systems.

The only way you can judge the quality of the Gryphon vs any other amplifier is by listening to one on the same set of speakers, and then changing the electronics, warming them up and listening to the same tracks.

By the way the Gryphon is an excellent amplifier, we have heard their gear and the Diablo is a great piece, it is not better than any of the other top level amplifiers you mentioned, such as the T+A or Vitus gear,at this level you will have preferences and the products individual voicing, along with your loudspeakers, digital or analog rig and cabling is going to lead you to the sound of one vs another.

We would agree that the Vitus, T+A and Gryphon are going to sound really fantastic and should sound better than some of the lower level gear the Luxmain 509X is a great amplifier but the Luxman separates at 3 times the price is going to be better, the uber intergrateds sound as good as many separates so that is another duel.

As per the others

Sugden ia4
Leema Tucana 2 Anniversary
Bryston pre plus 4b3 and 7bsst2
Musical fidelity nu Vista 800
Ayre ax5
Mark Levinson 585
McIntosh ma8000

all of these are good pieces but not up to that uber level of the Vitus, Gryphon and T+A gears or the Luxman separates, however most of these are $5k or more less expensive so you are not comparing necessarily apples and oranges.

Mikya not doubting it Sim Audio to our ears is a bit on the brighter side the Gryphon warmer and punchier with more layering, however a Vitus or T+A would also have been equally impressive.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Really p59teitel,

Do you drive 10 different sports cars on 10 different days over a two week period on different roads, times of days and make a conclusion.

Or

Do you get all ten cars, drive them one lap at the track on the same day under the same conditions before you proclaim this one is the fastest with the best handling?

Love Car and Driver that is how they test a performance car under the exact same conditions, any other way you are going by memory of under specious testing procedures.

The only way to test a piece of gear is under the exact same conditions, same loudspeaker, source, cabling, same room, same time frame.

For this reason the Stereophile recommend Component issue is a joke, do you honestly think that Stereophile has ever has all the Class A amplifiers in the same room at the same time? Or digital or loudspeakers?

Do you honestly think that a pair of Wilson Chronosonic or a pair of Tidal Sunrays, or top Kharmas is not going to be Class A++++? Do you honestly think that most of the products that are Class A are really the best that exist?

Huberto, 

Thanks for your post. Your testing methodology seems a bit skeewed, see a room full of gear, did you move the gear that you were testing from the one main rack between the speakers? 

Was the cabling exaclty the same, power etc?

Did you warm up each set of gear before testing?

Did you use exaclty the same tracks?

The issue we have is your hyperbole, the Gryphon gear is great, so is the Vitus and T+A gear, any one of these brands makes outstanding gear that is generally considered better than most of the othe players you were mentioning. We have heard all of these players and it comes down to personal taste and system synergy.

We had one unfortunate demo with the T+A where someone turned on the tone controls and it killed the demo, didn't realize that the tone controls were engaged until the client left.  

The Gryphon, T+A and Vitus gear are generally considered a step up due to their outstanding construction and design.

The Luxman separates should have outperfomed any of the integrated amplifiers, what cabling and power conditioning were you using with them?

What cabling and power conditioning were you using with the gear?

Your one statement is very true I think a lot depends on personal preferences.

Last question are you a store or private listening room? That seems like a huge amount of gear in one room.

We run similar tests frequently we keep all of the variables down to a minimum by just swaping out the gear, same rack, same cables, same power conditioning.

Good luck 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor

Actually there are a few posts on another forum,in one an owner of the 3100HV who tried some Furutech cables and was very happy that the cables gave the amp more dynamic impact
We have noticed the amplifier is very sensitive to power.
The other thing was a post from someone with both the Gryphon and the PA 3100HV at the same time in the same system and his response was a bit different, he found them both equal but different, with the Gryphon having a bigger presentation with a bit more slam, however he felt the image was more focused and the treble was smoother with a more tube like sound.with the T+A.
So system matching with loudspeakers and sources are going to push one person to like one of the other.
We heard the Diablo at Axpona and the system didn’t sound that good,

A cheappie T+A R series system was making a lot of magic and that system was a fraction of the price of the Gryphon/Tidal system the other dealer was showing.

Add a set of Critical Mass Center stage footers and a good power cord and conditioner and then see if the T+A doesn’t have a similar slam with the tube like midrange the you get with the HV technology.
As mentioned earlier the OP summed it up it comes down to personal taste.
One reason we were asking Humbetro was if the testing was done in exactly the same way, were power cables used and power conditioning?
It is entirely possible we would have the same conclusion, in our tests the 3100HV has been absolutely amazing sounding and has driven all speakers beautifully.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ T+A dealers