Gryphon amps.

If we are discussing the top models from each company, I prefer the Gryphon.

Rowland is one of my favorite transistor amps, and I would normally choose it over almost any other brand you could have thought of, in this case though you mentioned my favorite transistor amp, Gryphon.

Good response Detlof. As noted by Gregm we were ask to vote between two great transistor amps, which I did.

Truth is, I do not own any transistor gear other than my television and Sony SACD player. Even the surround system is tube, with Atmasphere for a dialogue amp.

Speaking of Atmasphere, I met one of Gryphons designers at CES a number of years ago. My reference amp at the time was Atmasphere MA2 mono blocks. When I ask the designer how his amps performed on Soundlabs, he ask what I was currently using. When I told him, he visibly lit up and said "those are great amps, we design for similar performance."

That to me describes the sound of Gryphon, I have never heard them sound harsh, but perhaps it is a system thing.