Gryphon Diablo 300 or Pass Labs Int-250 to Sonus faber Amati Tradition

I would be very interested in this thread, as I’m looking at both options without the possibility to demo the Pass. I also had Boulder 866 and Vitus Ri-101 in my radar, but they were way below my expectations compared to the Diablo 300.

The issue with the Gryphon is that the model is already 8 years old and once its replacement comes out, the resale value should drop…

@habermas Did you actually compare the Boulder and the Vitus to the Diablo?  If so, in what areas did the Vitus and Boulder disappoint?

I was going to recommend the OP add Vitus to their list, but it all depends on what improvements they’re looking for over what they have now and what sound characteristics are most important to them. 

Of your two choices, the Diablo 300 all day long. 

I suspect the two Amps really don’t sound that similar. The Gryphon is likely squeaky clean and accurate, and somewhat unforgiving of any shortcomings in the chain. The Pass Labs is likely creamy smooth with midrange being the star of the show for stellar vocal presentation, and not so brutally honest. The SF’s are soft in presentation so the choice is to sharpen the SF’s with the Gryphon, or further accentuate their softness with the Pass Labs. 

I almost bought the Pass Labs Int 250 but ended up getting the Gryphon Diablo 300 instead.  The Diablo 300 IMO is a much better integrated amp.

separates  

your welcome. thread closed.

unless your space constrained. Pass Labs. good cables and speaker wire. good source.

I have the 300 and it is not "squeaky clean" nor "unforgiving" nor "brutally honest" - it is simply neutral compared to the 250. SF is a good speaker brand to match with Gryphon overall, especially if you want to retain the easy-going SF sonic character while injecting some dynamic jump/authority.

today i got mc452 and c2700. Is Pass Labs in the middle of Mcintosh and Gryphon?

Don’t rule out the Boulder 866. It is an excellent integrated amp. 

REGA OSIRIS can match up to these other contenders

there is no identifiable “ best” at this strata of equipment…only different bespoke sonic signatures for you to personally distill out to the one that  stirs your drink in terms of synergy with the rest of your system ( all of source, cables, and speakers)

It depends on what kind of sound you are looking for, I strongly recommend the Diablo, Amatis have a smooth personality and Pass 250 has it too, too much smothness in my opinion...

I don’t have experience with the Pass integrated but when I was home demoing amps I was testing separates, including those McIntosh amp preamp models, I couldn’t find any amps that didn’t make some genres of music sound harsh and grating to my ears over extended listening. Then I tested the Diablo 300. There was no comparison the Diablo sounded far superior than any of the separates that I was testing, that together cost about the same as the Diablo. Plus with the Diablo you don’t need an added interconnect and power cord.  I ended up buying the Diablo and I’ve enjoyed it for a few years now.

@soix yes indeed, I tested both the Vitus Ri-101 and the Diablo 300 at home.I mainly listen to classical music and the Vitus just sounded muffled whenever the musical message became complex, like on an orchestral tutti or on a piano arpegiatto. With the Diablo 300, there was life, flesh and drama in the music. Definitely not the most neutral amp out there but not in the bad sense of either « bloated syrupy » or « ear-pearcingly euphonic », quite the contrary. It’s well balanced and enhances the musical experience.

For the Boulder it’s a nice amp, but when I listened to it on the Dynaudio Confidence 60, it didn’t feel more enjoyable than my own integrated which retails at $7k. Everything was nice and all but compared to other amps in its price category I heard, I feel the value is less attractive.

Unfortunately for the Pass Int 250 I don’t have a dealer around me and I see magazine reviews which are often very contradictory. So if somebody who tried both the Gryphon and the Pass could elaborate on the differences between them, it would be very much appreciated.

Unfortunately I have not been able to listen to the SF Amati’s  with any Pass products.  However, I have listened to the speakers with several different McIntosh pre amp and amp separates as well as with the Diablo 300 integrated.  I was so impressed the Diablo 300 and Amati combination that after an in home demo, I purchased both the Diablo 300 and SF Amati’s 3-4 years ago.  I still really enjoy this pairing and I have not listened to anything since that I would consider an upgrade of my current system.

today i got mc452 and c2700. Is Pass Labs in the middle of Mcintosh and Gryphon?

No, given the Mac house sound I’d guess it’ll be even warmer and less detailed than the Pass.  What improvements/sound characteristics are you looking for with the new amp?

Since the Amati drops below 4 ohms in the bass I would go for the Diablo 300 which has much more current capability into low impedances than the Int 250.

@habermas If memory serves both were launched in 2015.