Gryphon Diablo 300 vs Vitus RI-101

@btbluesky is there a darTZeel dealer in your area? (Where are you located?) darTZeel is how I'd spend my money in this category and is worth auditioning before making a decision.

- Colin
https://gestalt.audio

disclaimer: I'm a darTZeel dealer in Nashville, TN. I have an obvious financial incentive to tell you to buy darTZeel. I'm pointing this out because I think it's important to state biases and no one wants to hear another dealer vacuously pushing their wares. On the other side of that coin, I've personally evaluated most of the audio gear on the market and that experience informs the lines I represent and my recommendations.

Odds are I'm not in your region but I can help you find someone who is.

Both the Gryphon and Vitus are great integrateds with different sound profiles.

From my experience, the Diablo 300 sounds a tad more forward, especially with the vocals in comparison to the Vitus. I felt the sound got a tad harsh in the highs at higher volumes on some soundtracks. Whereas the RI-101 sounds more organic, you could say it has more relaxed natural sounding vocals with crisp highs and deep powerful bass. It does not focus attention to a specific frequency but creates an overall pleasant listening experience.

When I compared the two, my personal favorite was the Vitus. It provided a sound I have been looking for a while in regards to accuracy of instruments and dynamics. I liked the Diablo but was on the fence with some sound tracks. If you like the sound of tubes, you may like the Vitus over the Diablo. To me it just feels more organic and lifelike without sacrificing crispness and resolution.

I agree with eziggy above in general.

Vitus RI-101 vs Gryphon Diablo 300; I just did a shoot out of both, in a domestic environment.  Only the amp was the variable, all other factors remained constant in the system.

If you like the Gryphon darkish, warmish, powerful house sound, go for it. It does not respond much to source or cable changes. The Gryphon character prevails, no matter what is connected to it. Its sonic character becomes the center of the system.

Vitus is more chameleon-like, and changes to a source or a cable is reflected in the sound. It responds to the partners that it is connected with. It is more "neutral" because it plays in and with the team. It does not call attention to itself even though it is a strong player, and plays its role very well.

Well, the above is just a comparison relative to each other.  Both amps need long warm-ups, especially the Vitus which only sounded good after one hour. (Both amps were not brand new amps, but well run in.)

Vitus RI-101 is my choice over the Gryphon Diablo 300. I am now a new fanboy of the Vitus sound. Jadis I-50 or I-88 will be my second choice after the Vitus. Gryphon comes in at number 3 for me.

PS-Audio BHK? Forget about it. Completely not in this league of amps at all.

 FWIW! ;-)

I agree with hamburger and the newer RI 101 Mk 2 is even better. More neutral.

Since Covid, I had alot of time to evaluate my system, and ended up with BOTH sia025 mki and a pass x250.8 . Now they both beat my old JC1 easily, but between them I had a hard time with. Both are extremely capable but in different ways, sia025 is just more neutral, reserve, more grownup sound but very smooth. x250.8 introduced me to the pass sound, so colorful, full of life, and wild but in a good way. I’m keeping both for now, but this is my observation. PRAT wise both are extremely close, with the advantage goes to pass as its a class A/AB amp. However, keep in mind that my system's goal is wanting to lean more closely to be neutral as I use the system with movies/TV as well.
I also got the pass XA25 for my bookshelf, now that’s a 2A3/45 tube amp substitute if there ever was one.