My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
Gryphon Pandora has been added and the boulder 2110 preamp removed. Here are the results: https://youtu.be/mIx2SHmIXds (Please watch the video until the end to find out what specific changes took place) |
The interior build of the Boulder amps are just in a whole other class compared to the Mephisto. A much more refined product, that obviously went a lot further in research and development. The Gryphon’s gut looks like a chinese overbuilt layout compared to the Boulders... Gryphon is a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Boulder is a Ferrari or Porsche... But but but, Mephisto got huuuuge bass dynamics and shakes the whole room...😂 |
@techno__dude Ever drive a Hellcat? It's an awful lot of fun. As is a Porsche or Ferrari. I've had the chance to drive all 3. All good, one is a flat out blast, one is very good but you need to know what you are doing and have it on the right course, one makes you a better driver. But if I REALLY just wanted an adrenaline shot, and to put a grin on my face without thinking much about it. Give me the Hellcat. Sometimes audio is the same way. I just want to smile and not think too much about it. Bass is fun. (and I'm not talking about 3 15 inch woofers crammed in the back of a small car with a huge amp playing one note.) Now as for what I would want to own... |
You can’t tell someone how much fun a hellcat is to drive if their only point of reference is a honda civic. I can’t convince someone that gryphon or boulder are awesome amps if their point of reference is Bryston, nad etc. The journey is what gets you to appreciate the higher end offerings. You have to "graduate" your ears slowly as you go up the ladder. If i brought a person here who has only had rotel for amplifier and showed them my Gryphon or boulder they would only be amazed at the huge size of the product but they don't really quite grasp the level of gear that it is. It's like me, if i was told to drink a glass of wine that costs 40k for a bottle, my mind wouldn't quite understand what to look for when it comes to the flavor and taste of the wine because my point of reference are $20 dollar bottles... |
@whitecamaross you got to come up with some unique way of comparing mephisto stereo vs boulder mono - boulder is twice as powerful but each amp only needs to work half as mephisto - even if you choose a lower to moderate volume, the channel separation and isolation itself is going to reap a lot of dividends |
There is no unique way to compare. Cant do a thing about the power discrepancy. It is what it is. We are strictly trying to hear the tonality and overall sonic characteristics. We are not racing both amps. It won't be a decibel contest. Mephisto is cruising at the volume levels i plan to compare both amps. In case you forgot, the Mephisto is dual mono design. It has 2 Powercords and each channel is a mirror image of the other. Again, there is not much to do other than to make sure they are on stands (hopefully) and at exactly the same volume and both using the same cables. I can only control what i can and their corresponding wattages isn't something I have control over. |
both amplifiers looked quite extraordinary albeit i'd say the Gryphon the far more traditional given the large capacitors crammed into that far from small space. the finish on the exterior of the Boulder makes them objet d'art in my opinion. absolutely beautiful. and given they aren't hot they really do become beautiful functional art for your room. looking at the finish and the interior layout the Boulder really does look like it comes from another world. i think it a shame Jay if the comparison becomes which one deals with not having isolation better. i implore you to leave the gryphon on the stand and save your back. who gives a rats arse if some unappeasable people bang on about it. i think changing power cords is also a sub-optimal thing to do because things do settle in a system and by stirring it up once again your loyal listening audience is listening to a less beautiful sound. for some a/b comparison i just don't think it is worth it WC. what if the idea was "optimisation". you just make each one play as good as you can make it play. i am sure we will still get a sense of where the comparison is at. thanks for doing this. it is pretty amazing. i hope your brain doesn't freak out when it realises there is no higher place to go and no more endorphins to come from new amp deliveries :-) |
I think you are trying to explain something that just cannot be completely understood unless you are there. The absolute best example IMO of this IS : If you have ever been to a Top Fuel Drag Race ? You can try all day to describe and explain it to someone , but being there is UNREAL.. AMAZING ,actually ....especially the first time .!! For those who have been, You completely understand this . |
Years ago, I volunteered my time (wrenching) and cash to help a fledging top fuel funny car driver make his dream come true. Unless you’ve experienced a top fuel (nitro-methane burning) funny car / dragster at a national race (not an exhibition) you have NO IDEA what this is about. The ground shakes when these cars leave the line / start their quarter mile race. No ear plugs means you’d damage your hearing over the weekend. The exhaust can be lethal from as far as 50 feet from the car! (Meaning it could blow you off your feet with force to kill you) When I was involved, these engines made 6,000 + HP ! ! ! ! |
Actually - I prayed (literally) for the driver to be safe every time the car ran down the quarter mile. It’s a controlled explosion and many times it’s not controlled. With so much power in such a short period of time, bad things happen quickly when not in total control. Without graduated experience, I "regular" driver could not drive / steer a top fuel quarter mile car. The driver experiences positive 3 G’s when leaving the start line and negative 4 G’s at the end of the quarter mile when the brakes and parachute are used. Some drivers had to retire due to a detached retina from the negative 4 G’s. The driver I helped had blurred vision for a week because of tire shake - he couldn’t get out of it (stop it) soon enough. In a Funny Car, the driver sits and is strapped in immediately behind the engine with their feet on each side of the clutch (called a scatter shield because this housing is so thick to stop the clutch from exploding and killing the driver), literally on top of the rear end and in between the 2 wide rear tires. Anything bad happens and and there’s no where to go to avoid it. Fire suits and full fire suppression systems are used and are critical for safety. I teach motorcycle paved track riding - some people think what I do it crazy (full leather suit & knee on the pavement). I would NEVER want to drive a nitro methane car - NEVER, EVER, NEVER, NEVER! |
Final Video: Gryphon with Synergistic Research: Who do you prefer? Synergistic Research or Audioquest?? Let me hear your thoughts! https://youtu.be/x1FiMCAMLpc |
First off, thanks for doing this. Really fun to geek out and listen and compare. Normal people would surely think anyone who does this is f’ing nuts but screw ’em. Ok, I listened carefully to all four presentations successively with headphones in reverse order. You basically have four combinations of two variables. Gryphon Pandora vs Boulder Preamp. And Synergistic Research vs. Audioquest Speaker cables. And the four combinations across those two variables. First impression: The biggest difference was in the Boulder preamp >> the Pandora preamp. Dynamics so much better. Almost sounded like volume higher on videos 1 and 2 (Boulder) versus 3 and 4 (Pandora). Second impression: To a lesser degree than the preamp difference, I preferred the Audioquest cables to the Synergistic Research cables. More airy presentation, better clarity, better decay. That said, it could be that the SR does bass a little better than the AQ. Bass actually seemed tightest on video 4 (but that could be Alexx breakin, see comment below). So ranking the video presentations in order for me: 1st place: Video 2 (Boulder/AQ). 2nd place: Video 1 (Boulder/SR). 3rd place: Video 3 (Pandora/AQ). 4th place: Video 4 (Pandora/SR). Fun stuff. I actually think I could hear the Alexx come in better across the four videos also. By #4 Alexx seemed to be settling in better, especially on bass. Now I might be completely wrong on all of this, but that’s what I heard. |
thanks for this Kren. I tried to keep things as consistent as possible and purposely did 4 videos for you all to try to go back and forth and listen critically. I am glad that you COULD TELL a difference in cable changes with each preamp because that means my microphone is at least capturing things. Anyone else would like to chime in and give their input? Ps: Boulder monos are now sitting on Critical Mass MAXXUM stands. https://youtu.be/AP4dV5is0vY |
Yeah chime in before WC gives his impressions. Tell me I’m crazy if you disagree with what I heard. I won’t be offended. I thought the differences in preamps was much larger than the cable differences, but I suppose that is exactly what one would expect, as components should have bigger differences than cables usually |
Amazing sound wc congratulations the only thing I could add would be to clean up your cables, too many cables pc,ic an sc running parallel to each other. Cables should be at least 3 in and preferably 6 in apart and get them off the carpet. I’m sure you have heard of static electricity with carpet. You famously state everything matters at this level’ well practice what you preach because properly separating your cables and getting them off that carpet will definitely give you improvement in sq. Even at your level. |
I think right now i am focusing on the bigger things such as isolation devices, cabling, etc. Moving cables out the way, passing the vaccum, turning the lights off when listening, etc are the tiny things. Lastly, there is a reason WHY my channel is called Jay’s audio LAB... Labs tend to have $h!t everywhere. I want to keep doing more shootouts and sometimes I just get too lazy to be picking up every single cable off the floor that i am not using for an hour or two. |
Not much more speakers you can try that will compete with the Alexx and the Utopias in your room lately. What you could do, instead if that pleases you, is try smaller and more affordable models, for fun, to see what are the tradoffs and to give your audience opinions on alternatives...insight on what the more affordable stuff gives and gives not compared to the ultra high end. You already did so with Sopra 3, ML ESL 11A, and others... Examples that come in mind. Spendor D9.2 , Dynaudio Confidence , PMC Fact 12. |
@tjassoc You are correct - i assumed the same as well. That said, what is very interesting to me is how we are as human beings. If we have to pay for something we complain and if we get something for free then we complain too? i remember a long LOOOONG time ago (true story) when i had to go to downtown miami to hand out sandwiches for the homeless. It was soooo hot (like 100F with insane humidity) so we were walking up and down the streets and i was shocked at what some of the homeless people said to me: " hey, if it does not have any cheese, i dont want it" I am just shocked at how we can be as humans. If someone is handing you free food, you are broke, living on the streets, you are going to complain and turn down food??????? lol... Some people complain about the commercials on local tv stations so then why dont they pay for Netflix ?? ohhhhh because it costs money so that is an issue too... i just don’t get it. |
I hope I'm wrong on the Tekton guess, as I don't have any interest in that brand (I find them hideous looking, even though I'm sure they sound nice). Nice work WC getting two stands in for the Boulders. I like how you showed the imperfections of the one stand. So now are all three stands Critical Mass? I can't remember what the Gryphon is on. You also had one other fancy stand that wouldn't support the Gryphon - is that one still around as well? |
All stands are critical mass. Boulder told me to get them off the stands and put them out by the pool deck... They don’t need all the damn "babying" that most audiophiles like to do with components. Grab a sledge hammer and hit them hard while you listen to music. It won’t matter" LMAO Well, i sold my Magnepan 20.7s so that allowed me to buy Critical Mass Centerstage footers to put under the Boulder EVEN THOUGH i was told me to stop the nonsense lol. It will be one epic battle, but i am glad i am off next week so i will be able to play with all this. The only thing i need to really REALLY think about is if i should leave the Mephisto with the Audioquest Powercords for the shootout or not. Someone said to me that i should leave the mephisto with audioquest powercords because that is how i have always played them for you all so it would not be fair to strip it from the powercords for the comparison... hmm.. i need to think on this one. |
I say leave the Audioquest power cords. Look at it this way: Nobody uses the stock Mephisto power cords, probably almost everyone uses the Boulder stock power cords, so using the AQ would be a more realistic real-world setup, plus it narrows the cost gap between the two setups. That in itself is just as powerful a fairness argument than having to use stock power cords across the board, for "stock-ness" sake. To do the shootout with stock Gryphon cables probably doesn’t have much relation to real life. Maybe on some level there’s a fairness thing but if nobody ever uses that setup what good is it? Plus the familiarity issue for yourself and the previous videos (continuity). It’s a different situation with Gryphon than Boulder with stock power cords given the funky connectors there. I get it there are arguments for using stock power cords and do whatever you think makes most sense but that’s what I’d say. |
WC, I'm with kren0006 regarding the real world setups - upgraded power cords will typically be used on the Mephisto, and the stock will typically be used on the Boulder. Did you get the CenterStage or the CenterStage2 footers? Would be interesting to compare with the Stillpoints, if you still have those. Dave |
I have an idea. Viber records his system, and tecno records his. Then send them to Jay and have him post them on his channel. Maybe we can do some videos of the groups systems and do some comparing of what we think? Just get with Jay about music selection in case something isn’t allowed to be played on YouTube. |
Guys, Let's just be happy as hell we will hear cool stuff during our Christmas break. Let's be nice to each other at least through the holidays. We always have 2021 to tear each other apart. Don't worry, the surprise has actually arrived and i hope I can display it this weekend. We have the boulder to listen to as well as another component. I also want to try the synergistic research powercell SX to see if it is better than my audioquest Niagra 5000? I will spend 3 days straight packing, shooting videos and slowly releasing them to you all. Let's be cool and get along? I am working my ass off here to get you something to be looking forward to🙂 |
Yes you're right. I just want for us to have cool discussions because what i have coming will ruffle some feathers and i don't want us to start arguing. I want grown up discussions and keep an open mind. I hate to give one small advice but i would like for all of you to keep an open mind to all sorts of gear and let your ears decide. Maybe if you applied a little of what I say all the time: " I'm not married to any of this stuff" would make it a little easier to keep an open mind. |
kren, You said, "Sorry Viber I just can’t relate to that logic; never had to settle." If that means you never had to settle regarding women, you lucky dog. But for audio, we all have to settle for different sonic tradeoffs. That's OK, but the gorgeous looking Dag electronics would turn me off after 2 seconds of listening, when guitar sparkles are blunted. At present, I like the sparkles from the Alexx. |
