Plinius 9200 or Gryphon Callisto 2200

I have had both Callisto 2100 and 2200 at home. I also had Plinius 8100 (but not the newer 9200) and SA102.

Both Plinius and Gryphon have a very distinctive sonic signatures, and a VERY different ones at that.

Gryphon is a typical #1 flavor (i.e. very transparent and detailed) and Plinius is a very strong flavor #2 (warm and organic).

For a detailed description of what I mean by both flavors, look at Teejay's thread "Reference DACs - an overall perspective".

BTW - Callisto 2200 is no longer made. It was replaced by Gryphon Diablo - also #1 flavor.

Tough choice excellent amps.
What are your speakers?

Elberoth2, thank you for putting the comparison in the now-familiar Teejay Flavor Spectrum. More helpful to me as a starting point than just about anything else you could have said.

speakers are gallo nucleus reference 3s.

I own the Callisto 2100.Bought used, for a bargain.

I would suggest that if you can find a used Callisto 2200...to jump on it ! They are quite scarce,worldwide.They may now start to appear ,used, since the launch of the Diablo .

Happy hunting !

Bluebull, what do you most like about your 2100? besides the fact that it's rare. What other integrated amps have you listened to and how does the 2100 compare? What do you think is Gryphon's house sound?

Elberoth2 says that it's analytical and detailed but I have seen it described as "darker" than the Plinius 9200. Which would suggest that it's much warmer and organic sounding than the 9200.

Cfcjb

I had a Pathos Logos.An extremely competent amp with the right tubes(The stock Sovteks were awfull,Ei 6J8 and Siemens CCa were excellent,EH 6922 were good.)I was extremely happy with the Logos and was not really looking for an upgrade.Then the Gryphon appeared ,used,for $2300 ...I decided that it was too much of a bargain not to try.Turned out to be a very good decission.

Before the Pathos I had a Proceed PRE and HPA2,Valve Audio Predator,various Rotel int and pre/powers.

Gryhon house sound ? Neutral,detailed.PRAT excellent.It does everything extremely well.A complete sounding amp.Very difficult to fault.
Analytical ..? Yes
Dark sounding..? No,not in my system.I suppose, can be, depending on the rest of the system it is applied in.Its not a warm sounding amp.
Organic ..? Difficult to say...yes,but the Pathos were more organic sounding.Obviously tube amps will be more organic.I have tubes on the output stage of the cd player...has to be a tube somewhere in the system :-)

Gryphons build quality is excellent.

I cannot comment on the Plinius.How the Gryphon will match the Gallo's,also, no idea.

In my opinion,a used Callisto 2200 would be an excellent buy .Do you think you need a 2200 or will a 2100 do for the Gallo speakers ?

Regards

Chris

The Gallos like lots of current so I think the 2200 would be an ideal paring.
I just want to get an idea about the amp's sonic footprint.
Judging from your reply I think I can discount the warm/organic discription.

Thanks for the feedback.It's always appreciated.

J.

I had the Gryphon Callisto 2200 for over 1 year.
I borrowed, a stor demo Plinius SA-102 and CDLAD to compair with the Callisto since the prizing was very close.
Together, the Plinius combo beated the Callisto in all parameters, except one! The Plinius are not dead quiet, the Callisto is.
Otherwise, the impact and drive, the openess and intense feel good factor of the Plinius combo crumbled the Gryphon Callisto 2200.
My friend which was with me just laughed. He told me the "little black amp" was a bore in compairson. I agreed!
I am not biased. I owned the Gryphon Callisto 2200 and CDP1. I bought the Plinius rig. I don't own any of these anymore. The CDLAD was easily bettered by Classe CP-47.5/65 together with Plinius SA amps. Plinius and Classe mate very well actually.
Just another opinion, but anyway.