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

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.