Anyone bought a Gryphon Diablo 333?

@nyev 

I’ve only heard of Mola Mola TAMBAQUI DAC until your post about the Makua preamp, so I researched both the Makua preamp and the KALUGA MONO POWER AMPLIFIER.  The Makua reviews were impressive and their optional DAC and phono are surprisingly very high sonic quality.  The Kalua was also a surprise- as massive but controlled feedback yields an “effortless” sound in which I’m after.  Last time I heard “effortless” was when I heard Gryphon Commander + APEX at an audio show, but it’s way past my budget.  Thanks for sharing.  

@nyev , glad to hear the pre is working so well for you. Not sure the exact science of it, but the MMT directly into the Essence amp suffers greatly compared to having a pre amp in the chain. 

@ricky64 , not sure if you’ve read the same, but I’ve read quite a few articles stating why DAC’s with digital volume controls going direct to amplifiers will lack dynamics, depth, and body, while being “edgy”.  Christiaan from HiFi Advice has an article on this topic (a reviewer I respect quite a bit), as do others.  Apparently has to do with software manipulation of the source signal prior to converting to analog, when a digital volume control is used.
 

@kennyc yes the Mola Mola gear all looks to be top notch.  I was only willing to take a gamble on the preamp based on my experiences having owned the standalone Tambaqui which has been fantastic, feeding my Diablo 300 as a standalone DAC and without it using its digital volume control.  The reviews led me to believe the sound signature (or lack thereof) to be the same with the preamp.

The Mola class D amplifiers look very interesting but have not had the opportunity to hear.  These don’t seem to be anywhere as popular as the Tambaqui, likely due to people’s preconceived notions around Class D, however, from the reviews which I have no reason to doubt (as they all have similar comments), it seems Mola’s amps may be quite special.

The build quality and software is also truly unique in terms of how well done it is, and the quality of life type of convenience and flexibility features the software offers is just fantastic.  Given how bare bones the front face of the unit is (which I love), it’s unexpected to see how fully fleshed out the configurability options are from the app.  You can tell they really cared about this in the design and that their products are the result of a labour of love.

Same with the Gryphon, but IMO I think Mola has a slight lead on build and physical design (I have never been a fan of Gryphon’s use of acrylic on their front faces), and also with how truly flexible their products are through the very slick app.