Frederic Beudot has posted his review of the Gryphon Audio Diablo integrated amplifier (Approximately $15,000) at 6moons.com. His conclusions:
That said and money aside which will be the biggest hurdle for most—yours truly included— the Diablo is not for everybody. A component that is this transparent, linear and undistorted requires very careful matching both with the source and the speaker. Compatible sources are probably easier to come by as low-distortion high-resolution tonally saturated players are not that rare (think Gryphon's own or Cary and Esoteric to name a few obvious choices). The choice of speakers will be more critical. I was lucky that my Zu Audio Essence is tonally dense yet extremely dynamic to showcase those qualities of the Diablo. Even so, this clearly was no example of a common association. You will want speakers capable of great dynamics and transparency but not too bright or forward to avoid fatigue. You will want speakers capable of infinite midrange nuance to do the Diablo full justice. That's where my Zu falls a little short. Some of the newer Rockport designs would probably be a better match. You will also want speakers capable of deep and solid bass because the Diablo is extremely linear and lean by providing no upper bass reinforcement whatsoever. I suspect that when paired with monitor or bass-shy speakers, the overall tonal balance could quickly become top heavy (in those situations the Attila's more forgiving voicing might become preferable).
That said and money aside which will be the biggest hurdle for most—yours truly included— the Diablo is not for everybody. A component that is this transparent, linear and undistorted requires very careful matching both with the source and the speaker. Compatible sources are probably easier to come by as low-distortion high-resolution tonally saturated players are not that rare (think Gryphon's own or Cary and Esoteric to name a few obvious choices). The choice of speakers will be more critical. I was lucky that my Zu Audio Essence is tonally dense yet extremely dynamic to showcase those qualities of the Diablo. Even so, this clearly was no example of a common association. You will want speakers capable of great dynamics and transparency but not too bright or forward to avoid fatigue. You will want speakers capable of infinite midrange nuance to do the Diablo full justice. That's where my Zu falls a little short. Some of the newer Rockport designs would probably be a better match. You will also want speakers capable of deep and solid bass because the Diablo is extremely linear and lean by providing no upper bass reinforcement whatsoever. I suspect that when paired with monitor or bass-shy speakers, the overall tonal balance could quickly become top heavy (in those situations the Attila's more forgiving voicing might become preferable).
You can read the full review here.
