Audiophilepure

Gryphon Audio Designs Essence preamp and power amplifier

Some good systems remind you of why you got into audio in the first place and while the Essence does that well, more importantly it reminds you why you got into that piece of music in the first place. This is no small feat; often those of us who have a lot of musical miles on the clock can get a bit jaded by it all (especially when playing test discs); many tracks in your collection have been overplayed to the point where the excitement and the musical intent have been worn away. The Essence strips away those years and presents your music anew. It doesn’t trigger memories of that first time you heard Dylan or Joni Mitchell, Led Zep or Beyoncé… it’s like it’s the first time you heard them, and all that excitement hits you. 

A lot of this comes down to the Essence duo’s remarkable combination of leading-edge performance, powerful dynamic range, excellent detailing, and that aforementioned authority. Music is vibrant, visceral, and red in tooth and claw. This is amplification for people who like to stand and applaud a good performance, and in a year where a good performance is a recording rather than a live event, you might feel a little silly standing up and cheering a CD or a streamed track, but go for it. That’s what the Essence does for you and your music.

CH Precision L10 line-stage preamplifier and M10 twin-chassis power amplifier

Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante K.364 is perhaps the perfect choice for this exercise. Not only does it play heavily on the tonal contrast between violin and viola, but enduringly popular it has been recorded across the years by multiple artists in an almost dizzying range of styles. Of the early stereo recordings, Decca’s 1963 impression, featuring the brother’s Oistrakh is deservedly highly regarded – leading to the almost inevitable slew of supposedly superior re-issues. I don’t have the original LP, but amongst my collection you’ll find a Universal/Decca gold CD and an FIM XRCD. Listening to these two on the 10 Series amps, it’s hard to credit that it’s the same recording. The gold CD sounds thin, pinched and gutless in comparison to the warmth, dimensionality, full-bodied swagger and instrumental interplay of the FIM disc. The instrumental conversation at the heart of the performance, the character of the key instruments and the way their exchanges lead you through the piece is far more convincing. This is a musical as opposed to a sonic distinction.