Audiophilepure

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” Overall, I was impressed — but then, I’d also been impressed by the 200, and this was no departure from its sound. Was this going to be one of those reviews in which I’d have a hard time hearing any differences between a company’s old and new models? As I listened to the rest of Day Breaks, it sure seemed as if that was what I was in for.”

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“As to how my sonic impressions of the two amplifiers varied with the loudspeaker in use, I had the most difficulty coming up with a hard preference with the Apogees Stages, perhaps reminiscent of Dick Olsher’s difficulties in finding a totally happy match for those loudspeakers. But I found my glass 90% full with both amplifiers. The definition and focus of the Levinson was a powerful draw. The palpable quality of the Stages themselves compensated to some degree for a reduction in that quality in the Levinson, making for an overall performance which was detailed, well-defined in width and depth, and appealingly transparent. The Rowland, on the other hand, was a bit more relaxed, less obviously detailed, but with highs which could, with the right recording, be almost breathtakingly delicate and silky-smooth. The Rowland also had a midrange which was lucid, strikingly tactile, and musically convincing. Not an easy choice.”

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“Late in the review process I brought the F7 over to a fellow audiophile’s home to try with a pair of Quad 57 electrostatic speakers. The sound was vivid and palpably realistic. I’m not a fan of Quad speakers, they can sound uptight and dynamically limited, but the F7 and Quad 57s were delicious together. Putting the F7 aside, and returning to the owner’s much more expensive 280-watts-per-channel ASR Emitter II amplifier, the sound was brighter and bass definition improved, but that uptight Quad sound was back. The F7 connected the musical dots better!”

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“When I paired this model with the Focal Elear ($999) and my Cowon Plenue M used as a DAC ($899) I’d experienced one of those “Hifi Moments” we audiophiles hunt for years to find. In the track titled In my Fathers House, by an artist called Eric Bibb, album titled Spirit & The Blues…I remembered why I was an audiophile for the first time all year. Of course, after using the Burson, I had swapped to a much more expensive amp to re-experience it, but what is important here is that it started on the Soloist MK2 first. There is a specific point in this track where a new, secondary artist sings into only the stereo-left channel, which caused me to literally jerk my head to the side to see if someone was standing beside me trying to speak to me suddenly.

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“With the Audible Illusions 3A preamp and Acoustic Zen Absolute Silver interconnect, the amp became a little more supple, tracking the music more closely. With the Convergent Renaissance line stage, I heard a substantial improvement in transparency – at the cost of an additional $10,000, another set of interconnects, another power cord, a crowded equipment rack, and loss of the remote control. ”

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” Gryphon Audio, like many top-level high-end audio manufacturers, seems to have a ‘family sound’. The Diablo 300 is no different and it is a sound I truly adore. During my review of this impressive integrated amplifier with DAC I enjoyed many styles of music. This includes classical, jazz, vocal, pop, EMD and of course rock n’ roll. On the big 6′ high modded Dunlavy SC-IV Signature mastering studio speakers, the Diablo 300 easily took control and there was never a moment where I felt more power would have been beneficial”