I had been aware of Denmark-based Gryphon Audio since the advent of the Gryphon Exorcist, a now-discontinued demagnetizer that cost far more than your average break-in CD, but I only began to encounter Gryphon electronics at audio shows a few years ago. While at first they seemed available for review only as a complete package, Jim Austin was able to arrange for me to review the Gryphon Ethos CD playerD/A processor ($39,000).
The struggle continues to this day for some reason, and boy-howdy is it ferocious, especially regarding cables.
That year, the Loudspeaker of the Year was the $14,000/pair Sonus Faber Extrema. The winning digital source was the legendary Mark Levinson No.30 DACalso approximately $14,000. JA later bought one, upgraded to 30.5, then to 30.6 status. He still has it.
Only 12 albums a year get to be Recordings of the Month in Stereophile, and only a few are jazz.
Typically, they are "big" records by major jazz artists.
Christmas Vibes has the major-artist part covered. Warren Wolf is one of the two most important vibraphonists to enter jazz in the new millennium. (The other is Joel Ross.) Wolf's album is not a masterwork, but it is a lovely, heartfelt offering that deserves its place in this magazine's December issue. In this year of years, in this holiday season observed in a pandemic, it arrives like a life-affirming antidote to darkness.
