Analog sources: OMA K3, Acoustic Signature Montana NEO, and J. Sikora Reference turntables, Schröder K3, Acoustic Signature TA-7000, Acoustical Systems Axiom, and J. Sikora KV12 tonearms; Lyra Atlas Lambda SL and Etna Lambda SL, Ortofon Anna Diamond and Ortofon Verismo, X-quisite ST, and Luxman LMC-5 cartridges.
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi One SACD player DAC; Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter; Mac mini (Roon), Audirvana Digital Audio Player; Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S, Gryphon Commander, Ypsilon MC-10L, MC-16L, and MC-26L step-up transformers; Ypsilon VPS-100, CH Precision P1 with X1 PSU.
Power amplifiers: darTZeel NHB-468 monoblocks, Music Reference RM-200 Mk.2.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Chronosonic XVX.
Cables: Interconnect: TARA Labs Zero Gold, Zero Evolution, Zero, and Air Evolution, AudioQuest Dragon, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Stealth Sakra & Indra. Speaker: AudioQuest Dragon, TARA Labs Omega EvolutionSP. AC: AudioQuest Dragon, Dynamic Design Neutron GS Digital power cord.
Accessories: AudioQuest Niagara 7000, CAD Ground Controls; AudioQuest NRG Edison AC wall box & receptacles; RSX Industries Power8 box; ASC Tube Traps, RPG BAD, Skyline & Abffusor panels, Stillpoints Aperture II Room panels, Synergistic Research UEF products, Symposium Ultra platform; HRS XVR turntable stand, Signature SXR and 2 Stillpoints ESS stands, Thixar and Stillpoints amplifier stands; Audiodharma Cable Cooker; Furutech record demagnetizer; Orb Disc Flattener, Furutech deStat; Loricraft PRC4 Deluxe, Audiodesksysteme Vinyl Cleaner Pro X, Kirmuss Audio KA-RC-1, and KLAUDIO KD-CLN-LP200T record-cleaning machines. Full suite of WallyTools including WallyTractor, WallySkater, WallyReference, WallyFulcrum, WallyZenith, WallyScope, and WallyAzimuth.—Michael Fremer
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COMMENTS
Similar to Mike's burning ampnesia....
When I was 20, the cassette deck in my car seized up and would not release the tape I was playing. My budget was too tight for a new deck, so I simply listened to that darned tape over and over and over and over for an entire year. I don't remember which tape it was.
Gryphon should be justly proud. I don't think I'd ever leave the house, listening to that masterpiece.
It's colossal!
Gotta love a real amp (linear) that can do current into low impedance, and probably 1ohm as well if the test gear could take it. By doubling it's wattage for each halving of load impedance.❤️
And that can do real square wave testing (without AP class-D filters) to show the real thing, and not a imaginary pictures like the ones presented of Class-D amps square waves.
Cheers George
Reading Mr. Atkinson's measurements, this beastly amp does not seem to double down from 8 to 4 to 2. Not like the Krells were famous for. Kinda weird, it's gigantic, cost no object, yet fails the ol' "double down" test.
Sorry to see you go. Looking forward to following you at Tracking Angle.
Michael, I’m very saddened to hear that this is your final review on stereophile. Please note you are my favorite reviewer of all time. Wish you well on everything!
This beast could easily drive both my Linn Kans I & II…overkill??? You betcha!!! Damn the torpedoes!!!! What a terrific read. Godspeed Mickey, see you on the other side.
I'm sure it sounds glorious. But why cram all those goodies into one box? Is there some advantage I'm unaware of?
They also make a mono version, the Apex Mono for those with more room. Personally, I have room for neither :(
Mark Phillips,
Contributor, Soundstage! Network
I really wished they had this amp for audition at AXPONA this year... sigh.
Great review cutting to the truth of the sound and I am going to miss the crap out of Mikey in these pages.
Finally got to meet Mikey this year as well! He was funny and nice like always. I was too stoned.. lol. Gonna miss him but Stereophile will only get better and so will TAS.
Happy 60th Stereophile!!!
A hundred bucks more? Been thinking about Class A tube equipment recently.. I also wonder about the the additonal heat in summer.. lol.
according to the specs the Apex consumes only 0.5W at idle
if that is true you will only pay to play . . . think quarter coins not c-notes
hr
I wonder which power cords they supply with it?
Sad to see you move on from Stereophile/Analog Planet, your turntable reviews are aces - I bought my Rega P10 based largely on your review, you perfectly described the sound.
Your experience with the Apex mirrors that of my editor at Soundstage! He said it stomped a mud-hole in his Boulder 2060 (a very good amp itself) with Vivid Giya G1 speakers. That's two very different speakers, made by designers with very different design goals, with which this amp kicks ass. I think we have a new contender in the SotA for amps. Time to head down to the local dealer and spend some time with a Gryphon amp.
I had to google the founder to make sure he wasn't the same Flemming Rasmussen that produced/mixed Metallica's "...and Justice for All" (he isn't, hence the "E.") but that would have been funny (both strange and ha-ha).
Mark Phillips,
Contributor, Soundstage! Network.
i wonder,would two hundred thousand bucks get you the same measurements in both channels?
If one thing makes me sick to my stomach about the old guard it’s that Stereophole keeps making excuses for “sample deviation” and such when the highest of high end stuff doesn’t measure well. These people are charging one hundred thousand dollars per unit, and you are letting them off the hook for not delivering on basic quality control? What are regular customers supposed to expect if Gryphon can’t be bothered to provide a solid test unit to Stereophile? What does that say about their respect for Stereophile in the first place? Or their customers?
Stereophile played the same game with D’Agostino amps not too long ago that came in subpar with all sort of problems. It’s embarrassing and everything anyone needs to know about where their interests lie.
Maybe the simplest answer to all these problems at the high end is quite simple. It’s that the likes of D’Agostino and Gryphon are trading on brand and image and not on any discernible engineering advantage, and that their customers don’t really care as long as it projects the right message or has the right look.
yes but a good argument can be made that at least the Lambo is, objectively, worth it's price. A stereo amp, not so much.
...and counting...
Or any item in a 99cent store.
I grew up in Reno, NV. We had a local Ferrari dealership owned by Bill Harrah of Harrah's casinos and car collection.
Harrah's dealership was the biggest in the world at the time, and I couldn't see why a place like Reno had such a big deal dealership. Ferraris were thick on the road in our area. We even had a Ferrari festival and annual hill climb.
I later found out that that dealership worked with his auto collection restoration department and every new Ferrari that came in had the body panels properly aligned, the stitching brought to uniform quality, the paint finish finished, etc.
His dealership prepared the cars he sold so the new owners would have what they thought they should have buying a car like that.
Maybe ultra high end audio offers a niche for buyers where a new owner could have his 100,000 dollar amp drop shipped to a "finisher" like Harrah's used to be, and the buyer, for a small additional fee (20%) would know that his new toy was performing as promised. Otherwise, how do consumers know they are getting what they purchased?
I think this could make some coin.
The prep service could even offer to make sure the units get paired with the optimal power cords, for an additional fee and purchase, of course.
I'm too old, but one of you young folks should totally do this!
..like Burmester (and Kondo I think) provide indivindual measurements for every single component they make. For that kind of money they should all do the same I suppose along with a 10-year guarantee.
Hi.
Agreed for gears at such hefty pricing levels.
But different bench test methods may yield not-identical data.
To measure the output power of a power amp, the dummy loads alone, can be different from the different amp manufacturers, & from different labs. Many use only a hi-power resistor as the dummy load.
Quick & easy, but it is totally different from the realworld situation: loudspeaker system !!!!
The power data thus measured is only theoretically ideal condition which do not reflect the actual output power performance when driving loudspeakers which got some complex LCR AC network, not pure resistance at all.
For Stereophile lab, a simulated loudspeaker load built up of LCR
network is used to used to measure the output power of any integrated/power amp under review. This is therefore much closer to the realworld situation an amp is loading. Therefore much more reliable performance data we can read.
Such similulated loudspeaker load already exposed the harmonic distortion vs outpower power 'weakness' of this 10-grander Danish made power amp at 4/2-ohm loads !
So "individual measurements for every single component" is helpful but not any all-cure remedy for its realworld performance.
Listening is believing
Jack L
..but my concern was more about quality control. This is an extraordinary amplifier no doubt, but something inside the right channel is probably broken, something that can most likely be easily fixed and individual measurements would certainly let show. In fact I think this is the main purpose of audio measurements in general and not a mine-is-bigger competition.
More of a check to make sure it isn't broken!
Hi
For so expensive amps as such will surely be hand-built individually on a bench per order, instead of on a production line like parts, e.g. resistors & capacitors. The component once completely built will surely be bench tested to ensure fully functioning & complying the design specs before shipment to the dealership depots.
Heavy components, like this 500-pounder, are much more vulnerable to damage during transit from the manufacturers overseas to local dealership depots & then to customers' homes.
Good luck to the enduser customers !
Jack L
When did it break and who broke it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The analysis would have been fairer if two Gryphon monoblocks had replaced two dartZeel monoblock.
However.
Excellent Review!
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