Munich 2023

The folks at Gryphon Audio Designs of Denmark sure are smart cookies. Rather than overloading the public, industry, and press with a ton of words about their new Diablo 333 integrated amplifier ($23,000), they posted an extremely detailed "TECHNICAL TALK" sheet in the front area of their deep glass-entranced showcase.

For readers who can't easily click on the jpeg above and read the fine print, the Diablo 333, which comes in at a low-price point for anything but bargain-priced Gryphon, is a dual-mono, class-A integrated with no global negative feedback. The amplifier is specified as outputting 333Wpc into 8 ohms, 666Wpc into 4 ohms, and 1100Wpc into 2 ohms. Its output impedance is 0.015 ohm, and its input impedance, balanced, is 25k ohms. Available with optional PS-3 MM/MC phono stage and DAC-3 D/A modules—the later can handle PCM up to 32/384 and DSD512 via USB—it's quite the handsome package.

It also sounds very, very good. On an LP of Istvan Kertesz and the Vienna Philharmonic performing Dvorák's Symphony No.9, aka The New World Symphony, the sound was extremely organic, with a warm cushion at its core. Brass sounded excellent and true, soundstaging was superb, and there was a notable L/R continuity that helped the exhibit stand out from the pack.

Alas, given the 24" woofers pounding away on the side wall, the demo was a bit like "The New World Meets the Pile Driver." Happily, because Gryphon's sound was so convincing, I found the whole scenario more amusing than distracting.