Gryphon Mephisto (and Alexandrias)

microstrip said:

Lloyd,
Zanden is one of the few brands that I would love to listen. You said it all in the word "magic" - almost every opinion I read on them includes this word. Is it an high-end conspiracy?
Are you going to listen to an all Zanden system, including the preamplifier?

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I will be hearing Zanden digital, Zanden monos, but i do not know about the preamp...it will be next month and for sure i will post. Micro - you will see i edited my previous post here...and added the fact that i have heard from a very discerning audiophile whose opinion i deeply respect (and who also has a world-class system)...that he heard the Zanden monos with the Aidas...and he felt they were magic...and in fact every bit the equal of the Lamm ML3s...for nearly 3x the price.

I think he felt they drove them very well...did they drive them to 'ear bleeding levels?'...no, but with a more efficient speaker (say Alexandria)...he felt you could drive yourself deaf before you overdrove the amp, or underpowered the speaker.

microstrip said:

Lloyd,
Zanden is one of the few brands that I would love to listen. You said it all in the word "magic" - almost every opinion I read on them includes this word. Is it an high-end conspiracy?
Are you going to listen to an all Zanden system, including the preamplifier?

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oh...and no, i do not think it is a high end conspiracy. At least the digital, for me, is magic. In a world which changes every few weeks (digital), to have a digital component that was last upgraded in '07 with no further upgrades since...other than cables which have been upgraded in '09/'10...and still have 3 editors tell me it remains their favorite digital to date ever, that is something to me. But more importantly than reviews or other people's opinions (even if i very much respect them), i have not found anything that compelled me to change. The one comment i found in nearly every reviewer's writing about the Zanden set which was an interesting consistency was this: all of them stopped caring about what format they were listening to. They just kept playing music...and stopped caring about formats, CDs vs hi-res, SACD, DVD-A, etc. Roy Gregory even write in his review that in certain areas the Zanden 4-box digital was the first digital to compare well to the Blue Pearl Gem turntable and made him question the age-old vinyl v digital rivalry.

howiebrou said:

The Zanden digital end is magic i agree with you. I had forgotten about Zanden for a while. Now you have peaked my interest again. I guess it is the two box player that i really need since I need digital inputs. The Previous Zanden mono blocks, the 9600, though I did not think much of. My Ongaku blew it away in terms of musicality, oomph, resolution and just simply overall enjoyment. I found the Zandens a little clinical, which was a surprise to me,as their other products are anything but.

howie

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Hi Howie, Good to know...i will listen to the Zanden monos myself next month and look forward to it. As for Zanden digital, if you are looking for inputs, then yes its the 2-box DAC (separate power supply), and if you want the Transport its the 2box Transport (also separate PSU with 6 isolated transformers inside, one for each function...crystal oscillator, digital display, etc).

The Transport and DAC connect thru an i2s connection which is definitely better...but i am told you should be able to connect servers and other things with an i2s output to the Zanden DAC...you will need to confirm what the configuration of the 8 wires is inside the DAC i2s jack, and make sure that whoever matches up your other component i2s output to the Zanden ensures those 8 wires inside the cable are properly linked up to the 8 inputs on the Zanden side. In fact, I know an engineer who has custom mod'd a server to match the i2s of the Zanden for a client if you are ever interested.

Ultimate Audio said:

Hi,

Here are some videos of the Gryphon Mephisto Stereo driving TAD R-1.

http://www.hificlube.net/Sections/Details.aspx?articleID=23653§ionID=2

For us at Ultimate Audio the Mephisto is the best Stereo Amp we have heard so far! And we have heard some!
Enjoy! And If someone will go to Lisbon please give us a call that we are more than happy to pick you up to our store!

All the best
Miguel

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Hi Miguel, thank you for posting...great website with great recordings of various systems. I enjoyed listening to nearly every recording you put on there at least twice! I emailed Ultimate via your website. Regarding TAD and Rockport speakers. Please let me know when you can speak.

microstrip said:

Gryphon does not state that the powers at 4 or 2 ohm are class A. The only rating that is class A is the 8 ohm one - the Pure class A only addresses this rating. Perhaps the sentence you quote can be confusing "Pure Class A 2 x 175 Watts (8 Ohm), 2 x 350 W (4 Ohm), 2 x 700W (2 Ohm), continuous RMS " Remember it is a translation from Danish, a very difficult language ... But if look in the technical specifications it is very clearly stated:

http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/Content/Downloads/Technical_Specifications.pdf

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A.wayne said:

Class A ratings is usually at 8 ohm , you can half it for every halfing of impedance. Class-a Idle current is fixed, using ohm's law as impedance drops and current is fixed class-a power will be lower and your amp will revert to class a/b and clip at its operating voltage.

the gryphon is designed to deliver its full class -a rating into 8 ohm right up to clipping, this allows them via marketing to claim full class -a operation and this is true for 8ohm only ...

Common practice ...

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I just saw the Gryphon Ref One mono owners manual. It states 150 watts pure Class A into 8ohms and 200 watts pure Class A into 4ohms. what does this mean? I was surprised, as i thought it would be 75 watts pure class A into 4ohms...and it went the other direction. Click Here: Gryphon Reference 1