Finally, a fair Gryphon review from Stereophile after all these years. According to Jason Victor Sirinious, Gryphon destroys D'Agostino amps when it comes to emotional involvement. D'Agostinos, on the other hand, are better at the analytical audiophile criteria from the Stereophile Audiophile Dictionary.
Fremer, who has called D'Agostinos his 2nd favorite amps, must be steaming.
AFAIK, Fremer has owned big darTZeels for years, 458s and now 468s. He has reviewed plenty of other big amps though, but kept the darTZeels over the years.
Finally, a fair Gryphon review from Stereophile after all these years. According to Jason Victor Sirinious, Gryphon destroys D'Agostino amps when it comes to emotional involvement. D'Agostinos, on the other hand, are better at the analytical audiophile criteria from the Stereophile Audiophile Dictionary.
Fremer, who has called D'Agostinos his 2nd favorite amps, must be steaming.
Finally, a fair Gryphon review from Stereophile after all these years. According to Jason Victor Sirinious, Gryphon destroys D'Agostino amps when it comes to emotional involvement. D'Agostinos, on the other hand, are better at the analytical audiophile criteria from the Stereophile Audiophile Dictionary.
Fremer, who has called D'Agostinos his 2nd favorite amps, must be steaming.
Your click bait subject heading in plain embarrassing to you and your motives.
Where does Jason state Gryphon destroys D'Agostino amps? In your imagination?
As I'd thought all along, while the bass was neither as strong nor as tightly focused as through my 1000 watts into 4 ohms reference D'Agostino Progressions, it certainly was there.
rendition of Schubert Symphonies 2 & 3 (Pentatone 5186759, DSD64), the Progressions delivered a fuller sound while bringing to the fore instruments that had previously been buried in the orchestral blend. But the sheer entrancement of listening to Schubert's joy-infused melodies through the Essence monoblocks was not repeated.
Gryphon make great amps - period - not sure what your point even is as they clearly sound different - it is good news that Jason at least compared the two amps in his system - some reviewers don't.
Fremer has never reviewed the progression amps, only Momentum - so again not sure what you point is. the Essence mono's do cost more than the progression mono's.
Please note, that he is getting this wonderful sound from all amps with his Dag HD preamp.
btw - The Dag S250 sounds a lot better than the progression amps, which are just nice sounding imo when I heard them in my system and I am sure the higher priced Gryphons sound better than the Essence.
Happy Thanksgivings Ron. I hope all is well with you and your family.
I am not sure what your point is. Are you seeking enlightenment? Or are your requesting verification of an assertion for which you are in dispute? Since my memory fades proof requires research.
Happy Thanksgivings Ron. I hope all is well with you and your family.
I am not sure what your point is. Are you seeking enlightenment? Or are your requesting verification of an assertion for which you are in dispute? Since my memory fades proof requires research.
Forgive me if I overreacted. I was not trying to be argumentative, but your assertion struck me as inconsistent with my understanding. Perhaps I misunderstood your point.
I truly was simply requesting evidence supporting the assertion, because it has been my understanding that Michael's primary reference amplifiers for many years have been the big darTZeel monos.
It seems to me that Michael typically compares amplifiers under review to those long-term reference amplifiers. Occasionally, if he has a review amplifier which just arrived and a review amplifier on its way back to the manufacturer he may compare those two together, as well as comparing each of them to his longtime reference amplifiers.
With this being my understanding of Michael's recent amplifier history, it does not suggest to me the characterization that he changes amps on a regular basis.
I understand.
I have followed Mr. Fremer for forty years. My claim that he has switched out amplifiers covers thatperiod. My memory does not allow me to name the amplifiers. I would would have to come through his reviews and look thro his associate equipment list.
Or even less likely ask him to provide me with a list of his reference amps.
Let us examine how reviews choose their reference. Mr. Fremer is no exception. He choose an amplifier he likes. Just as important is the amps available for long term loan or industry accommodation pricing Of course long terms loans are free. I would suspect industry accommodation at or below manufacturer cost. I seriously doubt they pay retail. Leaving aside the issue of conflict of interest this creates some obvious issues .
God rest his soul, I once posed this question to the late HP of the absolute sound. Would the Wilson WAMM be your reference if you could a long term loan. He never replied.
I saw his video. He has lots of review samples sitting around. No reviewer can avoid it. You are saying he is paying retail for Wilsons or DartZeel. He
I am not questioning his credibility.
I saw his video. He has lots of review samples sitting around. No reviewer can avoid it. You are saying he is paying retail for Wilsons or DartZeel. He
I am not questioning his credibility.
Let us examine how reviews choose their reference. Mr. Fremer is no exception. He choose an amplifier he likes. Just as important is the amps available for long term loan or industry accommodation pricing Of course long terms loans are free.
Ron is correct and you are wrong, Absent his cables, he has purchased the rest of his gear. How much off retail he paid is unknown to me. However, no one pays retail unless they are naive or really stupid. MF has a lot more integrity than most reviewers out there. Please stop the misinformation. We certainly have enough of that going on elsewhere in the world.
I saw his video. He has lots of review samples sitting around. No reviewer can avoid it. You are saying he is paying retail for Wilsons or DartZeel. He
I am not questioning his credibility.
Ron is correct and you are wrong, Absent his cables, he has purchased the rest of his gear. How much off retail he paid is unknown to me. However, no one pays retail unless they are naive or really stupid. MF has a lot more integrity than most reviewers out there. Please stop the misinformation. We certainly have enough of that going on elsewhere in the world.
Okay I have no desire to to start a flame war. He does accept long time loans. You said it yourself . He has at least $30kof cables. My source is his own video. Do you know at what point he purchased his equipment? Did he go to his dealer and purchase it. OR did he obtain a review sample? His own video says he was going to return a piece of equipment but he decided buy it. He does not pay for his review samples. Again watch the video.
Plenty of people pay retail. Especially on hot items. But there is a vast difference between a retail discount and industry accommodation prices.
Everything I said is accurate.
I have no complaint with Mr. Fremer. I wish other reviewers were more like him. I have praised and defended him on this site.
Of course Michael does not pay MSRP. Of course Michael receives an accomodation discount. (Rarely, I believe, does any consumer in this industry pay MSRP for anything sold under the traditional manufacturer/distributor/dealer business model.)
And I see nothing whatsoever wrong or improper about a reviewer receiving an accommodation discount.
I thought I was gonna read a thread about Gryphon amps and perhaps some comparison with D'Agostino amps. In the Stereophile article there was 3 references to 'D'Agostino' and the only comparisons I read was about the bass, the absence of 'magic' from the D'Ag amps and something vague about the inadequacy of dynamics from the Gryphon. Discussion about the amps doesn't seem to be happening in this thread.
I gather it was an article somewhat positive for the Gryphon amp and that's fine and the many paragraphs of quotes from the designer and the marketing director were communicative and somewhat interesting. But it is a terrible review. Almost as bad as his write-up on the ARC Ref 6SE in October where he rattles on about after-market products.