$63K, 150lbs Gryphon Commander Preamp Reviewed by Stereophile

[Astoneroad]

Of course they're misleading people. That's what they do to stay in business. I'm reminded about the story of the old lady and the snake, but its too long to repeat here.

Short version... "you knew that I was a snake when you took me in..."

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Short version... "you knew that I was a snake when you took me in..."

Exactly.

 

[egellings]

Can you post a precis of the old lady & the snake story?

 

[DHT 845]

Fresh out of the box, the Commander sounded opaque, overly smooth, and "closed in."

First impression is often very informative IMO.

 

[SIY]

Fresh out of the box, the Commander sounded opaque, overly smooth, and "closed in."

First impression is often very informative IMO.

And often not.

 

[DHT 845]

And often not.

So you believe in "burn in" you subjectivist

 

[SIY]

So you believe in "burn in" you subjectivist

I believe that people say all sorts of incorrect things.

 

[Astoneroad]

Can you post a precis of the old lady & the snake story?

 

[levimax]

Physical attributes aside, the electrical output of a pre-amp from Topping and Gryphon are going to be comparable. Looking at the Gryphon site I noticed the specs on their power amplifiers. Few if any 225 watt power amps have output specs like this: 1 x 225W @ 8Ω, 1 x 450W @ 4Ω, 1 x 880W @ 2Ω and 1 x 1690W @ 1Ω . They also mention 64 output transistors per channel which makes this possible. Probably not worth the money but at least you are getting something that is electrically measurably different.

 

[Sokel]

I don't care how much it costs or if it measures like a 500 euro pre-amp,I absolutely love it even without playing.
The exact same way as women can carry their things in a plastic bag but they buy Channel instead

 

[phion]

I don't care how much it costs or if it measures like a 500 euro pre-amp,I absolutely love it even without playing.
The exact same way as women can carry their things in a plastic bag but they buy Channel instead

If I ever got rich and stupid enough to end up in the game of JewelleryFi, I would hope I could either afford one of these

DarkBlock 24.000

Pivetta DarkBlock AmplifierFuturistic and Extreme Performance AmplifierUnleash the Power: 24,000 Watts of Pure Auditory BrilliancePrepare to be awestruck by the Pivetta "DarkBlock" amplifier, a revolutionary fusion of cutting-edge technology and artistic innovation that redefines the landscape...

www.onlycreative.it

or I would just feel like a wannabe. Anything less than is a compromise.

 

[Robin L]

I'm looking forward to class DD [WOWSERS!] 20-watt amps clad in custom ironwork from the Bobster:

 

[Robin L]

Can you post a precis of the old lady & the snake story?

Variation on this, far as I can tell:

The Scorpion and the Frog - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Deleted member 2702]

Some information about Gryphon:
Gryphon's sales director Rune Skov previously worked for Nordost, confer this and this.
The company sells cables, for instance speaker cables for £ 11800 for 2x2 meters, power cables for £ 3800 for 1.5 meters, etc..
They also sell spikes, maybe someone wants to buy four spikes from them for "only" £ 1590, confer this.
You figure if a serious company (Genelec, say) would hire such a person and sell such products (and claiming their superiority!) for such prices.

Luckily good companies exist, for instance Genelec, Benchmark, Topping, Sabaj, Revel, RME, SMSL, etc.

 

[Sokel]

The company sells cables, for instance speaker cables for £ 11800 for 2x2 meters, power cables for £ 3800 for 1.5 meters, etc..

Ok,I'm wiiling to pay a premium for my cables because I like them to look pretty but for 11800 I would like them to be smart too.

 

[Deleted member 2702]

Ok,I'm wiiling to pay a premium for my cables because I like them to look pretty but for 11800 I would like them to be smart too.

And Gryphon wants to reach the naive persons who pay an extremely high premium.

 

[Sokel]

And Gryphon wants to reach the naive persons who pay an extremely high premium.

They are not naive,I know some of them.They are just awfully rich,money is just disposable paper to them.

 

[Deleted member 2702]

They are not naive,I know some of them.They are just awfully rich,money is just disposable paper to them.

Some of them are, some want to pretend to be very rich, and some rich people are tricked by the shops to buy gear from unserious brands.

 

[Sokel]

Some of them are, some want to pretend to be very rich, and some rich people are tricked by the shops to buy gear from unserious brands.

The ones who pretend is the real tragedy.But that is not apply only to audio.
Applys also to the poor guy who lives in rented house but saves hard and buys a Mazerati.
Depends to who wants to show off.
That also apply to the simple guy who get in here to ask for a simple way to enloy music and ends up with a stack of gear he never intented to buy just to be part of the community and get their approval.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Variation on this, far as I can tell:

The Scorpion and the Frog - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The reason the fable of the old woman and the snake is near the top of my mind is this:

This is my mother in law with a bear she befriended after recent wildfires in the area.