Thanks for watching my video, I used the words pure class A a lot in this video because of habit but I wonder if it should be just class a - what do you think?

@Pete.across.the.street

4 ай бұрын

Doesn't matter

@Coneman3

4 ай бұрын

Not necessarily cos some are class A at times and AB at others (I think)

@mrpmj00

4 ай бұрын

As much as I love my Parasound 2125v2 amp (150 wpc, 35 amps peak/channel), I want to upgrade (to take further advantage of my new Cardas Parsec RCA cables) to hear anything better that's

@peterlarkin762

4 ай бұрын

The idle current classification (A, AB, G etc) is just one of many amp design considerations. It's a convenient spec for comparison and advertising as most people have a rough idea what it can mean for the sound. PURE Class A is a valid descriptor if the idle current fixed. Pure Class A is also a valid descriptor for this channel:)

@peterlarkin762

4 ай бұрын

@@mrpmj00 "140 peak current at 130 volts so it's less in the US at 112 volts" ... That's not correct, you'll get the full 140A peak current regardless of your mains voltage (As long as you get the 115V version!) Hope it works out, heard good things about MF.

A perfect example of the importance of system synergy. Great review.

Amazing combination of pre power and your review is absolutely spot on 🎉

Had the excellent Diablo 300 which was seriously good and planned to buy the 333 however after numerous delays bought the Essence Pre Power having demoed it at home. Has the same Gryphon sound but just so much better in every way, especially when set in pure class A which makes a notable improvement.

Another great review Terry. As a musician I appreciate products that present the accuracy of a rehearsal! Looking forward to the PH 9.0X review.

As always, I really enjoy your reviews! Thank you!

Good work. Can't wait for your review on the 333. :)

Have had the Diablo 300 for 2 years now and still sometimes can't believe what it can do with very familiar music. For example, I can play the Stones' "Shattered" at 95db, and there is zero fatigue despite the middling quality of the recording plus the energy and space you describe. Not on the level of the Essence stack obviously but enough for me not to care too much lol.

Been waiting for this review. Love my Diablo 120!

Playing with your own knob.... You've made my day😅🤣😂

Amazing products, ive listened to a gryphon system at a dublin hifi show and was blown away by it, absolutely brilliant.

You seem really happy reviewing higher end equipment vs average consumer grade equipment. Nice review and I'm glad that it can make a pair of under £5000 speakers sing.

'Bass, Space & Dynamics' is a great phrase, Terry - if you ever set up a secondary YT channel, that should be the name of it!

Great review, thank you. In your question regarding power, what comes to my mind is a quote from Kevin Deal (owner of Upscale Audio), when he says, you can't power your way to good sound ... absolutely agree with that statement. Look forward to your comparison of the two Gryphon power amps in the next video.

Awesome review and I've been waiting for this combo also compare it with 333 amplifier

Love gryphon in the late 90s. Love the antileon solo, pre and monoblocks power amp. Love the sweet pure class A sound.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Antileon is special I would love one of those,

There used to be a company called Griffin, who made loudspeaker in the 1970/80s, although the name was spelt different, my friend dad used to own a pair, great video as usual Terry👍

Love this review Terry. If you get a chance, would love to hear your thoughts on Vitus amplification. See if you can get an ss-103 in!

Excellent review mymate ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

The Essence being their entry level shows how great Gryphon Amplifiers are. 😊

Having that kind hifi in your house Tel , I'm surprised you still got a knob to still play with 😂 good video mate

I'm playing with my nob now lol, awesome review 👌

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Love it when at least one person gets the jokes 😁

Interesting review and class A - AB comparison. The price is ridiculous

Many thanks for a great review Terry. I saw a XACT S1 streamer on your rack. Are you planning a video/review of this gear?

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Yes defo it’s in the works

@piotradamowicz1088

4 ай бұрын

Fantastic. Looking forward to view it.

The Plinius SA250 has the same A/AB switching - I found after half an hour in Class A that the bass became smoother.

I love ghryphon, especially the Apex.

amazing!

Great review! Love the insight your channel brings to us lost sheep, audiophile in training types! (Now that I’ve buttered you up) would you please also compare The Gryphon Essence stereo amp using the Audiolab 9000N as a preamp to the Essence amp/preamp AND the Diablo 333? I recall your review of the 9000N was with that fed directly into the Essence amp..

@jeffandich3894

4 ай бұрын

The Essence amp with the Audiolab 9000N vs the Diablo 333 is probably more comparable in terms of price..

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

The audiolab had to go back so I can’t do this for you sorry

@jeffandich3894

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thank you! ! You did state that the Gryphon amp works best when paired with its preamp. I recall that you also felt that the Audiolab paired well as a preamp with the Essence amp. Any insights would be greatly appreciated for those of us who can’t afford to buy a new Gryphon Essence amp and preamp, but are puzzling over whether to buy (1) just an amp now paired with a DAC/preamp ( and buy a dedicated preamp later) vs (2) Buy an integrated amp now. Thanks again!!!

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

From an energy and dynamics stand point yes defo better from the Gryphon pre but yes with the audiolab rel sub and missions I had a blast at the end of last year. That was a very different sound though, a bit more subdued but musical and very pleasing. That is different. This is huge money, as much as my reco can hopefully help please dont ever spend this kind of money without a good listen first

Wattage doesn't mean everything. Basicly if the power doubles in impedance the design and the power supply of the amp is good. My old Haran/Kardon os only 30 watts, butt its sounds great cause it has a good powersupply and can deliver current. When can welt steel with it, u have a great amp. Anyhow...Gryphon are great gear. Looking forward for the 333. Peace.

Your enthousiasm for these amps almost burst through my screen! Fantastic. What I do wonder about: using the Missions (which are way cheaper), do you still feel it would be worth it? Or perhaps feel like your throwing part of it's capacity away (the amps) like that?

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

That’s a hard one to answer, it’s hard for me to say spend 36k for 3k speakers but I loved the combo but maybe that spend a different way could give a better result, possibly of course.

@erwindewit4073

4 ай бұрын

​@@PursuitPerfectSystemPerhaps the Missions scale up really well? But I think it says a lot about those speakers and how much you like them! But also that the Gryphons don't seem to really care WHAT speakers they get, everything just sounds amazing? I love your channel by the way. I hope to hire you for some Dirac settings in the coming months..

Missing knob feel is tragic... But better than poor knob feel. My own power amp of choice has the first 12 watts in Class A then beyond that Class AB.... However currently I have on loan a Diablo 120 and it's apparent that the inky black background (low noise floor) is seductive among the other qualities. Looking forward to that 333 content.

So in the end do you like this set up more than the Diablo 300 you seemed to love so much?

Is it worth almost 5 times the price of the m66/m23 combo ? The NAD system sounds extremely good to me since I got them last week.

Well then, what's the power draw respectively? How much are we talking about? (A vs. A/B). Great video BTW..!!

I would really appreciate it if you could do a review of the KEF BLADE 2 META speakers.

Having this combo , you describe it perfectly. I had the 300. Loved it because of the raw power and neutrality but this is indeed more refined, more 3 d , more of everything without becoming warm or slow (what was the case e.g with the accuphase class A, although i like Accuphase but not the same class and price off course) i also liked the moon 860 by the way and almost went for this amp as it sound also very good. But overal the essence is imho the best for me . I like the dan d agostino too but there is some warmth that is , although pleasing, not ‘neutral’ enough. But hey, that s a good thing.. if everyone loved the same amps we would not have these vivid discussions anymore 😃 when listening to the antillion evo with sasha V ‘s…. Man…. Another league again…. The essence knows how to produce decent bass but the antillion s …. The bass vlows you out of the water 😃 which it should looking at the price…. One of these crazy audiophiles spending too much money on gear is signing off… don t tell normal people or they will will put me in a mental hospital 😎 addictive hobby…

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

I have always wanted the antilleon, I love those amps

Hi Terry, how many watts per channel is there in class A/B? Love your videos!

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

I am not sure it says anywhere what the power is, it doesn’t on the website which confused me anyway hence my mistakes in the video. It sounds like you get a little more but it’s impossible to know as the sound changes too in the ways I explained

@elderinmoi1571

4 ай бұрын

I think it is the same power output. The amp just runs cooler and does not suck so much power if you run it in ab.

I have a ML amp that is 104lbs & 100/200/400wpc - 8/4/2 ohms, class AB. Internally the ML is higher quality. My primary amp is a 3.2wpc tube amp SET class A which I use 90% of the times.

Great amps... you don't need to hate the term "neutral", it only means the reproduced sound is as close to the music stored on the medium as it can possibly be with the used components and at the price. Nothing added, nothing missing is neutral.

No doubt , these are great components but 37,000 GBP is nuts. This equipment is produced in such small numbers that they're forced to sell at these prices. Companies that make greater quantities can sell at lower prices and give you the same quality. Also class A is so ridiculously inefficient , so much power is lost to heat , why would anybody want that ?

Excellent review. For the record, Jay's Audio Lab preferred the Luxman 10X power amp in his system over the Gryphon Essence.

@elderinmoi1571

4 ай бұрын

I heard the essence monos are much better but the 10x can be run in mono config, too.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

I wouldn’t kick the luxman out of bed either :)

Hi, just curious what other preamps you tried with the Essence amp?

@NEwan-wy3qu

4 ай бұрын

And, what speakers?

@NEwan-wy3qu

4 ай бұрын

Sorry, saw you noted the speakers tested in the description (on top of those mentioned in your review)! Still curious what other preamps you tested with the Essence stereo amp - thanks, and I'm very much looking forward to your Diablo 333 review!

Please compare it to the Starkrimson Stereo Ultra DMC 2.0.

I had to play it back to verify! YES! the "ZERO" prefix to "Global Negative Feedback" is absolutely critical! Completely the opposite of the cheaper and inferior way of using global feedback to get good specs.

Its important to note that the Essence Pre and the previous Zena Preamp are the SAME preamp, just in new case work. Check the specs if you want to double check.

On paper the nadm23 has the cleanest most transparent background along with linear power output is that what u found?

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Not really the m23 sounds darker in the treble and a bit pumped up in the mid bass. Maybe that is linear but not sure it sounds linear as you think of it. The gryphon sounds more linear as you think it

⁠I have an Audio Music rt-2 valve pure class a 2 box preamp weighing 38kg. Cost me £5k. Superb build.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

They look to make some interesting products, your pre amp is £10k now though

@Coneman3

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem yes it was £9.5k when I got it reduced as ex demonstration but looks like new. A review from a few years ago has them at £5.5k, so price obviously inflated at some point. They get little promotion but are giant killers. If I was after loudspeakers I’d go for Osborne grand monuments. Check their Australian website. Tells you more about AM too.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Those speakers are 175KG each, not bad haha

@Coneman3

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem imagine the shipping from Australia 🇦🇺 😂

Very nice amplifier. We must valorize the good and well done products. Today we are having a lot of bad amplifiers that are being appear as good.

Thanks for this review but given the age of the Essence we were hoping for a review of the new Diablo instead

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Did you watch until the end?

@eliashabash7591

4 ай бұрын

Awesome, thats the very very end. I missed it i guess Cant wait

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

The very very very very end :)

I'm jealous - I've long admired the Gryphon offerings and by all accounts you were not disappointed! We can but dream of a lotto win ... Does the pre-amp have a high quality remote?

World class product for sure. High current drive topology always feels much more powerful than the classic high voltage drive circuit topology. I can imagine the diamond tweeter with this revealing amp can be too much sometimes. Probably the best speakers for the Essence have the highest quality of soft dome like classic ScanSpeak Revelator or similar and Accuton ceramic mids. Great videoTerry!

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Yes I am not sure this Marten be my first choice of speaker because I like a big more fullness and the Marten would do it but would need to be closer to my front wall, my room is hard in gear for bass, although if I added some subs I could balance the system very well and then their clarity would be a great thing

Like a fisherman that’s bragging with the size of the fish he caught 😂. I really like your presentation though. Could it be that the mission 777 speakers are high efficiency speakers ? If that’s the case you have your answer why power is important to drive some speakers best.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

The system is all listed in the video description box, it always is. To name it all in the video adds too much to the runtime. I know what you mean by the exaggeration by the time I saw it it’s too late obviously and it’s not quite that big but it’s not far off it, the transformer is enormous

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

The Mission are 87db pretty standard the Marten are 91db so it would be the other way around, the Marten seem like they need driving more - so again whats on paper and how it sounds in the room is different :)

@elderinmoi1571

4 ай бұрын

I see. Tx for letting me know. And I just found it funny and it made me laugh in a good way 😅. No offense for sure.

They should be one of the best at that price point. However, not interested in a second mortgage.

Crying at the nob feel. 😂 There's actually a utube channel called nob feel, hifi related of course. Wipes me out all the time. 😂 Im off to my listening room now to play with my knobs 😂

36k Hifi Pair set up and still a knob joke 🤣 Never change...dream amp

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

I did put a shirt on though, as I felt I needed to be a more high end presenter for this one :)

@neilparnell2089

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Yes true, I expect a top hat and a monocle if you get a pair of D'Agastino Monoblocks in for review

Should be monoblocks for that price

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

To be fair it’s a dual mono design so pretty close to

55/110w? I would have expected 150+

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

What Class A? It doesn’t matter anyway as I explain

now this is high end at the finest-----

Oh my God, far to expensive! And if I want to buy it for the looks, I would rather prefer an expensive Accuphase, Luxman, or so.

@Kowinaida

4 ай бұрын

'Too'. Do you purchase amplification based on aesthetics?

@n.lyndley.9889

Ай бұрын

To Too Two Three, different words Three, different meanings

Sorry to say way out of my league. Is the price justified? IMHO no but I guess if you have a bank balance where you can spend this amount of money on Hifi then maybe 🤷‍♂️

@YouSoundButtHurt

4 ай бұрын

Of course you say it's not justified, you can't afford it.

@Kowinaida

4 ай бұрын

Can you design & build amplification exactly the same & have you heard either?? What is your system?

surprised class ab is better that class a

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

? I didn’t say that, I said the opposite but class a doesn’t sound “warmer” it sounds clearer which makes sense when you think about it, why would class a sound warmer? other class a warm sounding gear is nothing to do with the amp being class a. That’s what this shows. It’s all in the design

@MasterofPlay7

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem by clean do you mean more refine or digital sounding?

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

I explained this in detail in the video - there is the assumption class a sounds warm but why would it, class a means the amplifier is always on and not turning on and off so there is no distortion happening from the changing between on and off states. So Class a gives you the amplifier at its maximum performance always and then any sound "tailoring" is happening to the signal coming into the amplifier. Not so here that is not the goal its all about neutrality. That is why the quality of gear you use here is very important as you can hear the limitations of the signal coming into the Essence. Crazy level of clarity

@matsurus

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Hi one question if you can answer: Is class AB or A smoother? (less sibilant, more liquid, softer, etc..) I used o own Threshold t200 which was pire 100w class A and it got smoother and more liquid as it got warmer, so i have always thought that class A should be more smooth (or maybe less distorted?) If you. can answer this, it would be appreciated!

I think watts do matter. A lot. Its not about volume output, but sound quality. I have mono blocks which cost more than this combo and they are rated at 400 watts each. I dont notice much difference in volume capacity when compared with my previous low powered class A amp, but what i notice clearly is how that power easily unravels the music. There is no congestion at all. Its all totally open. Watts do matter a lot.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Are you sure that is the reason for the better sound, could it not be other things like better power supply and a better design. I think it more than likely is because I bet your not using hardly any of those 400 watts most of the time

@silviosarunic6709

4 ай бұрын

one Lamm ML3 SET Pure Class A Signature mono blocks are 32W rated and they blow away all of your 400W amplifiers…….. watts have nothing to do with how amplifier sounds and control speakers itself….. ask some to teach you basics….

@silviosarunic6709

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem great comment and video :)

Amir is hiding in your closet mate. Be afraid...

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

He should have hid in my suitcase and come to Portugal 2 weekends ago as he would have seen and heard the measurements in the lab mean diddly squat

World class amplifiers. Watts are not really that important

Came here to look for a good power amp, got to the price and turned off the video.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

This is not a good power amp it’s a great power amp that costs money

@teddyboysdontknit810

4 ай бұрын

No doubt you are right, but tell me, how many people can really afford these prices? At this price, the gain over one costing a quarter of the price, probably, could not be heard by the average listener. To me it's more of a prestige thing, knowing you have something most cannot afford.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

Obviously less people can afford this compared to more affordable options, me included but they still sell a lot of them. Not because people are rich, yes they have to have some money, its more because they care enough to want to spend their money on it.

@teddyboysdontknit810

4 ай бұрын

@@PursuitPerfectSystem Well you've answered my question for me, when I heard the price I stoped watching as it's not for me or ever will be. If you wish to review this price band then I'm not your man, as Leonard Cohen once sung, or was it, I'm your man, still, you get my drift. Incidentally if buying a thirty grand plus amp you would be silly to skip on cheap source and speakers so you are suggesting that someone who spends fifty to sixty grand on a home stereo system does so be cause he cares and not because he is rich? Sorry but I disagree, this price band is for rich people who want to look rich people. As I said probably most of them couldn't tell the difference between this and a cheaper system at half or a quarter of the price.

@PursuitPerfectSystem

4 ай бұрын

If you want to look rich you buy fancy things people will see, which is unlikely this type of HiFi I bet most rich people dont want to be seen and they buy just what they enjoy, nothing more. At the end of the day there is no piece of HiFi that is for everyone, therefore not every video can be for everyone. But If you dont spend time with gear at this level as a reviewer how do you even know what good sound is to reference others against - you dont simple as that. Lots of factors involved in everything I do, you cant please everyone all the time and I dont make videos only about cheap things to get big viewing numbers or to have a lot of affiliate links. I review things that are interesting and exciting for pushing the boundaries of sound quality forward for me and people that watch the channel. These come at all price levels but again how do you know whats good unless you know whats good - guessing is not knowing