Anyone bought a Gryphon Diablo 333?

@kairosman What were your impressions, was the 333 better than your D300?

The 333 was better, but not much, more different than better for my tastes. And definitely not better enough at DOUBLE the price. High-end hifi right now is overvalued. Kinda like the S&P 500.

The Essence stack was clearly better, but again more different than better. The 300 is warmer than either the 333 or the Essence stack, which suits my system better.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may differ.

Heard both the 333 and 300 side by side today, my impressions mirror yours @kairosman I did not audition the Essence combo.

While auditioning the 333 (at the dealers room - and while I own the 300 for 5 years already), what strikes me more as a direct comparison between the 333 and the 300 are the following:
I get a picture that is holographic, bond together as in one picture rather than a spaced puzzle.
So much more info in the center of the image
The space around the picture has more void filled with air coming from the music
The image quality is the same between the two, well-placed, everything falls into place, nothing is moving up and down, it's the quality of the pixels that strikes me the most, and how much more natural it sounds, so much more analogue, like listening to a vinyl record, the sound info comes in effortless, and It's so much more solid, coming from the center to the sides filling the room, without leaving any voids.
While the 300 has the same control and brutality, it places everything into boxes and leaving empty space around them, so neat and clean, sometimes too clean to be true. Like looking everything from a magnifying glass, looking at the tree and "missing" the forest.
So, was wondering if anyone got that same picture and whether that same picture comes out in the integrated DAC as well, as the 333 that I am auditioning does not have an internal DAC, it uses an ESOTERIC K-05XD SACD/CD Player & DAC, which in paper is far less superior to the Gryphon DAC 3, that the 333 uses internally.

it uses an ESOTERIC K-05XD SACD/CD Player & DAC, which in paper is far less superior to the Gryphon DAC 3, that the 333 uses internally.

@tinian Why do you think the K-05XD is ”far less superior to the Dac 3”? Based on your description it seems you like the sound of the 05XD?