Gryphon vs. McIntosh

The Tabu is a 17 year old design but still has a lot to offer in shear honest musicallity, leaning towards the romantic side.
The Atilla, being a new design, offers the same but with a higher degree of resolution, speed and neutrality.
The Diablo has all this, combined with awesome power.
It all depends on the rest of the set-up and the ears that listens to it. The product you like the most,. IS the best for YOU, regardless of what I, magazines or other people say.

I bought a Gryphon Diablo some years back after auditioning as many integrateds as I could around the same price point. I scribbled some notes on the product
here.

The Diablo, unlike the McIntosh MA7000 is a neutral product. What you feed it with and connect it too will determine whether it is right for you. I think the pairing with the NuVista would be interesting. I would be wary on the Cardas Golden Cross cable though. I also have this cable at home and find it a bit thick and slow compared with others out there. Perhaps before you spend a bomb on a new amp you might want to optimise what you already have?

@Kiwi thanks for pointing to your review. Great privilege to meet you here as I was already familiar and I read all your reviews with great interest, already some times ago. I also read other reviews of high class integrated and found them very interesting and thorough.

As far as my system and Golden Cross IC is concerned. This is my latest optimization that I did after a lot of trying and Cardas Golden Cross ICs brought the best music presentation into my system. I tried also with totally different IC cables like Nordost Red Dawn, Nordost Tyr, Nordost Valhalla, Oyaide Across 750RR, Van Den Hul the First, Oehlbach and some others. Cardas gave the music the essence and more spirit, and more meat to the bones. This is what I like and I did not find it slow at all. I think I made a nice circle where now my current Musical Fidelity A308 Dual Mono integrated is the weakest link and needs to be changed eventually. That's why I started to look for some better integrated. But will take some time, will explore, will discuss and will sure also listen to different options when the situation emerges.

So a question to you. Are you maybe familiar with Gryphon Tabu? I like its character a lot and is exactly what I'm looking for. I know that describing the character of some equipment is hard as it is sometimes totally subjective matter and depends also on the other components inside the system. But even though I think that you provided lot's of interesting reviews and I know also some reference music that you used during your reviews and maybe I will understand what you mean to say.

Some describe Gryphon Tabu as a bit dark, gryphonaudio said it is romantic. I would hard to say that if that is what suppose to be dark presentation. Maybe i don't know?! Romantic, maybe as I fell in love with it after 2 hours of listening. I was cemented to the chair :).
I just think that I heard the music the right way through it.

How would you evaluate the character of the MA7000 then? I liked it when I listened music through it. Is a character of MA7000 again dark ?

I now think and wonder that development of Gryphon went another way with Callisto and now Diablo and Atilla series. On some forum where one user had all of them, he said that it is not the same Gryphon as it was before with Tabu so it leans also a bit towards the analytical side. So maybe somebody can this understand as a tad bright? But I can not judge that at all, did not heard them yet.

What interest me are the @Gryphonaudio comments on the development of the character from Tabu series and all the way to Diablo. They are short but still interesting to read them. Romantic is changed now with neutrality and still there is presence of that grip and control that was present in Tabu? So maybe it is true that Tabu was a bit dark and Atilla and Diablo are more towards neutral. As I said already, I like the meaty sound of Tabu. Thick, fast, controlled. Music was with the guts this is what strike me the most. And no matter what I trow into the CD everything sounded good. Also bad recording sounded good. And that is one of the indications that we are dealing here with some really nice piece of equipment. Is that also preserved with Callisto, Atilla and Diablo?
Some of the reviews I read about Diablo said that it is highly dependent on what you throw in so this gives me a bit of discomfort.

You know, I don't like the equipment where you need only audiophile CDs to listen so that music sounds good on the system. I also like to throw into my CD a Pop from the 80s which is usually one of the worst recorded. And if that sounds good then I sense that I'm close to find my mate in the Hi-Fi to accompany me.

thanks for your kinds answers, best d.

Having been completely familiar with both products, I first thought the Post was kidding in asking for a comparison...mainly because there is NO comparison.
MAC is good gear, and some swear by it...I understand this...appreciate that certain 'sound' or look has great, sometimes even Universal appeal...hence Mac's years of success. However....however...
I went to Binghamton (long time ago) McMasters Training for their seminar over a couple of days.
They do a great and admirable job with their equipment...I came to be a big fan of their products...BIG Fan...but I can make no pretense that there's any comparison in sound between the Mac and the Gryphon.
Gryphon, to my ear, borders on the mystical...sounds silly, but true...it's so alluring (think tied to the mast in Homer's work, lol).
I owned a Callisto 2100, not even the 'big one' the 2200...and it slayed, Ayre, Conrad Johnson, (sorry Bill and Lew), Krell, Mac, separates and it was not close...AND this was not MY single impressions, but several people over the course of several days of a/b/c/d/ listening sessions in a store in Nashville, TN.
There's a thing that happens in audio, in which one passes over the obvious, and music becomes so realisitic and fun, and life like that the illusion is almost complete...it doesn't happen easily or quickly, but it can and does happen...so it was with Gryphon.
Funny...even devotees of the other gear would simply shake their head and say, 'Wow...that's not close'...words to that effect...surprised, supremely surprised at the difference.
Back some 20 years ago, I sold 11 of the 13 Gryphon preamps (rosewood knobs, gold flashed back plates, and $9000. back when $9K was more than now) that they brought into the US.
I literally, could hook an Adcom 555 Amp to the Gryphon preamp and make it sound remarkable...this forever changed my understanding of preamps and their value to a system.
Your last comment, Delfineck...'I don't like the equipment where you need only audiophile CD's to listen'....hit the mark with me.
When I designed the LSA speakers, the acid test was...can I listen to any 'worthy music'...and have a musical experience?
So it is with Gryphon...this is NO COMPARISON...Gryphon is in a different category of excellence when compared to Mac.
These words and thoughts transcend opinion.

Good listening,
Larry

Hi Delfincek,

I will do my best to address your questions.

The Gryphon Tabu has been out of production for many years and my only experience with it has been in a dealers system (not my own) so my comments need to be read with some caution. I found the Tabu to be a high quality instrument both in terms of design and sound. The Tabu has an extremely robust power supply design and this is important because with audio amplification one is ultimately listening to the power supply. I know that seems odd but as you would have read from my reviews the differences in mediocre and superb amplification often in my experience come down the capability of the power supply. Well-designed high power amplifiers typically possess large and heavy power supplies with high current capability which is demonstrated by their ability to increase output power into low impedances. Since it is current that ultimately drives the cones in your loudspeakers back in forth it is actually the amplifiers power supply design, not some lofty and frequently misrepresented wattage moniker, which underpins perceptions of sound quality. Since high current capability comes from massive power supplies and lots of output transistors, all of which are expensive items, well designed high powered amplifiers don’t come cheaply and this is true of the Gryphon range.

Turning now to the sound – the Tabu deviates from neutrality but does not in my opinion deviate so far as to label it “romantic” as ‘Gryphonaudio’ describes. I’d reserve such an adjective more for all valve softies rather than solid state brutes. Further, when referenced against the Diablo the Tabu is not as open in the top end of the audio spectrum and the Diablo trumps the Tabu in both resolution ( particularly reproduction of ambient detail ) and sound staging which is more vast with the Diablo and further grows as you climb up the Gryphon product range. The Diablo also exceeds the Tabu in terms of dynamics and localisation of instruments and actors. However, the Diablo needs careful matching to the source and speakers because there isn’t much in the way of tonal warmth. I’ve paired the Diablo with a Cary source because the source provides a hint of warmth to the proceedings. Further, the Diablo isn’t the quietest high powered integrated in the market – that gong would probably go to the Rowland Continuum C-500 and the Diablo runs very hot drawing over 200 watts at idle due to its class A operation for the first 20 watts (approx).

So, what is right for you? Well your view on Cardas cables immediately clues me that neutral is not for you. You clearly prefer added weight to the bass, the addition of some tonal colour and some attenuation in the upper treble. Summed, this gives many listeners the perception of “more meat on the bones” and an added sense of musicality. On this basis I imagine the Tabu would fit you very nicely indeed but do also consider (if you can) other options including the LSA Signature and the AMR AM-77. Good luck.