Bryston 4B3 vs Mac MC462 vs Pass Labs X250.8, OR... GRYPHON Diablo 300?

Congratulations Nyev,

I am out of town unfortunately until March 18th. My Diablo 300 is at my dealer now. It cam in the week after I left. You will have to
let me know your thoughts
on the dac. My Klimax DSM is getting upgraded now. Should be back close to when I get back too. 

I will have my system system plugged into my Torus Power Rm20 to a 20 amp outlet. The Torus is an isolation transformer keeping everything isolated
and off the electrical grid. Works extremely well with no chocking or coloration!! Had my previous Mac 501’s and everything else plugged Into it with exception success. 
I don’t bother with exotic cords and what not when my system is off the grid. Not needed at all in my opinion. 

The fellow who bought my
Mac gear bought one on my recommendation only. He
likes it so much he
bought more units for
his other systems in other rooms. 

Any, got to go for now.... cheers. 

Hi xsparky the Torus sounds interesting.  Others have said to plug the Diablo direct to the wall as conditioners sometimes can’t provide enough juice for the Diablo’s large current needs.  Including advice higher up in this thread.  I also saw an example at a HiFi show where a conditioner ruined the Diablo’s performance, and they realized this too late.  But I guess the Torus is different and provides higher current than others?  Also, according to a dealer I spoke with, high quality power cords also manage “pollution” caused by the stereo gear itself.  In particular digital components which apparently are extra noisy.

If lucky less, if not so lucky more, but I would say that $20k integrated with dac and phono and even without them would require at least $2k power cord. Gryphon people themselves consider power cord an important element. I would try three brands - Gryphon, Purist Audio and Stage III. Conditioner, any conditioner, would be very tricky or not needed at all. In any case, great power cord comes first.

Hi Nyev!

May I ask if the dealer that you referred to is in Vancouver? And the demo that you referred to...for 19k US, did that include the GST? I have been emailing back and forth with a (actually the one and only!) dealer in Canada and there is a demo available there with both the phono stage and the DAC...but it is higher than 19k (even if I do the conversion and add GST, my given price is still higher than what it looks like you may have been offered. I also wonder if this could possibly be the same demo...Also, how do you like internal DAC???
Thanks and all the best!!!
Kevin 

Hi Kevin,
It was a while back now so I cannot recall if the 19K included the GST.  Yes the dealer is the one in Vancouver. 

If it's a different unit than the one that was there at the time, the dealer will need to price it in accordance with how much they spent to get the demo unit.  For example for the demo I was looking at, they may have acquired it at a lower cost. Having said that, feel free to negotiate but also to be fair, you should be willing to walk away if they don't agree to your price.

About demo units, be advised:  The dealer may not know the history of the unit in question; it may have had many previous lives as a traveling demo for all you know.  They couldn't confirm the history for me of the demo they had at the time, which for me made it a non-starter (could have traveled the world at conferences, etc). They had bought the demo from Gryphon who had previously used it as a demo I think.
In general I'm still totally satisfied that I purchased the best amp (considering separates or integrated) that I could for the price, for my tastes.  And that doesn't happen often with me - I'm not one to be positively biased simply because I've spent a lot on something.  In fact it's usually the opposite as I have such high expectations relative to cost.  Couldn't ask for a better amp really, and I can't believe I actually was looking at Bryston / McIntosh before, considering you'd end up spending a similar amount of money for separates / interconnects / power cables.  Just watched "Knives Out" last night and saw a McIntosh CD player featured in a scene, and thought "thank god I went with the Diablo".  No offense to McIntosh or Bryston fans; it's all subjective to personal taste. 

I can't say too much about the DAC module as I don't have extensive experience testing DAC's.  All I know is I am blown away comparing it with my standalone Arcam irDAC that I was using before (which to be fair is a very highly regarded DAC but way, way less expensive than the Gryphon module).  I'm really happy with the DAC but I wouldn't trust my advice here given my limited DAC testing experience.  It is super cliche but the Gryphon module sounds far more "analog" than my Arcam irDAC which sounded thinner and not as fully fleshed out in comparison.  And, you get to take advantage of the magic blue flashing light that indicates the DAC module's super-cap is charging (for a minute or a bit longer after amp startup), which supposedly improves sound by ensuring the DAC is not relying on the digital source for USB power.  That said, if I listen to music for the minute or so when the blue light is flashing, meaning that the super-cap is still charging and therefore USB is still powered by the source, I hear no improvement at all after I hear the faint click of a relay and the blue light stops flashing.  Maybe because my Innuos digital source already has a high-quality power supply for the USB?  Who knows.  Not sure if the improvement is supposed to be due to the quality of USB power, or the fact that power comes from one circuit with better grounding, or something like that...  If anyone knows what Gryphon's theory is around the benefit of the super-cap is (beyond the high-level marketing explanation), I'd be interested to know what my flashing blue light is actually doing for me!

Good luck Kevin!