Yes, the "house sound" is as you stated George, and I appreciate all the elements you noted with the Gryphon sound. For those very, very finite few who dislike this sound, based on what these people have said I suspect it may be the "controlled" element you noted, or possibly the very slightly "dark" tone in comparison to an amp that may be more raw sounding. Having said that I find the Diablo 300 to magically contradict itself with these tonal elements. What I mean by that is that while the sound is noticeably "controlled" at the very same time it is also very dynamic and engaging, likely due to having a very quick slew rate. "Sudden" sounds jump out and are very alive sounding compared with other amps I tested, but at the same time there is that controlled element that is often cited with Gryphon's sound. I'd also agree the tone might be slightly "dark" as some have noted, but at the same time, there are loads of dense detail, even when my system is probably limited in this area by my B&W 803 D2 speakers.
After a year of owning the Diablo 300 I'm every bit as happy with it now and just blown away by the sound quality versus what my experience has been with other amps. After living with it during this time, I'm still finding nothing at all I can find fault with whatsoever, and in fact I'm still regularly taken aback by how good the sound quality is. The two areas that have probably made the biggest impact for me in day-to-day use that really go a long way in preserving all positive aspects of the experience are 1) The fact that all positive elements of the sound remain perfectly intact at very low listening volumes - I've not experienced this attribute to this extent with any other amplifiers before, and 2) The fact that all positive elements of the sound remain MOSTLY intact with any material you can throw at it, including poorer quality recordings. I think the Diablo's slightly "dark" tone can help with this (while amazingly retaining high-frequency detail), where I find other more "raw" amps just totally ruin the experience to the extent recordings can easily become unlistenable.
Regarding McIntosh and Bryston - the amps I tested from these brands (MC452 and 4B3), at this point I won't try to peg these in a class of high-endedness, but rather, just comment on my experience with them. To be blunt, I felt McIntosh was fine by boring and unengaging. I also just wasn't a fan of the physical build when inspected up-close (looks great from a distance). This was surprising for me as I had anticipated really enjoying the McIntosh sound. I found Bryston's 4B3 amp to be much more engaging, with great bass and power. However, while the 4B3 is supposedly far less harsh than prior generation of Bryston's, I nevertheless found it a bit tiring to listen to for extended periods, and also far more intolerant of poorer recordings. Nevertheless, I consider the 4B3 a better buy than the MC452 as it's more engaging.
Despite my negative comments on McIntosh and Bryston, two things to note are that these are my subjective experiences I'm sharing, and also, I'm comparing it with Gryphon which generally targets a MUCH higher range (in terms of price) market. The Diablo is really a "value" offering from Gryphon when comparing the astronomical price points of their separate components.
After a year of owning the Diablo 300 I'm every bit as happy with it now and just blown away by the sound quality versus what my experience has been with other amps. After living with it during this time, I'm still finding nothing at all I can find fault with whatsoever, and in fact I'm still regularly taken aback by how good the sound quality is. The two areas that have probably made the biggest impact for me in day-to-day use that really go a long way in preserving all positive aspects of the experience are 1) The fact that all positive elements of the sound remain perfectly intact at very low listening volumes - I've not experienced this attribute to this extent with any other amplifiers before, and 2) The fact that all positive elements of the sound remain MOSTLY intact with any material you can throw at it, including poorer quality recordings. I think the Diablo's slightly "dark" tone can help with this (while amazingly retaining high-frequency detail), where I find other more "raw" amps just totally ruin the experience to the extent recordings can easily become unlistenable.
Regarding McIntosh and Bryston - the amps I tested from these brands (MC452 and 4B3), at this point I won't try to peg these in a class of high-endedness, but rather, just comment on my experience with them. To be blunt, I felt McIntosh was fine by boring and unengaging. I also just wasn't a fan of the physical build when inspected up-close (looks great from a distance). This was surprising for me as I had anticipated really enjoying the McIntosh sound. I found Bryston's 4B3 amp to be much more engaging, with great bass and power. However, while the 4B3 is supposedly far less harsh than prior generation of Bryston's, I nevertheless found it a bit tiring to listen to for extended periods, and also far more intolerant of poorer recordings. Nevertheless, I consider the 4B3 a better buy than the MC452 as it's more engaging.
Despite my negative comments on McIntosh and Bryston, two things to note are that these are my subjective experiences I'm sharing, and also, I'm comparing it with Gryphon which generally targets a MUCH higher range (in terms of price) market. The Diablo is really a "value" offering from Gryphon when comparing the astronomical price points of their separate components.