Gryphon Diablo 120


I’ve been running tube amps in my primary system in my living room for the past few years. When I first heard a tube amp, I was hooked, and thought they were going to be with me for life. 


However, a few months ago something shifted and I found myself not feeling engaged with the music in the same way. The music was feeling slow, distant, and lacking emotion. A voice inside told me to look into a solid state amp for a change of pace. 
 

I was fortunate to find a used (store demo) Gryphon Diablo 120, which arrived today. I’ve only been listening for a few hours, but over the moon happy with the sound of this integrated. It delivers a rich, detailed, nuanced and incredibly musical presentation. The sound stage is wide and engrossing. Imaging is wonderful too. I’ll continue to make observations over the next few days and report back. I think I might finally be close to getting off this audio equipment merry-go-around with this Gryphon integrated. 

For reference, I do also have a Luxman 590axii in my office and this Gryphon easily out performs it in my opinion. 
 

Other components in my system with the Gryphon Diablo 120: 

Innuous Zenith mkiii 
Merason DAC1 mki
Cardas Clear rca interconnect 

 

Speakers - QLN Prestige 3 


Power cables: 

Kimber Kable Palladian PK-10 connected to amp 
Lessloss connected to Dac 
Cardas clear connected to innuos 
Puritan 156 Conditioner with their Ultimate Cable 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

 

 


 

 

128x128bluethinker

@zlone - I couldn’t afford them new, so picked up a used pair from an audio studio engineer in NY. They rarely come up for sale used, unfortunately. If you can find a used pair, I recommend jumping on them. They’re just fantastic speakers. 

 They’re just fantastic speakers. 
 

I agree, heard the Signature 5’s at a HiFi show in Stockholm. Great Swedish speakers!

@swede58 - Agreed. They truly are! 
 

Impressions after one day. The Pursuit of Perfect Systems review (I’ll find and link it here) is pretty spot on. There is a subdued, almost dark, treble which takes a little bit of getting used to. I think I like it because it avoids ever being bright, but it is definitely a different treble energy than I’ve ever heard before. 
 


 

 

Full hijack mode now, I am curious what speakers you replaced with the QLN’s.