Price Paid:  $5175.00 from MUMBAI [BOMBAY] INDI

Summary:
06.08.2002. PURCHASED FROM :- M/S SOUND OF MUSIC - NEW DELHI - INDIA -- DISTRIBUTOR THE GRYPHON ADAGIO CD PLAYER [SERIAL NUMBER 0401111] THE CD PLAYER TO BEGIN WITH, WAS THE COMPONENT THAT SURPRISED ME THE MOST. I WAS NOT EXPECTING IT TO EVEN COME CLOSE TO ME 3 BOX METRONOME CD COMBINATIONS [THE BEST OF THE ‘FRONT ENDS’ I HAD OWNED AND USED TILL DATE]. BESIDES I AM NOT MUCH OF A ‘24/192’ OR ‘UP-SAMPLED’ KIND OF A PERSON. YET, THE ADAGIO WAS A SURPRISE. FOR A ONE BOX CD PLAYER IT DISPLAYED GREAT ANALOGUE QUALITIES. THERE WAS NO HINT OF DIGITAL FATIGUE, NO HARSH OR EDGY ‘HIGHS’ THE ENTIRE DELIVERY WAS EXTREMELY SMOOTH AND VERY WELL BALANCED. THE PERFORMANCES WERE NEVER OVER RATED, NOR UNDER RESOLVED. VERY, VERY PRECISE. THE INSTRUMENTS WERE 'OF THE RIGHT SIZE' & THE TIMBRE TOO WAS HIGHLY ACCURATE. ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT USED :- SIMAUDIO MOON ECLIPSE CD PLAYER [Serial Number A-211294-CD] SIMAUDIO P-5 PRE AMPLIFIER [Serial Number A-081291-PRE] ELECTROCOMPANIET EMC-1 24/192 CD PLAYER [Serial Number 01334] AUDIOMECA MEPHISTO II CD TRANSPORT [Serial Number 2001045] AUDIOMECA ENKIANTUS 24/192 DAC [Serial Number 2001073] METRONOME T1A MK II TRANSPORT + UP SAMPLER METRONOME C1A MK III TUBE 24/192 DAC BRYSTON BP-25 PRE AMPLIFIER [Serial Number 251744] BRYSTON 7B ST POWER AMPLIFIER [Serial Number 773775 & 773793] PASS LABS X-1 PRE AMPLIFIER [Serial Number 010388] DYNAUDIO CONFIDENCE 5 SPEAKERS [Serial Number 729879 & 729990] VdH THE SECOND BALANCED INTERCONNECTS VdH THE FIRST ULTIMATE UNBALANCED INTERCONNECTS VdH THE REVELATION SPEAKER CABLE VdH THE MAINSTREAM HYBRID POWER CABLE XLO ELECTRIC TYPE 4.1B AES/EBU DIGITAL INTERCONNECT CABLE THE GRYPHON ADAGIO CD PLAYER [Serial # 0401111] THE GRYPHON SONATA ALLEGRO PRE AMPLIFIER [Serial # 8890099] THE GRYPHON ANTILION STEREO SIGNATURE POWER AMPLIFIER [SERIAL # 118] THE GRYPHON GUIDELINE REFERENCE BALANCED INTERCONNECT THE GRYPHON PSC REFERENCE SPEAKER CABLE 10KVA SERVO CONTROLLED VOLTAGE STABILIZER PLUS RFI & EMI SPIKE SUPPRESSOR. 10KVA ULTRA ISOLATION TRANSFORMER MUSIC USED FOR AUDITIONING / TESTING :- M.A. Recordings - Begona Olavide / Mudejar MA042A Water Lily Acoustics - Tabula Rasa WLA-CS-44-CD ECM Records – Making Music / Zakir Hussain ECM – 1349 Moment Records – Ustad Sultan Khan MRCD – 1006 Reference Recordings – TUTTI ! RR-906CD Telarc – A tribute to

Strengths:
GREAT PLAYER FOR A 1 BOX CD PLAYER. ONE OF THE BEST 24/96 [UPSAMPLING / OVER SAMPLING] CD PLAYERS AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET TODAY. VERY ANALOGUE SOUNDING FINAL REPRESENTATION. RECOMMENDED - APART FROM ITS HIGH PRICE

Weaknesses:
POORLY BUILT [METAL IS TOO LIGHT] DISPLAY IS TOO SMALL & DARK. CANNOT BE READ FROM 15' DISTANCE EXPENSIVE FOR A 1 BOX CD PLAYER. HAS THE BUILD QUALITY / FINISH OF A 500 U.S. $ SONY CD PLAYER. NEEDS TO LOOK & 'FEEL' LIKE A BURMESTER / WADIA ETC. I.R. REMOTE IS PLACTIC AND FEELS VERY 'CHEAP'.........

Similar Products Used:
SIMAUDIO MOON ECLIPSE CD PLAYER [Serial Number A-211294-CD] ELECTROCOMPANIET EMC-1 24/192 CD PLAYER [Serial Number 01334] AUDIOMECA MEPHISTO II CD TRANSPORT [Serial Number 2001045] AUDIOMECA ENK

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This payer has a truly integrated sound when matched with the right components. Full, detailed, and without any shortcomings. Replaced by the newer model "Adagio," this should be available as a bargain, although a pricey one. List on this puppy was about $5500 US. My system currently consists of a Classe CAP151(underated performance), a Pro-ject Perspective, Audiomeca Mephisto 2 (yes, I have 2 CD players connected - 24/192 sampling is unbelievable),a Yamaha 960, a pair of Platinum Audio(the best bargain in the hobby), Acoustic Zen interconnects, JPS Power and Digital cords, and DH Labs Q10 speaker wire

Strengths:
Full, nearly complete sound. Analogue presentation. Built like a tank (HEAVY). Essentially 24/96 upsampling. HDCD compatible.

Weaknesses:
Poor support via email - no responses when requesting information.....questionable quality control? BNC digital out only

Similar Products Used:
Rotel CDP990, Audiomeca Mephisto 2, Musical Design CDP1, Electrocompaniet ECM 1,

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
It sound very musical, the sound stage of it is huge and wide, good depth and layers . Mid-range is a kind of sweet and bass is good, deep and fast respond, give you impression that never out of power. It is very good match with dynaudio, the config that I try is: Gryphon Tabu CDP-1 Gryphon Callisto 2200 Dynaudio 1.3SE very impressive!

Price Paid:  $4000.00 from Gryphon Dealer, Scotland UK

Summary:
Where do I start?, What can you say about a piece of hi fi kit which blows all your misconceptions about home audio and pre recorded music replay out of the water?.
This player is very, very special. It is without doubt the best piece of music making equipment that I have ever had the fortune to own.

I have been buying, using , trading and agonising over hi-fi for the last 20 to 25 years. My equipment and systems, probably like a lot of the readers for this website, has chopped and changed in this time and I have driven my partner to distraction with ‘the next best thing’. I can now say that I am happy to keep this unit for a long, long time. It stomps all over the Linn Ikemi and all other players I have heard circa £2-3K.
The only player that I have heard which comes close is the Linn CD12, but at £12K??, I don’t think so.

This player is BIG. 480mm wide (front facia), 380mm deep by 140mm high. It stuggles to fit in a standard rack and is best on its own isolation table as it also weighs 17-18 kilos or approx 40llbs. It is gorgeously finished in black painted metal and perspex to a standard of the Krells and Mark Levinsons of this world. It looks like it should cost twice what it does and sounds like it too.

The player uses upsampling like the DCS Elgar machines (not had a unit with this before but to my ears it seems to work) and has HDCD facility
It is pure dual mono and the box is not full of fresh air, it is packed full of electronics. This is definitely a well-constructed machine. As for the sound of this player, for the professional reviews check out the Gryphon website, www.gryphon-audio.dk, but my humble opinion is that the purity of the sound this player has is amazing. The soundstage is immense with musicians given a tangible quality, it feels like you are in the room with the band. Simple jazz, acoustically based music Maxwell Uncovered is a good one for this, is just hair raising stuff. Detail retrieval, timing and articulation is outstanding.
I have tried every combination of music that I own from Whitney Houston and Anita Baker for vocals, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn , Miles Davis, Micheal Jacko, Bob Marley even classical music and rock and it just shrugs it off and kicks ass

This is a player that can dissect music down into every strand so that you can hear the breathing of the vocalist, fingers moving over frets on a guitar, instrument placement within the soundstage and all that clever stuff but still lets you hear the whole event.Bass is the best I have heard on any CD player for weight and 'rightness' of tone. The best compliment I can give this player is it has a very analogue quality without the downsides of hiss, crackle and pop. It certainly gives my analogue source (Lingo LP12/Cirkus/Naim Aro/ Klyde) a very good run for its money. It is simply awesome.
The rest of my system comprises of a
Linn Kairn Pre amplifier
Chord 1200B amplifier
Linn Keilidh speakers

Downsides are that this player is so revealing that like a lot of high end gear it will show up those cheap interconnects for what they are, it will reveal the fact that you are using a cheap coffee table to plonk it on, and the 'thunk' you get when the CD drawer closes can be a bit disconcerting. You really need to do it justice with decent accessories. I use the Gryphon interconnects and power cord which do make a big difference.
In conclusion I would say that if you see one or get a chance to listen to one go for it. If you can afford one, buy it. Next to hearing music live( irreplacible), this for me is the nearest thing. You will not be disappointed.