I’ve spent a long time exploring the best solid-state amplifiers available. Back in the day, it was the big Krells and Mark Levinsons; then the Halcros and Boulders came to prominence. Lately, the Vituses and darTZeels have been the vogue. I’ve heard them all, and more, in my systems over the years, and many others at audio shows, and at factories of audio-equipment manufacturers.
But
I’ve never heard the equal of the Gryphon Mephisto. It combines qualities that seem clearly contradictory: It had the best bass I could imagine, yet could image as precisely as anything I’ve heard. It expanded the soundstage in every direction, yet perfectly retained the midrange purity of a single performer standing dead center in the soundstage. It resolved the finest details of hi-rez recordings, and at the same time presented music in a cohesive, musically enjoyable manner at all times. It was as perfect a match for the ultra-revealing Magico Q7s as I think exists today.
Flemming Rasmussen has done it again. But this time, he’s done it better than at any time in the past. The Gryphon Mephisto is the best audio product that he’s yet produced. If it is indeed the last Gryphon amplifier that I review, that journey ends at a high point of my electronics-reviewing career. The sound of the Mephisto will be burned into my memory for a long, long time to come.
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