Gryphon PowerZone 3

[luca.pelliccioli]

New from Gryphon in 2024, the Gryphon PowerZone 3 seems to offer something new in AC "purification".

Can anyone share their experience (especially in the EU)?

POWERZONE 3 - Gryphon Audio

Revolutionary, not Evolutionary Main Menu Overview hafnertech™️ SMARTStack™️ ZERo compromises Features & Specifications Media Overview Forget everything you know about signal processing: compared to all other Power Conditioners, Gryphon PowerZone 3 introduces a unique and entirely superior way...

gryphon-audio.dk

 

[Kingrex]

Sounds like grain oriented wire that has been cryo treated. I think every manufacturer of power conditioner does this.

If its just a power strip with no caps, inductors, magnets etc, then its probably a very good power strip.

WAGO suck. They better have something industrial I have never seen. Like a sealed power terminal block they are calling a WAGO. And it should be, power in one side, power out the other. Straight line. WAGO are cheap pot metal plastic coated pressure clamp connectors. A wire nut is much better.

The concept of a WAGO is single point bonding. Each duplex to a common reference point. Exactly what I preach to do in your electrical panels.

It does not sound like a filter. It sounds like a nice power strip. Its using flowery language to make you think you can repair bad wiring in the wall and in your electrical panel with a end termination device. Fix your electrical infrastructure and this will be unnessary. Being Gryphon, it probanly cost more than an electrician rebuilding the power to your room.

 

[luca.pelliccioli]

Thanks for your expert analysis, your opinion is always appreciated.

I’m interested in direct experience though.

Anyone did already try it at home? And in the EU 230V version in particular.

 

[aangen]

Hi Luca!
I have been using and enjoying my PZ 3.20 for about five weeks now. I had no real expectations when I received mine but right out of the box it made non-subtle changes to my system. You have heard the saying "It removes veils". The Powerzone removes stacks of sleeping bags in comparison. The soundstage is much cleaner than ever before. Everything is just more realistic and enjoyable. I loaned mine to a couple of friends so they could try it in their systems. Both immediately ordered one. It is a magical product, once you hear it in your system you won't go without.
No power switch, no fuses, it is totally passive. My PZ3.20 has two 20amp circuits, each with four outlets. I have the following connected:
Block A
Gryphon Commander (two 15 amp cables)
Gryphon Ethos
Grimm MU2

Block B
Gryphon Apex Stereo Amp (Two 20 amp cables)
BACCH-SP adio
LHY SW-6 switch.

I was curious what a passive power conditioner could do with such gear. The answer is it makes a huge improvement to musical enjoyment.

The down side is I am constantly fielding questions such as "Is it the same as (insert power conditioner name here)? No, it is not. Please stop asking. LOL
I have sold six of them to friends just by letting them hear it. It is magical.

 

[luca.pelliccioli]

Thanks aangen!

Is it the same as… what I’m going to order? Stay tuned!

 

[aangen]

Thanks aangen!

Is it the same as… what I’m going to order? Stay tuned!

If you listen at all to me you have one ordered already. It's Sakra level change MINIMUM.

 

[luca.pelliccioli]

How could I ever not listen to you?

 

[Kingrex]

The down side is I am constantly fielding questions such as "Is it the same as (insert power conditioner name here)? No, it is not. Please stop asking. LOL
I have sold six of them to friends just by letting them hear it. It is magical.

Are you a dealer???

I see you have a BACCH and a TechDAS Airforce. Do you run your vinyl through your BACCH?
If you do run the vinyl through the BACCH, what do you hear as pertains to the vinyl presentation now converted to digital and back to analog? Always wondered. Thanks

 

[aangen]

Are you a dealer???

I see you have a BACCH and a TechDAS Airforce. Do you run your vinyl through your BACCH?
If you do run the vinyl through the BACCH, what do you hear as pertains to the vinyl presentation now converted to digital and back to analog? Always wondered. Thanks

I am not a dealer. I do run my vinyl through the Bacch. It makes the same improvement with vinyl as it does everything else. I can also choose to listen to vinyl without the Bacch. I sometimes do this for anywhere from four to six seconds before I switch back. Bacch is my favorite.

 

[Kingrex]

I am not a dealer. I do run my vinyl through the Bacch. It makes the same improvement with vinyl as it does everything else. I can also choose to listen to vinyl without the Bacch. I sometimes do this for anywhere from four to six seconds before I switch back. Bacch is my favorite.

Interesting. My friends BACCH goes through a baby face pro. As I understand it. Vinyl is always converted to digital when attached to the BACCH. So your not bypassing the digital processor. Just the affect processor.

Is it the BACCH you really like, or the ORC.

I'm mostly curious as I would use ORC to control a swarm of subs. If it can do it. Not sure yet. I need to ask Edgar.

 

[aangen]

Interesting. My friends BACCH goes through a baby face pro. As I understand it. Vinyl is always converted to digital when attached to the BACCH. So your not bypassing the digital processor. Just the affect processor.

Is it the BACCH you really like, or the ORC.

I'm mostly curious as I would use ORC to control a swarm of subs. If it can do it. Not sure yet. I need to ask Edgar.

Those are really good questions that I answered for myself. My BACCH-SP adio was quite old and needed to be sent home for an upgrade. The upgrade was going to take awhile. I didn't want to be without Bacch so I decided to buy a Bacch4Mac setup so I could become familiar with it and what it does. When I learned the Bacch4Mac was going to get ORC long before the adio would, that sealed the deal. The B4M arrived. I believe I was the first customer to get ORC. I got a version that required an external software piece to make it work Then shortly after the proper release version.

When I used the B4M setup I ran unbalanced cables from my Legato Phono Preamp to the Babyface Pro. I bought a fancy Farad power supply to power the Babyface Pro. I used a Stealth USB cable between the Babyface and the Mac Mini.

When I listen to vinyl I use the full processing the B4M system offers. ORC and XTC. I also had the Legato connected to the Commander Preamp via Stealth V17 Sakra LE interconnects. The unbalanced cable from the Legato to the Babyface was nothing special. I could then assume listening to vinyl direct between the Legato and Commander should have a significant advantage over the B4M route. As you can probably imagine, this turned out in favor of the B4M over the *correct Legato to Commander setup. *My audio Guru HATES that the fact that I run my vinyl through DSP. I don't have to, but I prefer it.

Do I really like the XTC? Do I like it more or less than the ORC process?
XTC, as you know, is super pleasing. It just brings me a little closer to what the music should sound like. ORC, on the other hand corrects room issues quite well. As many have said, good gear in a bad room might be a waste of good gear. I get that. The ORC process, when done correctly using the two runs of the filter making process, the first for ORC and the second for XTC with ORC applied is extremely effective. What is nice is you can switch ORC in and out to be aware of it's effect. Without ORC isn't suffering. My room isn't too bad. And of course ORC offers so many options to tailor its sound to your particular twists. To sum up, I would possibly give up XTC and keep ORC if I had to make a choice between the two. But I don't have to make that choice, happily. But it does speak to which is more impressive to me.

So XTC was a huge jump. ORC was a huge jump. Believe it or not, Stealth V17 Sakra LE balanced Interconnects are a BIG jump. What is so weird to me, and I fully believe it, is the Gryphon Powerzone is a bigger jump than any of those things. It took me three weeks to get used to it and not be sitting with my jaw on the floor. It was so impressive out of the box! And a week later it made day one sound weak. And after three weeks it got better still. I am used to it now, and I fear the only way to demonstrate just how powerful a change the Powerzone is would be to remove it from the system. I may try that some day just to hear the difference. But today is not that day.

I believe the BACCH-SP adio is sonically superior to the Bacch4Mac setup. I have been using my Grimm MU2 to stream to the endpoint in the BACCH-SP adio and a SPDIF cable from the adio to the MU2 DAC input. I love the DAC in the MU2. It is very pure. Tonight I hooked up a new pair of Sakras between the adio and the Commander. Now I can compare the adio DAC to the MU2 DAC. I level matched and when I switch between them they are extremely close. I haven't picked a favorite yet. I will say listening to the MU2 without Bacch processing is quite enjoyable. But I prefer the Bacch route. It is so easy to switch between the two.

As for the swarm idea, a friend of mine owns a swarm system with four relatively inexpensive subs and a special controller that configures each sub based on what it needs for its position in the room. All four subs are programmed very different from each other. The overall effect is quite good. The system costs about $10k. It includes four subs, amplification for each sub, all cables and the control system and software. An additional $2k is charged as the person wo created this system comes to your room and sets it all up correctly. So $12K for a full sub swarm system.

I use a pair of REL N31 subs and the ORC and XTC software. I think a swarm would be a tough call. Edgar knows best and I would be interested in what he says about a swarm.

When I got my Powerzone I shut my subs off. They didn't seem necessary anymore. They are back on now and with the Powerzone they blend so well I have to drop to the floor in front of them to make certain they are working. As my Vivid Spirits are true full range speakers, I only added the subs for when I was in the mood to go all teenager with the bass. They blend so well now that I just leave them be. Crossovers are set at 31Hz. They don't have a lot to do. Setting the crossovers higher makes the whole Teenager bass thing go crazy. Too much, too much.

 

[luca.pelliccioli]

You said before that PZ3 is more than a Sakra level upgrade. Now you are saying that PZ3 is more than a BACCH level upgrade! Who’s speaking, the audiophile or the teenager in you?

 

[aangen]

You said before that PZ3 is more than a Sakra level upgrade. Now you are saying that PZ3 is more than a BACCH level upgrade! Who’s speaking, the audiophile or the teenager in you?

A full on Adult.
Perhaps the Powerzone is synergistic with the other pieces? But I do listen sans Bacch and it's still amazing. So who knows?

 

[Arewethereyet]

You said before that PZ3 is more than a Sakra level upgrade. Now you are saying that PZ3 is more than a BACCH level upgrade! Who’s speaking, the audiophile or the teenager in you?

Did you end up purchasing the PZ3? I too have the Puritan 156 that my noise sniffer seems to admire as do my ears.

I asked my Gryphon dealer about the PZ3 and they encouraged me to look at Transparent power conditioners instead even though they rave about all of the other Gryphon offerings. And they know my current setup pretty well. I may have to find another dealer here in the US if I want to audition the PZ3.

Btw, I too also have the MSB Reference DAC.

 

[aangen]

Did you end up purchasing the PZ3? I too have the Puritan 156 that my noise sniffer seems to admire as do my ears.

I asked my Gryphon dealer about the PZ3 and they encouraged me to look at Transparent power conditioners instead even though they rave about all of the other Gryphon offerings. And they know my current setup pretty well. I may have to find another dealer here in the US if I want to audition the PZ3.

Btw, I too also have the MSB Reference DAC.

I can help you with if you are looking for another US Gryphon dealer. That the one you talked to said what they said speaks badly for them. I borrowed mine to two people and six bought after hearing it. I love mine and would not hesitate to buy a second if I had a need to do so. You should drop a note to Gryphon and inform them about this dealer. IMHO.

 

[luca.pelliccioli]

Did you end up purchasing the PZ3? I too have the Puritan 156 that my noise sniffer seems to admire as do my ears.

I asked my Gryphon dealer about the PZ3 and they encouraged me to look at Transparent power conditioners instead even though they rave about all of the other Gryphon offerings. And they know my current setup pretty well. I may have to find another dealer here in the US if I want to audition the PZ3.

Btw, I too also have the MSB Reference DAC.

Yes I did.


My dealer cooked it for less than 1 week, before shipping the unit to my home.
I have experienced only 4 evenings with it, it means about 15 hours of critical listening in total. But 15 minutes since I introduced it into my life, well was enough to attest such a great improvement in SQ!

First impressions?
- Bass profoundly deep
- Air around voices, that are more vibrant and a little bit forwarded but pleasantly more realistic
- Tons of details, separation - from left to right something is catching my attention every now and then
- Ease and quietness and relaxation

The feeling is that I still need to acclimate myself to this new sound, which is the one I well know from my system and I usually like (no coloration or artificial effects) but so clean, vivid and transparent that each song is a new adventure!

I’m really enjoying music, that is our second aim in this hobby, after looking for the next upgrade!

Another evident difference I’m noticing with the PZ: dynamic range! Treble extension is increased as well as in the opposite direction lower frequencies are going down. I mean, in the same track I’m experiencing a wider distance between the two extremes. I’m new to this proportions.
The lowest passage seems to sound so delicate, almost inaudible, while loudest notes (female voices for instance) or attacks, seem to sound so powerful and impactful. Like changing the volume level via a remote, up and down, during the playback.
This is astonishing and involving, most of all it’s a completely new experience for me at this degree…

Probably the closest thing to a real performance experience, and I’m not playing classical music. WOW!

I’m oddly keeping the Puritan PSM-156 plugged into the wall (even though there are no other components connected to it) only because it is cleaning the dedicated circuit. In fact, like you, I measured the EMI values with a noise sniffer, comparing w vs w/o and the result is not subtle.

A few members of PS Audio forums have opened a thread with a lot of comments about the Gryphon PZ3 and the burning in process they are experiencing, you might find it useful to understand how it works.

I’ve just sent a message to a friend that is interested to buy a PZ3:

• the general improvement is real and one of the most significant I got in my system
• bass are so impressive that you can forget subs
• it brings life to music, presence and a vibrant emotion
• It’s not one of those tweaks that make a difference once added but you soon find annoying and after a few weeks you remove

The only odd thing is that I’m realizing that time is needed until you can become more familiar with such a big leap. And once you hear what a wonderful sound it can give you one day, you are sad if the day after something happens lowering that kind of WOW effect.

Despite this, even on “bad” days it allows you to enjoy an experience that is superior to what you were used to before you put it in your system. To be clear, it is far superior to other competitors I tried in my system, but its real competitor is the PZ itself, for how it evolves and improves every day, albeit in an alternating way.

Hope that helps.

PS: I’m also waiting for a Reference Digital Director within the end of November that will hopefully add more joy to my audiophile journey.

 

[aangen]

Yes I did.

View attachment 138441
My dealer cooked it for less than 1 week, before shipping the unit to my home.
I have experienced only 4 evenings with it, it means about 15 hours of critical listening in total. But 15 minutes since I introduced it into my life, well was enough to attest such a great improvement in SQ!

First impressions?
- Bass profoundly deep
- Air around voices, that are more vibrant and a little bit forwarded but pleasantly more realistic
- Tons of details, separation - from left to right something is catching my attention every now and then
- Ease and quietness and relaxation

The feeling is that I still need to acclimate myself to this new sound, which is the one I well know from my system and I usually like (no coloration or artificial effects) but so clean, vivid and transparent that each song is a new adventure!

I’m really enjoying music, that is our second aim in this hobby, after looking for the next upgrade!

Another evident difference I’m noticing with the PZ: dynamic range! Treble extension is increased as well as in the opposite direction lower frequencies are going down. I mean, in the same track I’m experiencing a wider distance between the two extremes. I’m new to this proportions.
The lowest passage seems to sound so delicate, almost inaudible, while loudest notes (female voices for instance) or attacks, seem to sound so powerful and impactful. Like changing the volume level via a remote, up and down, during the playback.
This is astonishing and involving, most of all it’s a completely new experience for me at this degree…

Probably the closest thing to a real performance experience, and I’m not playing classical music. WOW!

I’m oddly keeping the Puritan PSM-156 plugged into the wall (even though there are no other components connected to it) only because it is cleaning the dedicated circuit. In fact, like you, I measured the EMI values with a noise sniffer, comparing w vs w/o and the result is not subtle.

A few members of PS Audio forums have opened a thread with a lot of comments about the Gryphon PZ3 and the burning in process they are experiencing, you might find it useful to understand how it works.

I’ve just sent a message to a friend that is interested to buy a PZ3:

• the general improvement is real and one of the most significant I got in my system
• bass are so impressive that you can forget subs
• it brings life to music, presence and a vibrant emotion
• It’s not one of those tweaks that make a difference once added but you soon find annoying and after a few weeks you remove

The only odd thing is that I’m realizing that time is needed until you can become more familiar with such a big leap. And once you hear what a wonderful sound it can give you one day, you are sad if the day after something happens lowering that kind of WOW effect.

Despite this, even on “bad” days it allows you to enjoy an experience that is superior to what you were used to before you put it in your system. To be clear, it is far superior to other competitors I tried in my system, but its real competitor is the PZ itself, for how it evolves and improves every day, albeit in an alternating way.

Hope that helps.

PS: I’m also waiting for a Reference Digital Director within the end of November that will hopefully add more joy to my audiophile journey.

Luka! You bought it already? That is wonderful!
As a favor to you I am going to take a few days off from testing new gear.
Respect!
Al

 

[luca.pelliccioli]

Thanks for you exquisite kindness!!!

Kidding apart, I really have to thank you for discovering the PZ3 before any other audiophile on the planet!

 

[Paul172]

Congrats @luca.pelliccioli i know you will love the PZ! For some reason I feel safer on this forum saying that.

 

[Paul172]

By the way why are we the only ones on this thread talking about the PowerZone?