Gryphon Essence Stereo vs Antileon Evo Stereo vs CH Precision A1.5 to drive WA Sasha DAW

abeidrov

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Hello everyone, I have a few questions about these amps and their possible use with the DAW. Please, share your experience or thoughts:)
  1. Will Essence Stereo have enough muscle to drive the DAW? It is not a very powerfull amp watt wise. My WA dealer aslo carries Pass Labs and he suggested at least Pass XA 160.8 amp to drive the speakers, especially if I listen at low volume levels. The Pass amp is 160W vs 50W in case of Essence.
  2. What is the house sound of Gryphon vs CH? I've read some coflicting opinions. Some people say CH is more neutral or cold sounding like Soulution or Audionet. Others say CH is very musical and tube like sounding and Gryphon is colder. What is the consensus here?
  3. Difference in sound between Essence and Antileon? I've seen one post that Essence is more neutral sounding and closer to Mephisto, and Antileon Evo is a little bit warmer sounding. Is that true?
Thanks in advance,
Aziz
 

LL21

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HI Aziz,

Until someone more knowledge weigh in here, I will share my personal experience with Wilson and Gryphon.

1. My limited understanding of the more difficult-to-drive Wilsons are that technically their db rating (like DAW) at 91db is actually pretty good. Which means you really want to focus on an amp with high current to drive the overall speaker without falling down because the impedance curve is too difficult for the amp to function optimally.

So while there is always a consideration of pure watts...in this case you certainly should be able to play every bit of the full 50 watts with the Essence and at 91db...you should have quite a lot of volume. Nearly 112db at 1m listening distance with steady performance before you talk about peak performance...

I imagine the Pass would also be great, but certainly you could find 200 watts that will NOT play as authoritatively as the Essence because they dont deliver the kind of current that the Essence does.

2. In terms of sound quality, I have never heard the Essence. I HAVE heard that the Diablo may not have quite the mellifluous qualities of the pure Class A amps...and that the Antileon Evo carries on the darker character of the original Antileon while the Mephisto carries the Gryphon house sound towards the direction that the Colosseum did so well...more extension and more illuminated treble.

3. As for CH...i have never heard it. My reading is that the certain owners of CH who have been long-term tube users have found that the CH manages to capture that absolutely crystalline clarity and transparency in a natural way that is so elusive in SS. By contrast, I think many have said that while the Gryphon does share more of the tube qualities in the mids (warmer, richer, etc)...I think that its treble has stereotypically been considered darker and darker than certain tubed equipment (OTL come to mind).

So if you think of tubes in the mid-beauteaous way, some find the Gryphon to deliver that...along with the Tremendous, unlimited power, effortlessness especially in bass which is certainly well in the domain of the best SS designs.

But that is not the description that people seem to associate with CH...rather it is its pelucid, clear, electrostatic-speaker-equivalent-of-amplification nature. Hope that makes sense...it is again 2nd hand from speaking with 2 owners, the distributor, and reading.
 

bonzo75

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The Gryphon Diablo does sound very good with the JBL 4344 for SS in the below video

 
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abeidrov

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Dec 17, 2015
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HI Aziz,

Until someone more knowledge weigh in here, I will share my personal experience with Wilson and Gryphon.

1. My limited understanding of the more difficult-to-drive Wilsons are that technically their db rating (like DAW) at 91db is actually pretty good. Which means you really want to focus on an amp with high current to drive the overall speaker without falling down because the impedance curve is too difficult for the amp to function optimally.

So while there is always a consideration of pure watts...in this case you certainly should be able to play every bit of the full 50 watts with the Essence and at 91db...you should have quite a lot of volume. Nearly 112db at 1m listening distance with steady performance before you talk about peak performance...

I imagine the Pass would also be great, but certainly you could find 200 watts that will NOT play as authoritatively as the Essence because they dont deliver the kind of current that the Essence does.

2. In terms of sound quality, I have never heard the Essence. I HAVE heard that the Diablo may not have quite the mellifluous qualities of the pure Class A amps...and that the Antileon Evo carries on the darker character of the original Antileon while the Mephisto carries the Gryphon house sound towards the direction that the Colosseum did so well...more extension and more illuminated treble.

3. As for CH...i have never heard it. My reading is that the certain owners of CH who have been long-term tube users have found that the CH manages to capture that absolutely crystalline clarity and transparency in a natural way that is so elusive in SS. By contrast, I think many have said that while the Gryphon does share more of the tube qualities in the mids (warmer, richer, etc)...I think that its treble has stereotypically been considered darker and darker than certain tubed equipment (OTL come to mind).

So if you think of tubes in the mid-beauteaous way, some find the Gryphon to deliver that...along with the Tremendous, unlimited power, effortlessness especially in bass which is certainly well in the domain of the best SS designs.

But that is not the description that people seem to associate with CH...rather it is its pelucid, clear, electrostatic-speaker-equivalent-of-amplification nature. Hope that makes sense...it is again 2nd hand from speaking with 2 owners, the distributor, and reading.
Thanks for this very informative post. I think your description of CH character is spot on:). I briefly listened to CH A1 in my room with VSA speakers and was quite impressed.
Anyway, I will audition Essence combo next week and maybe will have CH A1.5 in the same room, and Aesthetix Atlas and Accuphase A60:). This should be fun!
Any opinions about Atlas or Accuphase combos with WA?
 
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LL21

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Thanks for this very informative post. I think your description of CH character is spot on:). I briefly listened to CH A1 in my room with VSA speakers and was quite impressed.
Anyway, I will audition Essence combo next week and maybe will have CH A1.5 in the same room, and Aesthetix Atlas and Accuphase A60:). This should be fun!
Any opinions about Atlas or Accuphase combos with WA?
Good to know! Thanks!

As for Atlas, I have not heard and do not have any real substantive feedback from owners to be helpful.

As for Accuphase, they also are big into Class A amplification...I have heard great things about their amps. Regarding Wilson, I would imagine they definitely have the power output capability to drive them...as much as Gryphon? Difficult to say...I would have thought not necessarily but whether that ultimate extra bit of control will matter as much as the differences in overall voicing between Accuphase and Gryphon is another matter. In fact, I would guess voicing will be more of a deciding factor than whether either can 'control' the Wilson convincingly. From the written articles about Accuphase, I wonder if the Accuphase is voiced more closely to the Antileon Evo?
 
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bonzo75

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Thanks for this very informative post. I think your description of CH character is spot on:). I briefly listened to CH A1 in my room with VSA speakers and was quite impressed.
Anyway, I will audition Essence combo next week and maybe will have CH A1.5 in the same room, and Aesthetix Atlas and Accuphase A60:). This should be fun!
Any opinions about Atlas or Accuphase combos with WA?

Will you be rotating preamps as well?
 
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nonesup

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Thanks for this very informative post. I think your description of CH character is spot on:). I briefly listened to CH A1 in my room with VSA speakers and was quite impressed.
Anyway, I will audition Essence combo next week and maybe will have CH A1.5 in the same room, and Aesthetix Atlas and Accuphase A60:). This should be fun!
Any opinions about Atlas or Accuphase combos with WA?
I would be very interested in your report. I asked Miguel from Ultimate Audio and he said he thought Essence timbre was more like Antileon Evo than Mephisto.
 

abeidrov

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I will have Essence and Antileon Evo side by side in my room next Thursday. The local Gryphon dealer did not even want to give me Essence to try, they are convinced that Essence won’t be able to drive WA:)
 

abeidrov

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bonzo75

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Sure, I will try my own Coincident with Gryphon amps.

When you rotate, also rotate the valves in your Lampi. If the 242 clicks with a particular preamp/poweramp combo, that will win big. But until it does, you might not think so, but just try changing valves with every combo
 
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LL21

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I will have Essence and Antileon Evo side by side in my room next Thursday. The local Gryphon dealer did not even want to give me Essence to try, they are convinced that Essence won’t be able to drive WA:)
Good to know...i wonder if that is that even at fully driven 50 watts...it just is not enough to get the kind of power/volume to fill a big room?
 

abeidrov

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I think they just want to sell Antileon very badly. Sad. Now the guy says there is no point comparing the 2 amps, as they are completely different, different price points etc. So, they can bring both, let me listen for couple of hours and leave only one for audition.
 

LL21

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Well...the one thing I will say is that with a few hours to listen to both...you should at least get that opportunity to compare side by side. And hopefully you will find quite quickly which one you prefer...and then can have longer for the audition. FWIW, of all the components I have actually acquired...NONE came from an in-home audition. I have never acquired anything that was brought to the house...always preferring the equipment I had. I auditioned at the store, and took home or in a number of cases 'bought blind' since pretty much everything I acquire is 2nd hand.
 
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nonesup

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Could you compare between Essence and Antileon ?. I would be very interested
 
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Jpspock

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My daw are Playing with A pair of xa160.5. More than enough power, and this at very high level. The quality of the best valve amplifier..
 

abeidrov

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Quick update: I returned Gryphon Antileon with Essence pre and CH A1.5 after several days of extensive listening sessions. As I said before, CH is very fast, musical and transparent, but it cannot compare to Gryphon in dynamics, control of speakers, quality of base and overall density of the presentation. Maybe, if you take 2 A1.5, they will be comparable to one Gryphon amp, but the cost will be twice as much.
I will also try Momentum Stereo in one week, but it is almost the same money as Mephisto!
Seriously thinking about Mephisto now:)
 

LL21

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Quick update: I returned Gryphon Antileon with Essence pre and CH A1.5 after several days of extensive listening sessions. As I said before, CH is very fast, musical and transparent, but it cannot compare to Gryphon in dynamics, control of speakers, quality of base and overall density of the presentation. Maybe, if you take 2 A1.5, they will be comparable to one Gryphon amp, but the cost will be twice as much.
I will also try Momentum Stereo in one week, but it is almost the same money as Mephisto!
Seriously thinking about Mephisto now:)
Great feedback...look forward to hearing about Momentum Stereo as well! Your description of Gryphon certainly matches my 10+ years of enjoying their sound. DENSITY, control and dynamics...as well as bass that takes you down to bedrock...all are what I enjoy about Gryphon.

Do ask about Mephisto...as there are a number of very knowledgeable people here on the mighty amp.
 

nonesup

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Since the thread opened as "
Gryphon Essence Stereo vs Antileon Evo Stereo vs CH Precision A1.5 to drive WA Sasha DAW ”, disappointed not to have talked about Essence vs Antileon
 
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Skanda

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Quick update: I returned Gryphon Antileon with Essence pre and CH A1.5 after several days of extensive listening sessions. As I said before, CH is very fast, musical and transparent, but it cannot compare to Gryphon in dynamics, control of speakers, quality of base and overall density of the presentation. Maybe, if you take 2 A1.5, they will be comparable to one Gryphon amp, but the cost will be twice as much.
I will also try Momentum Stereo in one week, but it is almost the same money as Mephisto!
Seriously thinking about Mephisto now:)

i run a soulution 721 with a symphonic line kraft. the combination of swiss speed, transparency, and dynamics with the the tonal density, staging, and thunderous bass of the german kraft is a great match to my ears. if you look at my post histtory i talk a little about soulution vs. ch. ch has this delicacy and refinement that is honestly unmatched (the soulution is more rock-n-roll and agressive). maybe worth considering a ch pre with gryphon power amp if they let you demo that. some like to stay within the same brand for separates but i've always had fun+good results mixing and matching. you might get a great combination from the two working together - i haven't heard that combo so would be great to read your thoughts and impressions, but if it's like what i'm hearing then it i have a hunch it might fit the bill for you (but everyone has different tastes)
 

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