Gryphon Ethos

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
This thread has been in my head for the past 5 days however I have been out of town on a whirlwind tour with the 3 Amigos about which I will post later

Suffice it to say I have known Philip O'Hanlon for at least 15 years and I have always found that he represented fabulous brands and I have been to his house countless times and have heard many iterations of his system all of which have been superb. Last week however was a different story.

Until recently I find that most of my listening has been analog in nature (90%) and digital 10%

In fact the only digital that I was playing was Philip's demo disks. For those who know Phillip you know he releases a new demo diskevery year with #22 soon to be released. I know Philip's music by heart . I also know that when Philip invites me over to hear something special I always "do" hear something special

Philip was beaming ear to ear when he invited me to come over and hear the new Gpryphon Ethos a CD transport with an integrated DAC. I must admit that I was unprepared for what I was to hear

This new DAC plays Redbook CD but with the push of the remote it can play PCM up to 32 bit and push another button on the remote it can play DSD126. Add to that the DAC has 7 distinct filters that can be used to satisfy any listening pleasure

I was anxious to hear the songs on many of his demo disks that I knew so well

Philip was able to play all of the songs I wanted to hear via his server and Roon.

Redbook played without any of the whistles or bells was outstanding but when Philip switched to PCM 32 my ears lit up and finally when he switched to DSD 128 all in an instant the a/b test was a no brainer


I don't know which filter Philip was using at the time but both of us agreed that PCM 32 was superb which then compared to DSD128 which seemed to be just a little smoother and a little warmer.

There are countless permutations and combinations all of which can be instantly accessed from your seat with your remote

So here for me is the take away caveat which I shared with Philip and I will share here with the readers......in all of the times I have heard Philip's system last Sunday's audition will be forever etched in my ears and my mind. I had never heard his system sound as magnificent as it did

This Gryphon Ethos is truly remarkable and I think Philip has hit a home run.The large LCD screen was easy to read from the sitting position

The unit doesn't come inexpensive however.

MSRP on the integrated CD Transport and DAC is $40K USD

This very unit is at the moment the only one in the USA and will be shown at the upcoming Capitol Audiofest. If you are planning on attending this show I would encourage everyone to stop in and have a listen. You will be in for a very big treat
 

MJB

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2013
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Thanks for the update and pictures Steve. This beautiful Gryphon digital component was also showcased at Axpona last April. Very impressive indeed!
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Thanks for the update and pictures Steve. This beautiful Gryphon digital component was also showcased at Axpona last April. Very impressive indeed!
It’s the same unit. Philip has the only one in the USA
 

bmichels

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2012
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Thank you for this very interesting listening report of the Gryphon ETHOS since I am on search for a CD player.

However, I am not only ionterested in the Ethos for his CD player capability but also as an External DAC for my Aurender music server to replace my existing denafrim terminator DAC.

--> How good the ETHOS's internal DAC is for external USB Sources ? have you been able to compare on the Ethos CD playback v/S the same track through digital in (you write on the first post "Philip was able to play all of the songs I wanted to hear via his server and Roon" !! what do you mean ? )

thanks in advance for your advices.
 

bmichels

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2012
109
2
260
ALSO...you mention that Philips release a new demo diskevery year with #22 soon to be released. whare/how can we purchase them ? can we also download their High-Res version ?
 

George K

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2012
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Could you please let me know if the spike pads (spike shoes) shown in above photos are included with the Ethos?

Or these are aftermarket spike pads (under the spikes), if so which brand?
 

Scott W

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Texas
www.suprahifi.com
Could you please let me know if the spike pads (spike shoes) shown in above photos are included with the Ethos?

Or these are aftermarket spike pads (under the spikes), if so which brand?

Those are Artesania Decoupling Discs.

Not included with the Ethos.
 
Could you please let me know if the spike pads (spike shoes) shown in above photos are included with the Ethos?

Or these are aftermarket spike pads (under the spikes), if so which brand?
Sorry for the tardy reply George, but I only saw your query this afternoon.
The Ethos spikes are sitting in Artesania 60mm Decoupling Discs, these come with a choice of Beech, Delrin or Neoprene pads underneath the stainless steel cup.
We have used these underneath turntables as well, with spikes are Track Audio stainless steel turntable feet with fabulous results.
Lowers the noise floor, where it sounds at least 2dB louder than before.
Cleans up the bass, more articulate & better defined. Clearly lowers the LF extension.
Cleans up the midrange where micro detail becomes more apparent as you have a quieter, blacker background. ditto to the HF.
Cheers,
Philip
 
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