My visit to CH Precision

[gian60]

For me Wilson Alexandria,even if has 94 db, is not a good match with tube.
Wilson Alexandria has a very heavy midbass,and high power tube has also,so sound is no good.
My friend had Alexandria with pre 2 stack and mono amp VIVA,powerful for Alexandria in his not big room,but sound,even if Viva New Aurora amp have 845 tube,always heavy in mid bass and no good,we tried many times with spikes,cable,cartridges to adjust,but always no good.
He changed Aurora with CH and now sound is much much better

Another friend has Wilson X1 Grand Slamm with ML 32 and 33.Bought 2 years ago tube pre Riviera and Hybrid mono amp Riviera,very good,but when i go to visit him he has always ML connected.

Another friend had ìX1 Grand Slamm with ARC 600,sound not very good and when tried Burmester 911 mono,sound was incredible better

 

[gian60]

I had among the best tube since 1979 to 2016,tube quality reached the top in sound while transistor was not very good,but in last years transistor amp,CH,Technical brain,BAlabo,Gryphon,Koda and many others reached a very high level

 

[gian60]

Tad R1 listened many times with many ampsand never liked,but when i listen in Tad room with his amp was a good sound

 

[Amir]

Anyway i always love Kondo and would like to buy the new Ongaku with pgono GE 10 for the second system

Old Kondo,ANJ, are very good but are not better that the new production.

I think the key is having two system .
Tube/horn like "Kondo / Living Voice Vox Olympian"
Ss/Driver like TAD complete System

Tube/horn for beauty and Emotion of music
SS/Driver for power of music

 

[Amir]

I had among the best tube since 1979 to 2016,tube quality reached the top in sound while transistor was not very good,but in last years transistor amp,CH,Technical brain,BAlabo,Gryphon,Koda and many others reached a very high level

Yes new SS amplifiers are better than old SS amplifiers , I think now the CH and Vitus are on top of the List. I guess Vitus is even better than CH in Masterpiece models.

please remove Gryphon from your list ))

 

[Amir]

Tad R1 listened many times with many ampsand never liked,but when i listen in Tad room with his amp was a good sound

Yes , TAD does not sound good with most amplifiers , I do not why ...
TAD R1 is good when I connect to TAD M700 and the AC quality is high.
When AC Quality is bad the sound is worse

when AC Quality is good the TAD D600/C600/M700/R1/Skogrand Stravinsky will reach higher level of dynamics that is unbelievable , it is voice of God and very few dynamic driver loudspeakers Reach these level of dynamics + transparency

 

[Amir]

For me Wilson Alexandria,even if has 94 db, is not a good match with tube.
Wilson Alexandria has a very heavy midbass,and high power tube has also,so sound is no good.
My friend had Alexandria with pre 2 stack and mono amp VIVA,powerful for Alexandria in his not big room,but sound,even if Viva New Aurora amp have 845 tube,always heavy in mid bass and no good,we tried many times with spikes,cable,cartridges to adjust,but always no good.
He changed Aurora with CH and now sound is much much better

Another friend has Wilson X1 Grand Slamm with ML 32 and 33.Bought 2 years ago tube pre Riviera and Hybrid mono amp Riviera,very good,but when i go to visit him he has always ML connected.

Another friend had ìX1 Grand Slamm with ARC 600,sound not very good and when tried Burmester 911 mono,sound was incredible better

Yes the midbass is not perfect
Yes even high power tubes are not perfect with alexandria but totally is better solution

dave wilson setup at rmaf 2013 was good with VTL 400w

I also told to my friends speakers like Alexandria , WAMM will not give us best solution for amplification , both high power tubes and ss are not perfect match to big wilsons

 

[gian60]

Yes new SS amplifiers are better than old SS amplifiers , I think now the CH and Vitus are on top of the List. I guess Vitus is even better than CH in Masterpiece models.

please remove Gryphon from your list ))

Gryphon preamp I don’t like,but power amp are good

 

[Amir]

excuse me for off topic , if admin think this is not good then i will delete my post. I also excuse from gryphon company , this is my personal view and it may be 100% wrong.

I think gryphon system not designed for music.

CH Precision, Vitus Audio , Robert koda are far from gryphon .

i have listened to many gryphon systems and convinced gryphon is only good on specs.
Check the specs :
Zero feedback circuit
Dual mono
Dc coupled
Fully balanced
Class A Amplifier
Sealed box loudspeaker
Time and phase coherent crossover
Large capacitor bank
D'appolito
Line array drivers
and ...

Many audiophiles love good specs but i think the specs are non-sense and the most important thing is Designer mind.
Gryphon has no relation to music .

 

[LL21]

I have only heard Gryphon amps, not their preamps nor their speakers or digital. I have heard good things about their phono stages. So I can speak only to their amps.

What I like about their amps is they provide endless foundational grip, control and remarkable image density like almost no other amp I have heard (not heard them all). They also have a level of unflappable power that is in fact matchless in my experience...for speakers that need it. I can imagine there are those (I have spoken with a few) who compare the mighty Gryphon with the incredibly nuanced, exceptionally organic tonal qualities of SETs (with the right speakers)...and prefer the latter.

What these qualities allowed us to do with our sound was drive the Zanden digital source through it...and know the depth, power, density of tone and image would all come through effortlessly. And that combination worked exceptionally well.

For me, it was that particular, important and outer-edge frontier of organic quality, including a deft touch with musical inflection and nuance where I have found a new dimension with Robert Koda who has taken my experience in music and particularly amplification which are rooted in the impeccable qualities of the Gryphon where they are strong/peerless (above)...and then gone well beyond my experience with the Gryphons (for whom I retain a remarkable and profound respect) in the area of that refined nuance, organic qualities, and delicate but extremely confident filigree in all areas (including astoundingly filigree in the bass where the Robert Koda also goes deeper/more powerfully than Gryphon in low bass)...and only in the last 12 hours [potentially] now in the mid and upper bass as well.

The one area where Gryphon I intuitively feel reigns is (purely a guess and admit could be wrong)...is the ability for Gryphon to keep sounding endlessly powerful and in utter complete control with exceptionally difficult loads. The Wilson XLF does not provide such a load, and so as this load, the Robert Koda wins on all scores, but for certain elements it has not been an easy drop in replacement for everything the Gryphon does well...though with time, it does win decisively.

 

[nirodha]

Yes new SS amplifiers are better than old SS amplifiers , I think now the CH and Vitus are on top of the List. I guess Vitus is even better than CH in Masterpiece models.

please remove Gryphon from your list ))

You can add Audionet to that list.