Gryphon Essence Stereo Class A Endverstärker

Gryphon Essence Stereo Class A power amplifier

'Technology doesn't drive us, we want to steer technology in a direction that serves us and our goals.'

- Gryphon founder, Flemming E. Rasmussen

In 2020, Gryphon celebrates 35 years of exploration and innovation and is recognized as one of the most influential high-end brands in Scandinavia - and the world. The Gryphon name has long been a hallmark of excellence in all aspects of audio design, from amplifiers to loudspeakers to digital reproduction.

It all started with the very first Gryphon power amplifier, the Gryphon DM100: 100 watts, pure Class A amplifier, selectable bias, dual mono, extremely wide bandwidth and much more. The Gryphon DM100 became a classic and instantly established itself in high-end circles as one of the most critically acclaimed amps of all time.

From its inception in 1991, the Gryphon DM100 has been the epitome of honest, engaging, and utterly musical performance, paving the way for our current flagship, the Gryphon Mephisto.

The Gryphon Essence shares the same big heart as its top models, the Gryphon Colosseum and Mephisto. The name Essence was chosen because it embodies the virtues that have been in the Gryphon's DNA since its very first amp.

Essence is your direct musical direction, with tonal neutrality, textural purity and dynamic ease defined by both what we left out and what we put in.

With an extremely wide frequency bandwidth (0.5Hz - 350kHz, +0dB, -3dB), Gryphon Essence is conservative at 50W (8O), 100W (4O), 200W (2O) in Stereo, Class A and at 55 W (8O), 110 W (4O), 220 W (2O), (Monoblock), Class A designed.

These exceptional values guarantee stability at any speaker load. The dual-mono design uses a custom-built, shielded, two-winding, high-current toroidal transformer for the left and right channels. The output stage and driver stage have separate power supplies for effective isolation of the output stage from the input stage. A separate transformer for the control and display circuitry isolates them from the signal path.

Gryphon Essence takes us one step further in the never-ending quest for a more natural and compelling musical illusion. Years of experimentation and extensive research into circuit topology, component quality and reliability have resulted in the development of an amplifier that immediately impresses with its ability to effortlessly navigate even the most demanding musical passages, regardless of volume. With consistently high power reserves available at all times, the Essence simply does not 'see' the speaker, so its reactive load cannot affect amplifier performance. Unlike other high-performance amplifiers, the Gryphon Essence's uncompromising, pure Class A topology allows for extreme power reserves when needed, combined with delicacy and delicacy in musical presentation.

It is our basic philosophy that all electronics in the playback chain should ideally be neutral, adding or subtracting nothing from the recording, no matter how 'attractive' such distortion may be. The Essence is inherently a product for the lucky few who can afford such a statement, just as it is a product for the growing number of music lovers seeking purity in music reproduction, a product for music lovers who are both the musician as well as the recording engineers respect enough not to add or subtract anything that has to do with the original intention of the recording.

circuit topology

Performance is key, and the Essence is equipped to take on even the most vicious and nightmarish speakers. In the output section, bipolar output components from Sanken are used, which have proven to be extremely reliable in addition to their outstanding sonic performance. 10 transistors per channel are used in the Essence Stereo, and 20 in the Essence Monoblock. These transistors are capable of delivering massive amounts of instantaneous peak power without overloading.

Fully balanced input and gain stages improve transient response, bass depth and spatial imaging.

The separate driver section has its own power supply from the individual windings of the specially made toroidal transformers. A unique mechanical design ensures optimal thermal matching between drivers and output devices. The driver section has its own high quality, generously sized capacitor bank.
The power capacitor bank in the stereo version consists of an amazing array of exceptional 440,000 µF and 880,000 µF in the monoblock version, bridged by high quality polypropylene capacitors in the power supplies in both versions.

There is no global negative feedback, and DC coupling is done via a DC servo circuit. The internal wiring in the signal path has been reduced to an absolute minimum.

The Gryphon Essence uses a completely independent power supply for the display and control circuits, preventing the digital noise generated by these circuits from reaching the amplifier circuits.

protection

The unique, non-invasive protection system offers reliable, no-fuss protection without compromising signal purity and simplicity of the signal path.

The output signal is constantly compared to the input signal, so if the difference exceeds preset limits, the amplifier will mute and go into standby mode until the fault condition clears.

The temperature of the heatsink is constantly monitored. In case of overheating (temperature above 90°C) the amplifier will switch off. Normal operation will resume when a safe operating temperature is reached.

Class A

True Class-A operation has always been a benchmark for Gryphon, simply because in our experience nothing quite compares to the sonic glory of pure Class-A.

Unfortunately, true Class A operation is even rarer today than it was when we released the DM100. Growing consumer awareness has forced some manufacturers to stop making outrageous, unsubstantiated claims of Class A performance ratings that exist only in the fevered imagination of some marketing 'experts'.

Still, there are a growing number of so-called 'new' Class A topologies that rely on auto-biasing, which somehow allows the amplifier to detect when the bias should be increased to ensure consistent Class A performance !

If something were to work as claimed, it would be like restating the laws of physics. For an amplifier to be able to increase bias and thermally stabilize to instantly match the dynamics of the input signal, it would need to be able to predict what's going to happen next on the recording. By its very nature, auto-biasing can only react to something that has already happened, and the bias will ramp up and down in a desperate attempt to follow the last note.

To be perfectly clear, there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to pure Class-A, and we say this without apologies: right, pure Class-A means heavy transformers, very large heatsinks, lots of heat, lots of power, expensive parts and expensive assembly.

We appreciate and support any effort to conserve energy and our global resources, but our investigation of efforts to achieve Class A performance with alternative amplifier topologies makes it clear that there simply is no substitute for the sheer magic of pure Class-A A gives.

However, based on a thorough analysis of typical listening situations, we have developed Gryphon Green Bias, a Gryphon invention (green for a much lower environmental impact). Green Bias offers true, pure Class A with significantly lower power consumption.

Any Gryphon preamp/power amp combination with Green Bias control allows the user to select the amount of Class A required to drive their loudspeakers fully in Class A at any given time, taking into account factors such as the sensitivity of the loudspeakers, the room size, the musical dynamics and the overall volume level are taken into account. Programmable Class A biasing is an efficient and convenient means of reducing power consumption without sacrificing Class A performance.

While Green Bias does not offer the extremely low power consumption of Class A/B or even the low power consumption of 'auto-biasing' systems, it does offer significantly lower power consumption without sacrificing even a fraction of pure Class A performance or to affect.