Gryphon Diablo 300: at the top of Integrated Amps?

In addition, at this level there will be ’cultural’ differences. Gryphon represents the essence of Scandinavian sound - clear, dynamic, deep, on a darker side of neutral, and Ypsilon will weave the sophisticated tapestry of the world music. Gryphon will dominate whatever system you put in in and whatever you play, while Ypsilon’s presence will be more subtle and soaring.
In a perfect world I would choose Ypsilon, then I would ask Michael Green to build me custom speakers to work perfectly with it and I would send the Ypsilon to him for that. Then I would consult with Dimitros about recommending external non-Ypsilon phono stage. The alternative to Michael Green custom speakers would be Lansche. Purist Audio, Echole or Stage III cabling and that would be a great sound.
In not so perfect world I would almost certainly choose the Diablo with phono, either 120 or 300.
In less than not so perfect world I would first try Pass INT-60 for $6k used and see what happens.
All these would be for medium size room, and I don’t listen to opera, choral pieces and big orchestra music. If I did this would be either Diablo 300 or separates.
Swiss route is interesting too, though I am reasonably certain that I would prefer either Scandinavian or Greek/Middle Eastern sound, that’s either Gryphon or Ypsilon.

I like my Ayre AX-5 Twenty a lot.  You should put it on your list to check out. 

We may like our whatever we've got but this discussion is not about that.

@inna, hmm...maybe we got off the wrong foot. Can you tell me what this discussion is about? Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention to your thread. The OP asked about top integrated amps other than Gryphon Diablo 300, so I suggested an excellent integrated amp that I own. Would you not put the Ayre AX-5/20 on that list? Fully balanced with a Zero feedback design. Solid handling of the lows and highs. Extremely clear and very detailed with a deep and wide soundstage. Mid-range is true, neutral and transparent.

Inna obviously likes the Ypisilon, and they do make very good gear, howerver, there is another.

We did a comparison of the Thrax gear which is very similar in design and sound quality to the Ypsilon vs the T+A gear and the T+A gear was substantially better. Thrax is a second generation clone of the Ypisilon gear and some people actually prefer the Thrax over the Ypsilon. It is not quite right to say it is a clone, it is just that the two designers of both Thrax and Ypsilon share nearly identical ideas on what a simple elegant circuit should be and the design and layout and sound quality of these two companies products is very very similar.

The Ypsilon/Thrax sound is very refinded and quite open, very beautiful in tonality, the T+A gear sounded almost as magical in the midrange and added far greater bass control and dynamic slam. whil e still sounding nearly tube like in its midrange and overall persepective.

For this reason the T+A PA 3000 HV integrated and its even newer slightly better sounding cousin the PA 3100 HV have been gaining a lot of mommentium in the uber class range of gear.

T+A competes at the uber gear level, Solution, CH Precision, D’Agastino, Boulder, Vitus, yet when compared apple to apples the T+A gear usually costs 1/3-1/5 the price.

For example in the recent Positive Feedback review the PA 3100 HV a $21k integrated was directly compared to a $45k D’agastino Mommentium Integrated and the T+A was in that same level of sound quality.

In the Absolute Sound the older PA 3000 HV an $19k integrated was compared to $120k worth of CH Precision gear, and the reviewer had difficulty knowing which was which upon switching.

Another tibdibt T+A is the single largest high end company in Germany with 110 full time employees and an engineering staff of 14! They have the resources and size to be able to create unique products and can price them more affordably for that reason.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ