While the DiabloвЂ™s circuit is nominally class-AB, itвЂ™s highly biased, operating in class-A mode for the first 10W or so. Its stability into 2В ohms while generating almost 1kW of power is particularly impressive. The DiabloВ 300 is also a hammer of an amp, generating more power than anyone should ever need: 300 or 600 or 950Wpc into, respectively, 8 or 4 or 2В ohms.

GryphonвЂ™s flagship integrated is, if nothing else, utterly authentic. Even the connections at the rear feel special, with oversize binding posts the likes of which IвЂ™d never seen before, and an array of gold-plated balanced and unbalanced inputs. The trapezoidal, capacitive, vacuum-fluorescent display is a delight, with easy, responsive operation that results in the satisfying clicks of mechanical relays in action. The front panel of machined acrylic has a semigloss coating that offsets the matte finish of the top and side panels of aluminum. Handmade by Gryphon in Denmark, the Diablo is solid - outstanding attention has been paid to craftsmanship and materials. Given all that, you might assume that the DiabloВ 300 has a raw, unpolished, deal-with-it build quality. The Diablo has the visual personality of a benevolent dictator: It doesnвЂ™t need to be loved, just respected. Laser-etched into the top panel, in large caps, is вЂњTHE GRYPHONвЂќ below that is an image of the mythical creature. The Diablo is oddly proportioned: its structural frame sits higher than the slightly recessed and partially vented top panel, the tops of the heatsinks sitting lower still. So, too, with the massive heatsinks that form the ampвЂ™s corner edges and run from front to back, and are of a bigger gauge than the sink that runs from top to bottom of the center of the front panel. The DiabloВ 300вЂ™s brutalist aesthetic may not be pretty, but it sure is provocative.ДЄn overhead view of the Diablo reveals bolts on the sides that are larger than the ones at the front. I confess that, deep down, her response gave me just the slightest bit of pleasure. When I set it up in our living room, my better half was aghast. With its only curves being its feet and its rear-panel connectors, the Diablo looks more like something created in TolkienвЂ™s Mordor than in Denmark, officially the worldвЂ™s happiest nation. It weighs 84 pounds, and itвЂ™s big - 18.9вЂќW x 9.2вЂќH x 18.1вЂќD - a hulking mass of anodized black aluminum, heatsinks, and squared edges. The DiabloВ 300, GryphonвЂ™s flagship integrated amplifier (в‚¬12,800 в‚¬17,600 as reviewed, including DAC module) is not boring. It also leads to a landscape littered with boring boxes of wood and metal, few of which exhibit any real personality - soulless constructions devoid of discernible emotive qualities. Often, it appears that a manufacturerвЂ™s primary goal is not to please as many listeners as possible, but to offend the fewest.

But GryphonвЂ™s creations are bold and unusual looking, and IвЂ™d waited a long time to review one.

If it were any other manufacturer, IвЂ™d have rolled my eyes and moved on. Rasmussen, of Gryphon Audio Designs, in Denmark, had written just that in confirmation of my receipt of his companyвЂ™s DiabloВ 300 integrated amplifier. ItвЂ™s not the sort of sign-off you expect to see at the end of an e-mail from the founder and CEO of a high-end audio manufacturer. ItвЂ™s the sort of line a B-movie bad guy would growl.

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