GRYPHON ESSENCE
Such a titanic combination did the Gryphon Essence Preamplifier and Stereo power amplifier present when they first appeared in the pages of Audio Esoterica that we are paying a return visit to their wonders now, in celebration of the advance information — classified at the time of publication, indeed, and to be divulged only to you, dear readers — that the Gryphon pre-power amplifier is being awarded the top-level Sound+Image Award for Pre-Power combinations in the upcoming 2022 Awards.
The reasons for this recognition will be self-evident if you have read the original review. The stereo power amplifier is a very, very unusual audio amplifier. Which, if you know anything at all about this proudly Danish high-end audio specialist or its recently-retired founder, Flemming E. Rasmussen, should not come as a surprise. Although Flemming is still associated with Gryphon, the company is now owned by Valdemar Martin Borsting and Gryphon’s employees, which includes electronics designer Tom Moller, who has been the head of the design team at Gryphon for many years now.
The power amplifier is so unusual that it needs an unusual preamplifier to drive it, or at least to take
