£37,500

Ethos

The Gryphon Ethos remains faithful to the brand’s signature sound of great musical distinction, achieving a veritable musical alchemy with fast transient response and consistent tonal accuracy, regardless of the selected listening level.

GRYPHON AUDIO ETHOS

DEDICATION AND DEVOTION

Gryphon Ethos plays compact disc. Period. Full stop. It does not play video discs of any kind whatsoever, nor does it play any of the so-called “high resolution” audio formats.

Gryphon Ethos will quite simply reveal more of the hidden treasures in your CD collection than any other player, “universal” or otherwise, up to and well beyond its price point. That is its sole mission.

Gryphon Ethos is designed unapologetically with single-minded dedication to the compact disc, because this focused approach enables Gryphon Audio Designs to devote all our resources and expertise to releasing the full, unfettered musical potential of CD playback.

CD continues to be a maturing technology and by making that medium all that it can be, Gryphon Audio Designs can offer sound quality comparable to the so-called high-resolution audio formats. The immense catalogue of new and old CD titles will all benefit from the advances made in the Gryphon Ethos. We are confident that discerning audiophiles will appreciate what the Gryphon Ethos can do for their extensive and ever expanding music collections.

“ONLY” A CD PLAYER

Developing and manufacturing a dedicated High End CD player at this elevated price level certainly demands no small amount of courage in this day and age with low-budget universal disc players readily available. Because the Gryphon Ethos eliminates varying rotational speeds, video handling, multi-channel playback and other functions that are irrelevant to stereo music listening, it is devoted exclusively to compact disc playback with no compromise and no concessions.
When you choose the Gryphon Ethos, you know that its CD performance is not a mere afterthought. It is the player’s very reason for existing.

BULLSEYE ON A MOVING TARGET

We designed the Ethos integrated CD player to be a moving target in the rapid evolution of digital audio. In addition to handling standard 16-bit/44.1 kHz “Redbook” CD, the Ethos offers convenient playback and can be connected to external sources up to 32-bit/384 kHz PCM and up to DSD512. For once, hardware is keeping pace with software, making this a truly exciting time to cultivate digital audio, as a growing number of titles become available in these ultra hi-rez formats. Music lovers will be startled when they finally experience the untapped potential of Gryphon amplifiers and loudspeakers with these formats.

Taking our cornerstone philosophies of dual mono and fully symmetrical balanced operation still further, Gryphon Ethos is fully balanced throughout the digital DAC domain as well, implementing eight DAC’s in full dual differential mode. This configuration drastically lowers the digital noise floor and contributes to the expansive soundstage and sharply focused stereo image of the Gryphon Ethos.

Specifications

Features
• Exclusive, CD-only CD-Pro8 transport with all-metal chassis
• Extensive mechanical decoupling of the CD transport
• Dedicated ESS SABRE ES9038PRO 32-bit D/A converter for each channel
• Each ES9038Pro incorporates eight individual D/A converters in Dual Differential coupling for optimal performance
• User-selectable, 7 different PCM and 3 DSD digital roll-off filters
• User-selectable, asynchronous PCM sample rate conversion to 384kHz and PCM to DSD conversion to DSD128.
• Temperature-compensated, ultra-low jitter crystal oscillators with better than 5 parts per million accuracy
• USB input compatible with following audio formats via PC/MAC:
PCM: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8 and 384 kHz, up to 32 bits
DSD via USB: DSD64 (up to 3.072 MHz), DSD128 (up to 6.144 MHz), DSD256 (up to 12.288 MHz) and DSD512 (up to 24.576 MHz)
• No USB driver required for LINUX or MAC OSX
• USB driver available for Windows
• Super-Capacitor (12.5 Farad!) power supply for USB module – for true battery source
• Digital BNC and XLR inputs compatible with PCM: 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48, 64, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz, up to 24 bits
• Balanced 110 Ohm XLR AES/EBU digital input
• Single-ended 75 Ohm BNC S/PDIF digital input
• Balanced 110 Ohm XLR AES/EBU digital output from CD transport
• Galvanic isolation of all digital BNC and XLR inputs and outputs for minimal jitter
• Comprehensive noise regulation of all digital circuits
• Modular digital audio sections for possible future upgrades
• True Class A, fully discrete analogue circuitry with zero negative feedback
• First-order PCM analogue filters and user selectable second-order DSD analogue filter with silvered Mica capacitors
• Analogue output stages with low noise +/- 23 VDC regulated voltage supplies for low THD and noise suppression
• Custom-built 32 VA toroidal transformer for each analogue channel
• 20,000 microFarad power capacitor banks for each analogue channel
• True Dual Mono analogue and DAC configuration
• Balanced XLR analogue outputs and single-ended phono outputs
• Ultra-short signal path with minimal internal wiring
• Four-layer 70 mm thick copper trace PCB’s
• Vacuum Fluorescent Display with variable illumination
• Personalised naming of each input
• Solid aluminium top plate
• Gold-plated CD clamp
• Polished acrylic base
• Brushed, aluminium arm
• Side-mounted heatsinks
• Gryphon designed Atlas adjustable feet
• Constrained layer damping vibration control
• CD well with LED lighting
• Automatic standby mode with user-selectable interval
• Standby power consumption less than 0.5W in accordance with EU regulations
• 12V link in
• Infrared remote control
• EU CE approval
• Designed and built in Denmark