Pure music machine or art object that happens to play music – the Gryphon Audio Designs Ethos CD player combines both without compromise. From the unmistakably triangular basic shape to the CD compartment cover, which is reminiscent of a telephone dial, to details such as the little crossbar serving as a finger grip – the Ethos makes a real visual statement.
In terms of technology and sound, we can expect nothing less from Gryphon: although the sophisticated Stream Unlimited CD Pro8 S-Transport drive only accepts CDs – SACDs are not included – it extracts the maximum amount of music information from them and presents it in a strikingly natural way and with superb spatial imaging thanks to the ES9038PRO-based converter. Because many of us still use CDs, but almost all of us also use non-physical music formats, the integrated DAC also accepts signals from external playback partners, both as PCM and DSD.
Read our review of the Gryphon Audio Designs Ethos here.