iFi Gryphon's Review - Versatile Powerhouse

 

General/Build/Packaging

iFi needs no introduction to fellow audiophiles. Having tested several products from the brand, I'm quite familiar with the brand’s house sound. iFi xDSD Gryphon sits below the micro iDSD Signature in terms of the price.

Build quality is solid, the buttons have good tactile feedback, switches/toggles are not wobbly at all. The packaging is the usual iFi’s packaging, Gryphon came with high quality USB C-C, C-Lightning, as well as C-A cables, which covers the use case for most of the users, also came with the Gryphon is the black storage pouch, personally i wish it came bundled with a better case given the price point.

*iFi is kind enough to send this unit over for the purpose of this review. All thoughts are of my own and i am not influenced in any way to produce this review.

Specifications (Grabbed from iFi xDSD’s product page)

IEMs/Headphones/Equipments used for this review

• Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite 3.5mm

• Simgot EA500 4.4mm

• Thieaudio Ghost 4.4mm

• iKKO OH5 4.4mm

• 7Hz Timeless x AE 4.4mm

• Macbook Air M2 -> iFi xDSD Gryphon -> Apple Music

• Macbook Air M2 -> iFi xDSD Gryphon -> foobar 2k (tracks ranging from 16-44 to 24-192)

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Features

iEMatch

• Gryphon comes built in with iEMatch toggle that allows you to choose either to enable iEMatch for 3.5 or 4.4 or off

• This feature is very useful for IEMs that has high sensitivity, meaning when you plug it into either 3.5 or 4.4 port, you will hear the hiss even though there’s nothing playing, this annoying phenomenon can be eliminate by turning on the iEMatch

• Another useful point for the iEMatch is that it will enable a better dynamic range for your IEM that is sensitive, Eg: current volume step is at 30/100, turning up the volume to say 35/100 is very loud, while turning down to say 32/100 is not that loud but you feel that the dynamic is not there, this is when iEMatch comes into play, allowing you with additional headroom, hence staying at 35/100 will not be that loud anymore while retaining that dynamics, not to mention you will be able to push it to say 40/100 as well

Battery Life

• The rated battery life is 10 hours, i did not manage to get close to the rated battery life, i am getting approximately 7-8 hours via USB, a mixed usage of streaming via Apple Music, offline files from foobar, volume is at 50, listening via 4.4, if i am using bluetooth, the battery life will be slightly lower at approximately 6-7 hours, which is still quite good in my opinion

• I mainly use the Gryphon on desktop mode, the ability to use and charge at the same time is a very welcoming feature, it does get a little warm when you are using it and charging at the same time, but definitely nowhere near Chord’s Mojo’s kind of warm if you used Mojo before

Sound Impression (Bit Perfect Filter)

I have tried and owned several iFi products in the past and I would say the tonality is more on the warm-ish side, Gryphon is no exception either, but it is not as warm as the Zen Dac+Can stack, I would say a slight hint of warmth. Transient response is fast enough and the overall experience is quite musical to my ears. If you are someone who prefers a reference or uncolored sounding DAC/AMP, you should look for other options as Gryphon is not that, it is musical and slightly coloured to give the listeners a musical experience. Overall it is natural and slight warm sounding, definitely not clinical sounding.

To be frank, i am not able to discern between the Standard filter mode vs the Bit perfect filter. However, with the GTO filter on, Gryphon doesn’t sound that warm and it is a lot more dynamic and also the speed of the transients is faster, in my own words, it sounds more musical, and lively, high hats and cymbals especially.

Bass

• Bass has good texture and it kinda make the IEM that’s paired to it has a little bit more body on the bass

• Sub bass has fairly good extension and rumble when it’s called for

• With the Xbass II at your disposal, you can be certain that whichever IEM or headphone that you find is lacking low end, turn the Xbass II on and be prepared to be amazed by the quality it produced

• Why is iFi’s Xbass different from others bass boost feature is that Xbass is implemented entirely on the analog section instead of digital, hence the output is clean and distortion free

• With the Xbass II on, bass has got even more body and also quantity to it, sub bass also rumbles harder, all this without distortion and clean sounding (this is with the Xbass’s switch on bass)

• With the Xbass II on with bass+presence switch, you get a much better experience on the presence’s region (more open sounding) as well as boosted bass quantity and quality, it sort of balance up the frequency range between the presence region when you boost the bass, so you don’t just hear the bass at the expense of presence

Mids

• The mids has got the good old iFi’s house sound to it, warmth and lush yet doesn’t sound veil

• Stringed instruments has sufficient warmth to it which translates into good note weight and not thin sounding

• The vocal presentation of both male and female has very good body to it and the positioning of the vocals are not too recessed nor forward, with the XSpace turned on, the vocal is being pushed forward slightly

Trebles

• There’s no elevation on the treble on the Gryphon as with most of the iFi products that i have tested (GoBlu, Zen Dac/Amp/Air Can)

• The trebles are smooth and non offensive, yet detailed at the same time

• The definitions are good and even when you crank up the volume, the treble doesn’t fatigue you, it is just natural sounding, in my opinion, it makes the Gryphon a good candidate to pair with IEM/Headphones that are slightly hot on the treble

Pairings

Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite

• Bass exhibited better extension, sub bass has better extension and it has more body to the bass and better texture overall with this pairing

• The treble has been extension and doesn’t sound that dark compared to other source

• Soundstage has more width and depth, doesn’t sound that 2D anymore

• Hit the Xbass on, and you will be rewarded with thumpy and punchy bass, also better sub bass extension and rumble as Orchestra Lite is lacking bass quantity in nature

Ikko OH5

• OH5 is warm on its own, some might think it’s a bad idea to pair it with Gryphon

• Pairing it with Gryphon makes the soundstage has slightly better width and depth

• Bass has better body to it overall as well

• Treble doesn’t have much changes to my ears

SIMGOT EA500

• This particular pairing is the most interesting to my ears

• EA500 itself is quite musical to my ears, pairing it with Gryphon that has slight neutral  warmth characteristic to it makes the overall experience very pleasant

• Bass is slightly elevated and Gryphon seems to smooth out some “rough edges” on the treble

• Soundstage has very good width and depth to it and seems to image better as well

Thieaudio Ghost

• Ghost is neutral and slightly lean sounding in nature, pairing it with Gryphon does add some hint of warmth to it and more body overall

• Xbass works wonders here due to the open backed nature of this headphone

• Treble is smoother while retaining the details

• Soundstage has better width and depth and slightly better imaging

Comparison (Earmen Angel)

• Uses different DAC chip (ES9038Q2M) and has a lot more power compared to iFi Gryphon

• Different sound signature compared to Gryphon, more reference sounding (uncolored) compared to Gryphon, neutral and dynamic sounding

• In terms of size, Angel is bigger, similar to Diablo in terms of size

• Angel doesn’t have any analog EQ implemented on it

• In terms of sound, tonality wise Angel is neutral and very dynamic sounding, as transparent as it can be, bass performance is more or less similar sounding to Gryphon, with the exception of Gryphon having several EQ option for the bass and the ability to taylor the bass and presence with the switch built in

• Feature wise, Angel has 4.4 and 3.5 line out, coaxial, 3.5, 4.4 input with the exception of having the ability to use Angel solely as an amp like the Gryphon

• If you are using IEMs and efficient headphones, you are better off with Gryphon

Final Thoughts

Having tested and used the Gryphon for almost two months prior to publishing this review, despite not being the latest product in the market, Gryphon definitely has what it takes to still make the statement today in the fast moving market with the competition from the Chinese and other brands. Gryphon is a versatile product and I find the use case is very suitable for portable users and also users that don't use any power hungry headphones.

The power output is sufficient for most IEMs out there and also headphones that aren’t power hungry (Tested with the headphones which I owned, Thieaudio Ghost, Grado SR325X, and also Harmonic Dyne’s Athena). In terms of sound, it is also not as warm as the usual iFi’s house sound making it suitable to pair with a wide range of transducers, on top of that, with the ability change the sound to your liking, more bass (Xbass II), more open sounding (Xspace). The size of it, just slightly larger than the HipDac, with the addition of bluetooth input, i can basically use the Gryphon anywhere whenever i want to, making it the true portable powerhouse. Impressive package overall and highly recommended!