All the power on tap meant that the Commander was able to situate each instrument securely in its own space. One CD that I very much enjoyed listening to on the Commander, for instance, was a live recording from December 2010 of the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass section playing everything from Bach to Percy Grainger, from Gabrielli to Prokofiev. It provided silky black backgrounds on recording after recording. It may sound paradoxical, but the quiescence of the Commander was immediately audible. It would be hard to think of a more linear and immaculate component. Throughout my audition, the Commander did as little to alter the signal emanating from digital or analog sources as I’ve ever heard a preamp do. I didn’t only enjoy listening to it I reveled in its dynamic prowess and its ability to resolve fine details, both of which can be traced to its superlatively low noise floor. The Commander brought its own unique blend of attributes to the sonic table. My current reference is the Swiss battery-powered darTZeel NHB-18NS, which includes a phonostage. In the past few years, I’ve listened to a variety of excellent preamps, including the Boulder 3010 and the Ypsilon PST-100, Mk. Instead, it offered a reminder of the importance of great power exercised with responsibility. The Commander, which is the successor to the company’s earlier Pandora preamplifier, did not open up an auditory Pandora’s box. All the fuss proved to be worth the effort. Fortunately, Jeff Fox of Command Performance AV in Falls Church, Virginia, and Anthony Chiarella, the Director of Sales and Marketing for Gryphon North America, were both on hand to help install it safely. Situating the Commander in my custom HR-X stand required two people to ensure that the preamp didn’t get dented or scratched or take a chunk out of the stand itself. A substantial remote control with a rubber pad on the back to avoid scratching furniture controls the Commander, unless you decide to use your fingers and employ the 4.3″ TFT capacitive touchscreen. The power supply is also capable of powering a forthcoming phono- stage from Gryphon as well as a digital source. ![]() Quite a feat for a large power supply that contains four custom-made 36VA toroidal transformers, two for each left and right channel, that go a long way toward rendering this preamp as potent as a lot of amplifiers. The hefty power supply sits silently, whether in operation or not. Its separate boxes are connected by three cables, which are the only slender thing about it. ![]() ![]() Put bluntly, the Gryphon Commander preamplifier is a commanding object. Your eyes will tell you a lot of the story. So, what does that make the Danish Gryphon Commander-a black aluminum two-chassis design with no external knobs or switches that essentially does almost nothing to the audio signal? I’m no philosopher, but I can attest that it makes the Commander not just a preamplifier but something of a magical instrument. As the duo survey the course at the venerable Bushwood Country Club, Webb recites a saying that he fancifully attributes to the famous 17th-century Japanese philosopher and haiku poet Matsuo Basho: “A flute with no holes in it is not a flute. At one point, he undertakes to give some free advice to the ambitious teenage caddy named Danny (Michael O’Keefe). I n the film Caddyshack, the character Ty Webb (played by Chevy Chase) is an affable businessman and crack golfer who even plays well when blindfolded.
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