March 2021

DMG’s Expurgate is an audio gate plug-in that includes models of expander/gates from two classic British consoles, a ducker, an old digital gate and DMG’s “Textbook” gate. I like that the GUI opens in simple mode with a real-time Time Series Graphical display running to show the input signal and the gate’s gain reduction action. Between this graph, the L/R or Mid/Side gain reduction.

In common with earlier Zu loudspeakers, the floorstanding Essence is built around a proprietary full-range driver, augmented in the treble range by a separate tweeter. The main driver measures 10.3' overall, with an 8' pulp cone and a coincident 4' flared pulp whizzer, both driven by a single copper voice-coil on a paper-and-Kapton. DMGAudio is Dave Gamble and co-conspirator Krzysztof Oktalski, enriched with ideas from hundreds of engineers, producers and audio specialists. Dave has worked in Pro-Audio for over a decade, for prestigious companies such as Focusrite, Novation, Sonalksis, Neyrinck, Brainworx. DMGAudio was created to build the products that we've always wanted. DMG Audio's innovative plug‑ins combine friendly interfaces with an amazingly comprehensive feature set. Could they be the only EQ and compressor you'll ever need? Dave Gamble's CV reads like a Who's Who of digital audio. His code has powered plug‑ins from the likes of Focusrite and Sonalksis. DMG Audio has announced updates for its effect plugins, offering new features in Limitless and Essence,. DMG Audio updates Limitless plugin to v1.02. DMG Audio has released version 1.02 of Limitless, a limiter effect plugin for Windows and Mac.

Gryphon Audio Essence Preamplifier
And Essence Stereo Power Amplifier Review
Blown away by an amazing musical performance!
Review By Tom Lyle

TheGryphon Essence preamplifier and Gryphon Stereo power amplifier are gorgeouslooking and beautiful sounding Danish high-end audio components. Those who canafford either or both of these components will not only enjoy stellar soundquality but most likely will also be able to enjoy the fact that they are theepitome of audio equipment that has a look and 'feel' of luxury goods. Gryphonfounder Flemming E. Rasmussen was responsible for the stunningly beautifulexterior of the rather large (and heavy!) Gryphon Essence preamplifier andStereo Essence power amplifier.

Dmg Audio Essence Review Indonesia

Good looks and operational refinement areespecially true of the Gryphon Essence preamplifier ($17,500). Its weightyinfrared metal remote was only one indication of this Danish audio manufacturer'srecognition of many audiophile's appreciation of the intangibles that areavailable on many preamps. Even though I often had the remote nearby, I oftenwrestled myself out of my listening seat to enjoy the tactile sensations of thispreamplifier's touch-sensitive vacuum fluorescent display and its front panelcontrols.

This luxurious tactile feel was also true of theGryphon Essence Stereo power amp ($22,990). When lightly touching its frontpanel to exit its standby mode, a fluorescent bar spanning the component's frontpanel would change from red to green once the short warm-up period was over. Iwould then be able to start listening to music. Along with the illuminatedGryphon logo, the power bar would also change color when choosing differentsetting preferences.

Although the above features had nothing to dowith the sound quality of these two components, when spending this amount offunds on audio equipment, most will agree that the proverbial mint on one'spillow is undoubtedly appreciated, as much as it is expected. Those who know meare aware that I feel that as much as these intangibles are nice, sound qualityis much more important to me. I've already more than hinted that,thankfully, these components excel in this area, too.

Gryphon Essence Preamplifier
The Essence preamplifier is a dual-mono, zero negativefeedback, fully discrete, DC-coupled pure Class A component. The musical signalsthat enter this preamp take the shortest possible paths that are possible. As aresult, this preamp has no tone or balance controls, headphone output, monooption, polarity inversion, or anything else 'unnecessary' that would lengthenthis signal path. The benefits of a shortened signal path are many. But theshortened signal path reduces crosstalk between channels and diminish otheranomalies that might end up coloring the signal that travels through the GryphonEssence preamp.

The Gryphon Essence preamplifier circuit isdesigned by their chief engineer Tom Møller. It uses amicroprocessor-controlled 43-step fully balanced relay volume attenuator thatGryphon says ensures excellent sonic performance since it is based on aminimalist contingent of ultra-precision resistors. On the preamp's rear panelare inputs and outputs that are all gold-plated – a pair of Neutrik XLRoutputs, and a total of five inputs – two Neutrik balanced XLR inputs andthree unbalanced RCA inputs with Teflon insulation.

The Gryphon Essence preamplifier has no internalwiring; the only cables are a short ground lead, display ribbons, and AC powerwiring. This AC is mounted in a shielded channel that goes from the rear IECsocket to the power switch, thus minimizing 60 cycle interference.

Happy
I was happy to find that there are subwoofer outputs, tapeinputs, and tape outputs on the rear panel of the Gryphon Essence preamplifier.These assets are nowhere to be found on many otherwise fine high-end audiopreamplifiers and linestages currently on the market. I can't be the only onewho misses them! I've become practically an expert on workarounds for thosecomponents that I've reviewed that don't have what I consider these essentialfeatures. I'm sure that even though they are probably minuscule, I'm sure thatthere has to be some sonic loss when using 'Y' cables and the like when used assubstitutes for a missing subwoofer output.

Built
On their website, Gryphon says the amount of investigationand auditioning they perform on their equipment is 'exhaustive' and this appliesto their original parts and those parts that are custom designed and builtexclusively for Gryphon. The 'lavish attention' on each aspect of the preamp'scircuit and 'fully grasp the purpose and behavior of every single part of thewhole'. Since their designs optimize each part's performance, this makes surethat they will end up with a shorter signal path and that they meet their goalof 'musical purity.'

The Gryphon Essence is a modern component, takingadvantage of the available conveniences, as long as they do not degradeperformance. It has microprocessor controls that enable the user to name theinputs with up to eight characters, maximize its level, choose the level atwhich to start, and level matching within 8 dB. The preamp also has an AVbypass, and there are four levels of front panel brightness.

Green
Suppose you are also using a compatible Gryphon Class Apower amplifier, such as the one that I'm reviewing with this preamplifier. Ifso one can use their Green Bias control, which Gryphon developed to allow forautomatic regulation of the Class A bias between the preamp and the power amp.One can choose between Bias L, Bias M, and Bias H Class A 'with no sonicdegradation.' However, the Essence Stereo Power Amplifier is 'only'equipped with Bias Low (5 watts pure Class A) and Bias H (50 watts Pure Cass A).I will admit that I did not use this function on this pair of components. Iadmire Gryphon's eco-friendly operation but cannot imagine having any need forit at present.

Preamplifier
I suppose there are still some audiophiles that areannoyed when a high-end audio manufacturer calls a component a 'preamplifier'when they feel it should be called a 'linestage.' Thankfully, the GryphonEssence is accurately labeled a preamplifier because of its optionaldigital-to-analog converter and phono-stage module. The DAC is a PCM / DSD DACmodule with plenty of inputs (USB, S/PDIF / AES / optical) and can handle filesup to PCM 384kHz Hz and DSD512. Those opting for the phono-stage will have onethat can accept both Moving Coil (MC) and Moving Magnet (MM) phono cartridges.It is based on Gryphon's 'legendary' Legato mod