High End 2019 • Hot Product

Put three audiophiles in a single room and it can sometimes seem like a hard job to get them to agree on anything -- yet few would dispute that Gryphon’s now-discontinued Mikado CD player/transport was amongst the most elegant and stylish disc spinner ever built.

Well, now the Mikado has a successor in the distinctive triangular shape of the Ethos player/DAC (€28,800). Built around a Stream Unlimited CD Pro 8 mechanism, the massive chassis features a counter-sprung, manually operated lid.

The Ethos will play Red Book CD as well as accept digital input via AES/EBU, S/PDIF (on BNC) and USB (up to DSD512). Being a Gryphon product, the Ethos is fully balanced and dual differential, and the DAC includes optional upsampling and a display that increases in size when triggered to increase legibility from distance. You even get a precision level to adjust the three conical feet. While the Ethos is available now, every unit built so far has been pre-ordered, so form an orderly line.