New From Gryphon: Sonett Phono Stage

by The Audio Beat | February 15, 2018

ryphon Audio Designs touts the new Sonett phono stage (€5990) as "the perfect companion for [its] Gryphon Diablo 300 or Diablo 120 integrated amplifier, when the amp already has the Gryphon DAC module installed." However, it's clear that this new standalone phono stage will have appeal beyond owners of Gryphon products. It was designed to bring the performance of Gryphon's Legato Legacy phono stage to a more affordable price point. It is a true dual-mono, class-A, no-negative-feedback design with an ultra-short signal path and internal switching for moving-coil or moving-magnet use. Gain is derived from active devices, not transformers, with settings for 42 or 64dB. The Sonett is fully direct coupled from input to output and has a two-layer printed circuit board with 70mµ copper on both sides. It uses polypropylene capacitors in its RIAA-correction stages and discrete components in all analog stages.

Unlike the Legato Legacy, which uses LEMO connectors for input and includes XLR connectors for output, the Sonett has gold-plated RCA jacks with Teflon insulation for left/right input and output. Also on its rear panel are switches for setting moving-coil load impedance at 10, 20, 80.6, 100, 200, 402, or 47k ohms.