iFi audio xDSD Gryphon

Introduction

iFi Audio is no stranger to the Head-Fi community having produced unique and interesting products for many years now. This British company has a reputation of building high performance products at quite reasonable prices for what one gets, and today's review of the xDSD Gryphon ($599) epitomizes this design principle.



I'd like to begin my review by thanking Lawrance at iFi for the opportunity to review the xDSD Gryphon. Lawrance provided a new sample for this review which will be returned at its completion.



For this review, I decided to use my iPhone SE Gen 3 as my source, and given the compact nature of the xDSD Gryphon, I decided to go old school and strap my phone to it. I used my FiR Audio Krypton 5 as my headphones. All source material was lossless.

Performance

iFi uses multibit DACs from Burr Brown in the xDSD Gryphon which produce a highly detailed sound without any glare or other artifacts that can distract from one's enjoyment in listening. Low level detail retrieval is plentifully produced creating a huge soundstage on all three axes of depth, height, and width which creates an immersive listening experience that pulls the listener into the their listening, such so, that it encourages one to listen to other albums in their collection with the anticipation that favorite albums will be reproduced in such a manner that its like hearing them for the first time.

One of the features that most will find to be an additive quality to their listening experience is the XBass+ and XSpace filters. The first enhances bass performance without creating a boomy effect while XSpace opens up the soundstage even more. There is one issue with these filters in that when they are engaged, a pop sound is created, sometimes soft, sometimes quite loud, so my suggestion is to not have your headphones connected, or, turn the volume control down so there is no damage to one's ears with their use. I asked Lawrance whether we can expect a firmware upgrade to ameliorate this situation, but I was told there is no plan from iFi to update the firmware to do so.



As one can see from the above connection guide, there are multiple ways in regards to inputs and outputs to use the xDSD Gryphon ensuring connectivity for various uses. iFi includes short cables of varying types so no matter whether one uses an iPhone, Android phone, or a computer, iFi's got you covered.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed my time with the xDSD Gryphon. It has so much flexibility in how it can be used with its controls and connections, I liken it to a Swiss army knife. And its audio reproduction performance is stellar for the reasonable price of admission.

DISCLAIMER

The Gryphon is a loaner from iFi. It will be returned after this review.
It can be gotten here: https://ifi-audio.com/products/xdsd-gryphon/ (no affiliate links).




SPECIFICATIONS/COMPATIBILITY




The Gryphon's engine is a Burr Brown DAC, and this gadget can function as a DAC, amp, pre-amp and Bluetooth device, increasing its versatility tremendously.

It is compatible with multiple music formats, including DSD, PCM, DXD and MQA. PCM can be played up to 32-bit/768kHz via USB (or 192kHz via optical/coaxial), with native playback up to DSD512, and full MQA decoding (up to 384kHz).

The Gryphon is also compatible with myriad Bluetooth codecs, which should please our brethren who use wireless gear. The Gryphon has balanced and single-ended outputs, with the former providing more power. This may be useful for demanding transducers if more headroom is required.


ACCESSORIES

Other than the Gryphon, these are included:
- 1 x USB-A to USB-C cable
- 1 x USB-C to USB-C cable
- 1 x lightning to USB-C cable
- 1 x carrying pouch



The accessories are pretty serviceable, and users of both Android and Apple devices should be covered with the spread. Perhaps only legacy type devices that utilize micro-USB ports or older ports may face an issue, but no biggie getting an aftermarket adapter I guess.

The velvet carrying pouch should prevent scratches on the Gryphon, but it won't prevent drops or knocks, so perhaps a hard carrying case would have been desirable, but this is just nitpicking.


DESIGN/FUNCTION

Fashioned from aluminum chassis with an OLED display, the Gryphon is industrial looking but functional. The build is solid and tough. Measuring 123 x 75 x19 mm and weighing in at 215 g, this device is quite portable on-the-go, with no excessive weight or bulkiness.



A rectangular OLED screen on the top of the DAC/Amp displays audio format, sampling rates, volume, input mode, battery levels and whether the XSpace/XBass II functions are enabled.


The Gryphon has a ton-load of connectors and ports, and these are what they do:



On the front, we have the single-ended (3.5 mm) and balanced (4.4 mm) output ports, with the latter reinforced with gold-plating. No 2.5 mm or 6.35 mm ports are present, but once again, one can easily source for an aftermarket adapter if your cables are in these terminations.



We also have the XSpace and XBass II buttons, volume knob and the input selector buttons on the front. The input selector buttons will switch between USB, Bluetooth, Line-out and S/PDIF options.

The XBass II boosts bass for our basshead friends, whereas the XSpace function is kind of a spatialiser to open up the soundstage. Do explore these functions and see if they are your cup of tea.



The volume knob functions as a power on/off button, an analogue volume control, a mute/unmute control and even accesses the menu setting:


Inside the settings menu, we can select stuff like USB-C port charging/input, screen brightness, BT voice prompting and digital filters. Basically the usual she-bangs that any audiophile would require is included here.

These are the 3 filters included with the Gryphon. Do explore to see what suits your needs, thought the differences in sound are quite subtle to my ears.



This device flashes a different LED colour on the front panel, depending on the audio format/sampling:


The input and volume levels also showcase different LED colours, which is quite useful at a glance:



On the base of this device, we have the serial number and a built-in iEMatch. There are rubberized feet to add grip during usage.



The iEMatch (https://ifi-audio.com/faqs/what-is-the-iematch/) is a nifty tool to match the Gryphon to transducers that have very low impedance (based on the audiophile rule of eights). And the best part is that unlike other impedance adapters, the iEMatch doesn't skew the frequency response of the IEM attached. Thus, this is a very important tool that increases the Gryphon's compatibility with fussy gear eg Campfire Andromeda.

There is some hiss with very sensitive IEMs on this device, so toggling the iEMatch also gets rid of the hiss!


At the back of the Gryphon, we have a bass/presence toggle switch. This affects what the XBass switch at the front changes in the frequency response. Also at the back are the input and digital ports, in addition to the USB-C and charging connectors.




I am glad to report that the Gryphon gets just slightly warm with usage, but nothing very hot or scalding, unlike some competitor devices.

For those that are interested, the Gryphon utilizes many choice components, as detailed in the photos below:




BLUETOOTH



The Gryphon contains a Bluetooth 5.1 module with QCCS100 chipset, supporting 96 kHz HD BT formats including aptXHD, aptX Adaptive, LDAC and HWA/LHDC! During my field tests, the Gryphon was easily recognized by multiple Windows and Android devices, including DAPs (I'm sorry but I do not use Apple devices, so can't comment on this aspect).

Bluetooth range is about 10 metres without obstructions, and 5 metres with obstructions. Sadly, there was some stuttering and occasional drop outs with longer distances or larger obstructions.


BATTERY

On balanced, I can hit about 7 - 8 hours on the Gryphon thru wired connection, using FLAC/WAV files at moderate volumes, which is okayish in my book. Do bear in mind though that with repeated charge cycles, the battery life is expected to go down.

Sadly, the Gryphon takes a whopping 5 hours or so to be fully charged, which is a bit disappointing. That's like a big fraction of the actual play time!

While the Gryphon can be used to play music while charging, it does get slightly hot with this combination, and will also take longer to charge too.


SOUND

The Gryphon bestows a warm-neutral tuning. Perhaps it isn't as warm and analoguish as some other iFi gear, but it still lies on the warmer side, with a thicker note weight than neutral sources. Timbral accuracy is very natural and timbre freaks should have no complaints here.

Indeed, nothing sounds artificial unlike some treble-boosted DAC/Amp rivals, and it is very musical with sibilant-free sonics. The treble and upper midrange are quite restrained. Bass is emphasized, but nevertheless has good texturing with solid sub-bass extension. As alluded to above, bassheads can activate the XBass switch to increase the bass quantity even further.

In technicalities, the Gryphon has an expansive soundstage with superb layering and instrument separation. While it isn't the most micro-detailed compared to some steroid infused competitors that boost the high-end frequencies, there is still decent clarity and resolution available. The keyword to describe this device is "natural". Everything sounds as it should, with a musical signature meeting good technicalities.

Due to the tuning, the Gryphon is an excellent pairing with so-called shoutier or harsher gear - such as the AKG N5005 for example - in taming the upper end. This DAC/Amp can be used for hours on end for a chill and relaxing session, without too many compromises in resolution.

On the balanced output, the Gryphon can provide 1000 mW at 32 ohms and 74 mW at 600 ohm. Thus, it can drive most gear out there, perhaps other than some planar headphones or extreme outliers. Unsurprisingly, this DAC/Amp has more power on the balanced (4.4 mm) port when compared to the single-ended (3.5 mm port), with increased dynamics and headroom heard on balanced, especially for harder to drive gear.

These are my usual acid tests when testing out a new source:
- Final Audio E5000 (low sensitivity at 93dB/mW)
- Sennheiser HD650 (high impedance at 300ohm)
- Yinman 600 ohm (600 ohm impedance and 87db/mW sensitivity)



If the Final E5000 is underpowered, it sounds bloated and untextured in the bass, with one-noted boomy basslines heard. The Gryphon easily aces this tests on its 4.4 mm port, with no smudging in the bass, even with complex bass tracks.



The HD650 sounds boring and undynamic if not juiced well. The Gryphon adequately powers the HD650 to fine dynamics and bass tightness, though unsurprisingly, some desktop level amps might probably do a slightly better job.



The final boss, the Yinman 600 ohm earbuds, has very low sensitivity with a high 600 ohm impedance. The bass can be very nebulous and fuzzy when it is not driven well. The Gryphon can power this behemoth on the 4.4 mm port, though the bass does smear somewhat on complex tracks, with a slight lack of dynamics. Having said that, it is no shame to be unable to juice this earbud, most of my portable sources can't even drive it adequately, and the Yinman 600 ohm probably needs desktop amps with larger power on tap to do justice to the sonics.

The Gryphon has <1.0 ohm output impedance both output ports, allowing it to be paired with fussy sensitive IEMs like the Campfire Andromeda (based on audiophile rule of eights) without skewing the frequency response. As described above, there is hiss with some sensitive IEMs, but toggling the iEMatch easily fixes this.

I did not encounter any EMI with the Android phones and DAPs that I paired the Gryphon with (I'm not an Apple user so I can't test it on those devices though).


COMPARISONS

The Chord Mojo 2 is more neutral and slightly more technical, with better soundstage and imaging.

However, the Mojo 2 has EMI with some phones, and has no Bluetooth function. Importantly, it does not have a balanced output! So for folks who have gear that are primarily terminated in balanced, that might be a bummer. Lay consumers who want convenience with Bluetooth gear might also have to look elsewhere from the Mojo 2. From a versatility and practicality standpoint the Gryphon is a better device IMHO.


CONCLUSIONS



Be it as a DAC, amplifier, pre-amp or Bluetooth device, the Gryphon is a literal swiss army knife portable source that can do most departments to a high level. Build and battery are more than adequate, with decent power on tap to deal with transducers other than demanding tough customer outliers. The Gryphon supports various Bluetooth and music formats, in addition to having filters and bass/soundstage boost options.

I quite appreciate that this device does not get hot during listening, and it has a low output impedance and an in-built iEMatch to cope with finicky low impedance/high sensitivity gear, thus increasing compatibility. Listeners will be greeted with a lush warm-neutral pleasant sound, with great imaging and layering, and top-notch timbre. The Gryphon synergizes well with bright headphones and IEMs, letting one chill to music for hours on end!

There are some areas for improvement, namely, the snail's pace for charging, occasional Bluetooth stuttering and drop-outs, and perhaps very demanding transducers may not be adequately juiced. Additionally, this DAC/Amp is coloured, so folks wanting a dead neutral or brighter source might need to consider alternatives.

Those are small nitpicks in the big scheme of things, and the Gryphon is an excellent all-in-one equipment that audiophiles and lay consumers should consider getting. I am quite sad sending this loan unit back after the review, perhaps I might purchase this baby at the next sale!

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!