Launch Pad for Commander was Gryphons brilliant Pandora, widely regarded as one of the worlds finest preamplifiers. Commander shares Pandoras Dual-Mono layout with four separate chassistwo apiece for signal and power supply circuitssingle-ended Class A input buffer (which passes the signal through the fewest possible parts) and zero global negative feedback. These designflourishes yield a sound that is exceptionally transparent, fast, natural and open: qualities that achieve their highest expression in Commander.

Naturally, Commander embodies major engineering advances including a high-precision voltage reference which delivers approximately 50 times lower noise than Pandora. A pair of fully discrete, linear power supplies (one per channel) are dedicated to analog circuitry while a third feeds the digital control circuits, maintaining absolute mechanical separation and electrical isolation between digital and analog sections. Weighing over 50 kilos, Commanders dual-mono power supply chassis includes four custom-made toroidal transformers engineered for minimal noise. Two of these (one per channel) power the dual-mono preamplifier circuits while the second pair are reserved for upcoming Gryphon source components, ensuring a future-proof upgrade path.

Extensive use of aluminum chassis components lays a solid foundation for performance, yielding non-resonant enclosures that minimize both mechanical and electrical degradation, providing optimal working conditions for Commanders finely-tuned amplifier circuits. Unique among preamplifiers, Commanders constrained-layer-damped bottom platea Sandwich of three individual layers of Kerrock, bitumen and steelreduce vibrtation to an absolute minimum. All amplifier and analogue power supply circuit boards float above these bottom plates on purpose-engineered isolators. A quartet of Gryphon Atlas Spikes under each chassis move resonance control even closer to theoretical perfection.

Needless to say, every part of Commander is the finest available: from the Charcroft Audio ultra-precision resistors used in our volume control to the premium, oversized Mundorf MCap ZN foil capacitors specified for local power supply decoupling to the four custom-made 36VA toroidal transformers, no expense has been spared ensuring performance and build quality that defines the state-of-the-art.