Full frontal. In action, a multi-segment orange light ring limns the luxuriously smooth volume knob. Hitting on/off during play causes zero burps and the sound returns in full in less than a second just as sudden. Except for the stylized FS logo on the far left, there's no branding to distract the eye. With most of us not fluent in Homerian Greek script, the engraved name is simply decorative. Whilst the labelling could have engraved as well, white silkscreen is far more legible. Exploiting the super-chunky low-rider chassis as a monolithic heatsink has it run hand warm. An hour into it, even the knob does. Fondle it with no fear of frost bite. And that's all our fly on the wall has on interacting with a libertine out of rehab whose debauchery has strictly reined in. With the amount of headroom this deck packs in high gain, clipped ears are possible if neural meltdown be our ambition. But that's for morons who don't appreciate that unlike a lizard's tail, ruined hearing won't grow back. On the other side of that potential lives assurance. No matter how lazy commercial headphone designers might still get on bundling high Ω and voltage inefficiency à la ModHouse Tungsten, Dionysus remains in front of that race. It's a one 'n' done, come-what-may reason for all seasons that will cruise well below redline.

An hour into first impressions, I thought that here just might be a legitimate challenger to the throne of Enleum's AMP-23 as my favourite transistor head amp. This would obviously mandate a direct A/B. Just so, my sixth spider sense tingled. Losing speaker drive and remote control whilst shaving off half the coin, gaining preamp mode and unconditional load scaling would add spice to my tingle. Could I put my name on that shingle? Remembering Sean Connery in The Man Who Would Be King, I'd have to be careful. Hubris. Death. Cut. Next scene. On metal urges and posh skin jobs, Dionysus certainly hangs with the far smaller Enleum from Seoul. Even their gun-metal grey anodize is similar. As to more similar, so overrun with choice is hifi that drafting an unmistakable house look takes real skills. Even before lending ears, FangSound had clearly done the deed. Nothing else except perhaps MSB looks like them. Once we know what brand to associate, we'll hang a Fang nametag from across the room. Whilst not overly busy, even the insides execute most orderly even if the preponderance of flying leads and reliance on switching power was unusual.

On its stock 32Ω impedance transformer barrel and in medium gain, Raal's Immanis triple ribbons sat at 12'00" slightly higher than the speaker setting shown.

Not unusual was spotting the truism that big amps make small speakers sound big. What speaker is smaller than headphones? No matter my load, Dionysus proved equal-opportunity host. What served up was unconditional authority. Against my 2wpc/32Ω fully balanced discrete Audalytic DR70 with 28dB voltage gain, this traded a certain fluidic elegance for greater robustness, density and more ambitious scaling. Without invoking authority vs authoritarianism, if we patch into the temporal domain—music's gait through time—we'd call this shift more muscular and locomotive. Hence it also showed a little less inner dance or springiness. Dionysus drives anything but easy loads in no need of super-controlled unflappability can feel a bit less free. Was this the fingerprint of copious feedback? To be sure, I heard no tonal dryness just no final words on air. Possibly sensitized by my fondness for unfiltered widebanders, this fluidity concerns motional feel. It had acquired a slightly stiffer bearing. As a quintessential trade-off, it retaliated with extra musculature. Once I breached bear territory with the infamous gold traces of my OG Susvara, greater drive was pure gain. Dionysus' profile of driving all is very real, just not synonymous with excelling at everything, equally. Control enforcements can get überdone. A Meze 109Pro or FiiO FT7 don't need the same tight leash to play nice. That's no Dionysus diss just reality check. With that in mind, onto my beastlier bunch. Make sense. Match supply with demand.

Footers half the height of the stock supports gave me a bit more clearance and ventilation. Fiio FT7 in foreground.