Satori. It's a Zen term for momentary enlightenment; a state of unity, No-self or oneness. It vanishes again because conditions for its permanent integration aren't in place yet. Such flashes of consciousness finding itself beyond mind and persona can be most brief. Comedian Jim Carrey seems to have had one, possibly inspired by Eckhart Tolle's teachings. A friend of mine had a long satori whilst living near Yogananda's hermitage in Encinitas/SoCal. It lasted for three weeks. Then it faded gradually as he began talking about it to others. His life since has been about returning to a state which revealed itself without planning or volition so won't recur by mere desire, discipline or doing. In our own obsessive ways, 'philes too have momentary states of aural luminescence; auditions which exceed more limited versions. Once they're a memory again, we often attempt to recreate the exact conditions which may have precipitated them. If lucky, we continue to have more special auditions amidst more ordinary ones. Once a door opens, it can again. Here reviewers spin on a carousel of constant newness. Infatuation and contact highs are legion. They trigger the flavour-of-the-month reflex. When writing from a temporary thrall, results colour by what may have been naught but a spontaneous form of expanded listening consciousness divorced from all gear. If so, pinning it on hardware mints a false promise. It implies that anyone buying it will have the same results. Spending long days and nights with Dionysus, expanded incidents of sunny happiness and easeful gratification kept occurring. Their effect was like changed blood chemistry. My body felt different. Effective meditations too reset how it feels. So there's overlap. But it's impossible to parse where the dividing line is between inanimate hardware and our own wetware. Were we fully turned on and tuned up for each audition, a very basic hifi should do. Since we're not, hardware guilty of fewer errors—qualities or behaviours that kick us out of our zone—is helpful. To these ears, Dionysus amounted to such an error reduction. That meant easier entry into deeper listening states. How that relates to you is anyone's guess. Hence saying more about it wouldn't be helpful.

Superb connector quality on this rear.

Aside from moving Susvara OG and Unveiled to my next level, the possibly biggest makeover of my Can.nery Row options was the Final D8000. It was like reconnecting with a treasured high-school friend who unlike us looks a lot younger and fitter than he should. Dionysus had re-inked my appreciation for the D8000 replete with new pads and Kiwi bridge cover. Hello old friend. Forgive me for doubting you to romance newer shinier stuff. By the same token it's fair to reiterate that Meze's 109Pro, aune's SR7000 and FiiO's FT7 all achieved happy lift-off with my €349 Audalytic HP70 and on it even felt a little more free, fluid and airy. I'd not chase down Dionysus just for them. Their jobs are too small for this tool. Though if you bought it for any more demanding divas, you'd obviously plug these loads in as well. I certainly would—and will.

It should go without saying. Power and other selector switches belong on the front. Dionysus obeys that command. Only we are to blame if toggling the HP/PRE switch makes big volume jumps because we forgot to first reset the gain switch or rotary. Without a motor on the balanced Alps pot and microprocessor oversight, Dionysus can't automate a return-to-zero feature. Though fond of ferments, Dionysus disavows digital swill. With no converter board or MCU, add your own DAC. Our man/god is an analogue purist. Before you point at switching power as contrarious proof, even the tube heads at Manley use it for their phono stage. It's quieter than linear power. From Chord to Nagra, Aavik to Vinnie Rossi, Constellation to Soulution, there's growing consensus on that. Disagree as you please. Without it Dionysus simply wouldn't wear lowrider threads and slot into areas which remain off-limits to taller stuff. It does want some thermal clearance though. Here my report ends. It continues on the final page with some brand/model-specific background from FangSound. As both headamp and minimalist linestage, Dionysus is the proverbial hammer. If the models below it pack equivalent heat whilst removing features and lowering power, FangSound are definitely cooking¹ with gas and a new brand to watch closely. Thanks to London's Elise Audio for organizing this review; and to FangSound for agreeing to it. I had a blast.
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¹ Talking to Ahmed at Elise Audio in London, I learnt that FangSound quickly responded to their and parallel user feedback that the original Silenos volume taper was far too steep. It got too loud too quickly already in low gain and high gain was essentially unusuable. Elise recalled and replaced the 'loud' Silenos units they'd already sold with new 'quiet' versions. In short, whilst the early comments were accurate and deserved, the team in China already addressed them. Now Silenos is open for normal business not just head-banger orgies just like Dionysus as reviewed was out of the gate. Ahmed also clarified that they work as primarily a UK retailer not distributor.