Class D is affordable and sounds as good or better the SS/Valve why buy anything else ?


I have spent a fair amount of my hard earned money on big ticket brand new SS and VT/Valve amplifiers over the years without hesitation, with state of the art 2019 class D amplifiers becoming cheaper and sounding better, i wouldn't join in again.

For older technology amplifiers SS VT/Valve to compete with State of the art class D, Their prices are going up and up.

One example is Pilium Audio from Greece or Bulgaria their Divine Line the prices are all over £100,000 for their pre amps and power amps, I know the UK importer he said they sound OK,

Another example FM Acoustics again up to and over £100,000 for pre and power amps. i have owned FM Acoustics pre and power again their OK,

I am not saying they do not sound good, i am saying why spend this much when state of the art class D probably sounds as good now and can only improve with the GaN capacitors and is nearly up to 100 times cheaper.

Is there still a market for multi thousand £$s SS or VT/Valve amplifiers ?

When class D finally overtakes SS VT/Valves what will people do with their multi thousand £$ amplifiers, keep them knowing there is something better ? Or will we see the market flood with exotic used amplifiers ?

Digital technology is rapidly growing pace and becoming cheaper, with GaN capacitors being introduced the sound is going to get better and better and will slowly or quickly become even more affordable.

If you had 50,000 to spend on an Amplifier, would you buy a high ticket SS amplifier and hope for the best ?

Would you stay safe and go with high ticket valve amp, class D can never match good valves right ?

Or would you sit tight and see how the GaN capacitors can further improve the performance of state of the art class D ?

Please feel free to join in, everybody is welcome, i think its a very delicate/touchy discussion for some people with big bucks invested in older type amplifiers.
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@Seanheis1:

Sounds like you’re still living in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. Check out the calendar. It's 2019 now.  Today’s best class D like the Icepower 1200AS have several times less distortion in the 1st watt than even the Pass 1st watt class A amps. Feel free to compare in the data sheet:

https://icepower.dk/download/5748/

@grannyring

Only for a generation that comprises of less than 0.1% of the market, and shrinking daily. Although they feel their opinion matters more than the other 99.9%.
March 2016 The Absolute Sound compared the Audio Alchemy DPA-1 and DDP-1 to the Soulution very very favorably. Both were designed by Peter Madrick 
I can’t wait to start seeing hifi Class D headphone amps.  

Maybe Ice Power will lead the charge. It is 2019 after all.
Boys why do you not all agree to disagree, if people want to rant on about their yesteryear amplifiers let them,

SS amplifiers are getting so damn expensive they are becoming way out of reach of most and due to the fact manufacturers are selling less of them the asking prices are going up threw the roof, 

If you want to buy the best sounding amplifiers of 2019 at realistic prices choose a class D amplifier because they sound as good as any higher priced SS, and are much cheaper to run, its not rocket science.

You cant blame the messenger if your front end is not up to it anymore, maybe if you spent less on your SS amplifier, you could address your front end problem and achieve better sound at a still overall lower price, come on can you really justify spending /20k/30k/40k/50k on a SS amplifier when there are 10/20 times cheaper and better sounding alternatives.(class D)

Come on everyone use some common sense, lets all move on to newer and better things, support class D the now and future of state of the art amplifiers, better sound, better prices, cheaper running costs, its not rocket science.


No need for class D in headphone amps either. Extreme fidelity is already available from tiny 3.5x3.5mm IC's. And they have 1.5w output in that size. Smaller yet if 1.5w isn't needed. I think that's small enough. 

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/texas-instruments/TPA6120A2RGYT/296-38029-1-ND/4965625