Refer to the discussion, as a class D lover, I don’t have any knowledge to engage in technical facts! But give me some names in class A or A/B that produce same amount of power as middle range class D amps in the same price range !IME, the power of class D amps has always sounded weaker than lesser- specified class A and AB amps. This was also the case in the mobile audio world. One of my first jobs out of high school was installing mobile audio systems. We always had to turn the gain way up on any class D amps to get them to sound anywhere near as powerful as a similar-spec AB amp. Even then, the sound was nearly always thin in comparison.
It's funny (or maybe it's sad), even two decades ago, the manufacturers of those class D amps made similar claims to some in this thread - that their amps had finally broken the class D mold. However, all of us on the installer side quickly realized it was all puff. I worked for a large shop with multiple techs and not a single one chose class D for their own vehicles. We'd only sell them if the customer insisted on a small amp and/or had a very limited budget. Unlike the current home audio market, the cost savings of manufacturing cheap chip amps was mostly passed along to the end-user in that industry.
A little over a year ago, I compared a Parasound H-int (240 watts/ch into 4 ohms) with a dealer's Devialet monoblocks that were rated at something over 1000 watts/channel. This was driving a pair of Maggie 1.7s to rather high SPLs. The Devialets, despite being some of the best class D I've encountered, sounded less ballsy than the Parasound.
When I owned the 350 watts/ch Rogue Pharaoh (Hypex UCD/ tube hybrid) it sounded much less powerful than my 85watts/ch Yamaha. And as previously mentioned, the Yamaha blew it away in terms of bass extension - by what sounded like a whole octave.
This is a pattern I've noticed for at least 2 decades now. For whatever the reason, watt for watt, class D power sounds weaker in real use. It reminds me of how Japanese horsepower is often cited in car mags as feeling weaker than German power (well, that's one's easy to figure - it's really a difference in torque).
I have no personal beef with the topology. I truly hope that it will someday surpass the others in SQ, as I'm all about saving energy where practical. Unfortunately, all the ones I've encountered that a mere mortal can afford were still a long way off.