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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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townshend-audio OP
49 posts
 
Clearthink

Have you heard any class D amplifiers in 2019 ?

Do you personally know every member of Audiogon ?

Are you religious ?

I for one am a member of Audiogon and i 100% agree with miveraudio regarding everything he/she is saying regarding 2019 class D amplifiers,
 
I own class D  monos with Hypex NC500 and will honestly say it sounds amazing, it does not lack in any area of sound quality and only costs 2k.

My previous amplifiers were Edge NL Reference which are the same price as my 2 bedroom flat in the UK, unfortunetly their value decreased and i lost money, my flat since purchasing has gone up 50k,

Do you not get the point Class D owners are making regarding sound quality and low running costs and low purchase prices.?

If these class D amplifiers were sounding this good 10 years ago, i would not of chosen my Edge NL Reference, i would of bought a Class D.

Before purchasing my Edge amps 10 years ago, i auditioned various other amplifiers, Valve, SS, VT and Class D, but the Edge amps in my system were best, now in 2019 at 2k i have what i consider are as good as, or maybe better than, my Edge amps.
tweak1
870 posts
 
@eliz, I appreciate your apprehension regarding class D, as there are so many versions ones head spins meaning mistakes are likely to be made, That, and maggies are current/power hungry speakers

About 5 years ago I had  Maggie 3.5Rs. Never getting what I thought they were capable of, I decided to biamp  with a W4S MC 250/500 (multichannel amp @ 250/500wpc). These were older modules that never floated my boat, so I bought a Parasound A 23 for the ribbons, butit ran so hot even at idle that I knew eventually parts would break down, and it added ~ $30/mo to my electric bill. No bueno! 

My room is very large requiring a lot of power. I finally sold the MC 250/500, the A23 and the maggies after blowing 4 ribbons and tiring of their room dominating size which blocked my 7 x 13 front window view of my front yard

I replaced the maggies with 95dB Emerald Physics KC IIs, which are also open baffle, but less than 4ft tall, yet they throw a similar sound stage, but unlike the 3.5s the crossover to the tweeter is seamless

I bought 2 EP 100.2SEs class D amps with hq fuses .These amps didn’t do it for me, but in retrospect, it is quite possible it was an IC issue.

Next up was the Audio Alchemy DPA-1 stereo amp, which is/was a an excellent amp, but not enough power in my room. I replaced it with 2 PS Audio M700s and am very very happy. They offer an in home trial

hth
roberjerman
2,086 posts
 
Bruno Putzey: The only advantage a class D amp has is: size and efficiency! 
jetter
1,035 posts
 
Honestly, we get the message you new A’gon class D proponents have chosen to try to beat into our heads over the last couple of weeks.

Here is what you should know. We really do have a group of participants on A’gon that have interacted, for better and for worse, for a long time. And you all have not been part of it. So let me tell you directly that if Ralph (Atmasphere) told us that he thinks he has a new class D implementation that is better than anything else, a whole lot of us would sit up and want to try it. Other than that, we will all try class D when and if we feel like it.
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cleeds
2,065 posts
 
Beware the audio guru.
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