The Truth about Modern Class D

@1graber2

But that will be more of a commercial product in the future than an audiophile product.... Severely limited in many respects. Sound. Precision. Pray. Musicality. Power. Nuance.

There is no reason an active speaker cannot be an audiophile grade product. We are at the beginning of this technology. There is Dynaudio, Genelec, Kii, KEF and very few others. I believe I saw an interview with Andrew Jones where he said ELAC is working on an active speaker, and the new PS Audio AN speakers will be partially active. Of course, the best Pro monitor speakers have been active units for almost 20 years. This technology will rapidly improve. And not only is there no reason that active speakers can’t be audiophile grade, they allow elimination of passive crossovers and the adoption of DSP crossovers which can provide much better sound -- offering solutions to driver equaliztion and speaker time alignment as well as room correction that you can’t get any other way. Not only will active speakers with DSP achieve audiophile quality, they will set the bar for the highest quality.

And my 2nd point? Well, there is no damn fun if the system and speaker do everything for you. Again, that is a commercial product, not an audiophile product. If DSP is going to do everything for you, then you don’t learn anything about how the sound waves and sound effects can be managed in your room with your own knowledge and know-how. Boring.

I can’t argue with that. I bought my last preamp in 1982, and my last amplifier in 1989. Since 1990 I have owned three DACs, but until recently the same pair of speakers over that span, and no exotic power cords or fancy speaker wire. (But I have bought a ton of music). If your enjoyment of this hobby comes from flipping equipment in search of synergy and nirvana, you probably won’t be that interested in active speakers. But if you are more interested in actually achieving synergistic audio nirvana, why not join the future and let the manufacturer do it right?

And to finish and anchor these musings in this thread, Class D amplifiers are one of the main technologies that are enabling the next generation of active speakers.

There is no reason an active speaker cannot be an audiophile grade product. We are at the beginning of this technology. There is Dynaudio, Genelec, Kii, KEF and very few others.

I sat in the same seat as the presenter used to tune the $14k Kii system from, and listened to 2 known songs that I had with me, and I was outter there.
To my senses it was like a surgical knife dissecting the music, that’s the only way I can describe it.
The same happened at the Uno ZERO 1 XD demo.

Maybe the future, but not yet.

Cheers George

@phomchick
what I mean is that the active speakers with  D amperage are barely getting sold compared to non active speakers, because they still severely lag behind non active speakers in sales and use. (Except younger folks who find commercial all in one products satisfactory). Therefore, foretelling a utopic all in one Class D speaker in the audiophile community in the near future, IMO, is way way overly optimistic. 

I mean, we can’t even get George to accept Class D even at its simplest face value! :)

@erik_squires 

helomech -

So you heard Parasound and Devialet amps on Magnepans and did not like the Devialet.

That is 1 single sample of a specific Class D amplifier you did not like. Is that correct?

Maybe you didn't read through my other posts in their entirety, but no, I've heard many class D amps I didn't like, including but not limited to Devialet, NADs new M class, the Rogue hybrids, Bel Cantos, Audio Alchemy, Peachtree Novas and countless mobile audio amplifiers. I know I left off a few, but anyhow, the one trait they all shared was a sort of analytical (maybe "sterile" is a better description) presentation. For me, they just suck the soul out of music. One reason I no longer listen in my car - has a factory "premium" system powered by class D.

I mean, we can’t even get George to accept Class D even at its simplest face value! :)

I do accept it, but not in competition to hiend audio yet, they make great bass/upper bass amps so far.

And I’ve said it all along I’ll be the first to dump my stinking hot, heavy, inefficient, boat anchors. When they’ve got rid of their problem/s, that Technics with the $30k SE-R1 have semi addressed with their 1.5mHz switching speed power amp, 3 x times higher than what’s around at present, then the (switching noise) output filter can do it’s job properly without effecting the audio bands upper mids and highs that so many hear, and owners can't!.

I see threads like this "looking for the truth" started as a "reach out for confirmation" from owners who know their Class-D’s are not quite right, but can’t bring himself to go back to linear, almost like begging for forgiveness, for what they have done and everything will hopefully be fine.

Cheers George