Which Class D Amplifier? PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrill or other???
Unless you've actually had Monkey Plague, you really can't say much about it. @wolf_garcia Whats YOUR contribution to this thread? Current Class D has come a long way compared to a few years ago, who wouldn't want good amplification which is more efficient, takes up less space, runs cooler... and is possibly better value depending on which manufacturer you choose. |
Class D has come a long way compared to a few years agoNo it hasn’t! Mark Levinson had a good expensive dig and tried to cure it’s evils, with the $50kusd !!! No.53 monoblocks, which had massive series output filters to rid the switching frequency from it’s outputs, but they them selves bought a different set of problem to the table compared to all the filters others manufacturers use. https://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-no53-reference-monoblock-power-amplifier-specifica... https://www.stereophile.com/images/1212levin.side.jpg Again even with these, it’s the mid/tops that had ? on them, but as per usual with Class-D the bass was great. " They resolved a remarkable amount of genuine detail but were harmonically threadbare, sounded somewhat hard and mechanical on top, and had a hazy overlay just below that. The bass was fast, lean, taut, and well damped—rhythm’n’pacing were among the No.53’s strongest suits. But overall, the nature of the sound induced listening fatigue. I rarely listened for more than an hour at a time, which for me is unusual." The only "real" advancement of Class-D has been the introduction of the new GaN transistor which Technics introduced in to their SE-R1 and Merrill Audio is now doing with their Element 118, these promise to lower dead time and have a greater far reduction of the switching frequency with the filter without affecting the audio band. Cheers George |
@georgehifiBut it still does not compete with the best linear amps. I am also in this camp. As a builder of audio components my partner and I have discussed making Class-D amps or anything similar. So far, we cannot come up with anything that is better. We recently built a pure class A power amp about 30wpc and it was killer. Cost me about $600 to build one. I recently heard the NuFocre (not the newest model) but an upgraded (with 5 watt power supply) and it was supposed to be really good. But in direct comparison in my system it lasted less than a minute. Just did nothing special and was not very musical. Just my two cents. If I was going to by a Class-D amp I would buy one that was reliable, could be serviced is needed and spend the least amount of money on it. But that's just me, I'm cheap! Happy Listening. |
eHello George, I have heard the ML NO.53 a couple of times, and... I agree 200% with the reviewer, for all parameters he mentioned.... To say that I did not like it would be an understatement. If all other class D amps sounded like No.53, I would have never bothered adopting this class of operation in my system.... Thankfully, No.53 is an outlyer. THere are of course other class D amps that I have not cared for, but No.53 takes the cake, particularly at its nose-bleeding price point. But George, haven't you learned yet that one cannot perform valid induction steps from a couple of anomalous samples? As I said so many times.... Get out of the house, lots of nice stuff out there... Besides, who knows, you might even fall in love with No.53 *Grins!* G.
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