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.
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xtownshend-audio
Various Class D amps have gotten good reviews in Stereophile for many years now so there is no basis to the suggestion that these are not good enough for Stereophile.   
In light of all the gushing about how wonderful Class D integrated amps are today I find it curious that none made Stereophile’s 2018 Recommended Component list.
There are class D integrateds listed. As a matter of fact, there are a few Stereophile Class A class D integrateds listed.  The editor’s note is kind of misleading. What it says is that there were no Stereophile Class D integrates listed.

Stereophile Class D meaning:

Class D
Satisfying musical sound, but these components are either of significantly lower fidelity than the best available, or exhibit major compromises in performance-limited dynamic range, for example. Bear in mind that appearance in Class D still means that we recommend this product-it’s possible to put together a musically satisfying system exclusively from Class D components.


See here:https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-fall-2018-edition-how-use-listings

I stopped believing in Stereophile shortly after I stopped believing in Santa Claus. The established old guard industry does not like products that kill profits. They prefer to keep the myth alive that you must spend $20K+ for SOTA. Those kinds of profits allow companies to take out expensive ads. 

Stereophile ranks products in Class A, B, C, D.  Their Class D has nothing to do with amplifier design.

I heard the Bel Canto 600's in a system of all components unknown to me, so impossible to judge different contributions, but at the very least they certainly weren't doing anything wrong.  Absolute Sound loves that model too.

Ah, I stand corrected.  I was mixing Class D with Stereophile Class D.  Sorry about that.