Class-D amps - a different re view

Chaz801, in the same general price range as the Nuforce and Red Dragon, you should consider also having a listen to the Spectron Musician 3 Sig, the H2o, and to the Rowland 501 monos. You may find they sound somewhat different from one another. You may love one or more of them. . . or you may very well hate them all. If I am correct, some form of at home auditioning may be available at least from Spectron.

Atma, I am glad you are withdrawing from "it can be expressed in words, therefore it must be true" kind of logic. As for distortions, I hear a lot of distortion in most systems, regardless of underlying technology and -- I should add -- regardless of price point. Yet, whereas my ears may be 'bleeding' when listening to a particular system -- or conversely I may be dying of boredom -- I notice audiophiles as hardened as I am, experiencing true rapturous epiphanies around the very same setup. Am I unable to grok true audioheaven? Or are those other audiophiles getting a little case of 'The Emperor's New Clothes"? Or should we perhaps accept somewhat soberly that we all may be seeking subtly differing things in our private quests for audio Nirvana?

Atmasphere,

I take issue, just a bit, with the notion that there is one technology that represents no compromises, based entirely on sonic considerations. I know that all triode, no feedback, and no output transformers have a lot of theoretical advantages, but, some would argue that paralleling multiple tubes to increase output and to decrease source impedance has its drawbacks. I am not arguing that that is the case, but, just pointing out that every technology has its theoretical disadvantages.

That said, I personally like very much what I hear from your amplifiers. There is nothing like a good OTL when it comes to liveliness, energy and sheer fun (something so many designs seem to suck out of music). But, there may be purely subjective reasons to favor another form of amplifier, even if that amplifier is not "objectively" as accurate.

I have only extensively listened to one Class D amp myself. I heard a Rowland (first generation amp which sold for something like $15,000 for the pair) in two systems, in one driving Sonus Faber Anniversarios, and in the other, the same amp driving a custom horn system. I personally did not like the sound, but not because it sounded edgy, as some have commented. To me, that amp, in both systems, sounded shut in on top (lacking "air") and devoid of natural sounding hall cues and realistic decay of notes. The soundfield just sounded artificial and "dry." There was something else "odd" and "unnatural" about the sound that I cannot quite describe, but it was immediately bothersome to me. This was a drop-into-a-system audition with no attempts to find complimentary components and optimize setup, but these same characteristics were evident in both systems which makes me wonder if this was an inherent trait of the particular amp.

I know any one example cannot possibly represent all applications of a particular technology, so I hope to hear other switching amps in good systems.

Larryi, on second reading, the 302 is a stereo amp. You seem to be describing monoblocks. Do you remember their very approximate physical size? JRDG has 3 monoblocks in its 1st gen ICE offerings: 201, 501, 301.

Hi Larryi, I concur with a lot of your findings on the 1st generation Rowland 302 amp. I heard it twice at some length at a dealer, but it was not stirring my imagination at all. . . polite to a fault. Totally different experience with the 2nd generation 312 amp from Rowland. I heard it at RMAF both last year and in 2007 in the fabulous Soundings / Rowland / Sumiko suite, driving a pair of Vienna Mahlers. I have enjoyed the sound of the whole system sooo much. . . I have ordered a pair of Mahlers. . . can't afford a JRDG 312, at least this year [chuckles!]. By the way, the system configuration was identical this year and last. . . but last year the system was set up in a much better suite at least twice as large as this year's. Yet, in spite of their acoustic challanges, this year's two little suites of Soundings (of Denver, Co, 303- 759-5505) still were in my opinion two of NOT TOO MANY RMAF suites where I met music that unconditionally moved my soul . Guido D. Corona