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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Showing 6 responses by ketchup

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

No religion, just data and facts.

And hype.  A truly unbelievable amount of hype.
Elizabeth,
Maybe, just for kicks, you should try a high powered Class D amp on your Maggies and see what happens.

Please do, then I wouldn't have to.  There just doesn't seem to be a lot of people switching over to class D.  Most of the hype seems to be coming from the manufacturers only.
Mivera,
Pass an amp around to a few people here so we can get experience with today's class D.  I'd be happy to pay shipping to the next guy.  This is the
So can we just leave it at that?  At least until your "next project" is available to listen to?  There is no real need for you to post anymore about amps that don't even exist.