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
It's becoming clear that very few folks around here have experience with today's class D. And it's understandable why. It hasn't made it into any big brand commercial products yet. The reason why is because it takes a couple years for new technology to make it into big brand products, because they have loads of inventory to burn through first. This is where the little guys have a massive advantage. For example within 1 week of first auditioning the 1200AS module, I already had 66 amplifiers sold. 

The 1200AS modules will be going in many big brand commercial amps soon. Expect to see reviews in Stereophile within a year or 2. Only these amps will need to sell for 3-4 times more than the direct sellers can do it for due to inefficiencies in the supply chain. 
Just I noticed Hypex 1200 is coming with a reasonable price to the market. In the time I bought mine, there were available only in very high end of class D amps.
@miveraaudio 1200AS IcePower is the same module that W4S and Bell Canto use in their mono blocks ?
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
@sthlm78:

W4S is claiming to use Iceedge technology in their ST-750LE amplifier for $1750. However the specs are nowhere near the 1200AS module, and the 1200AS module is the only Iceedge based amp Icepower has produced yet. So it’s a bit odd.

Bel Canto uses Hypex NC-500 modules combined with a basic IC opamp based buffer stage in the Ref600M. I haven’t seen any products from them using the 1200AS.

So far to my knowledge, the only 1200AS based amps available today are from small direct sellers. No big brands. The biggest brand selling them is Nord.

@Ketchup: I’m no longer selling 1200AS based amps. You’ll need to talk to one of the manufacturers who are.


Post removed