2. amps-preamps
  3. 147124-123701

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.
townshend-audio
miveraaudio
111 posts
 
I’ve heard many class D amps that I didn’t like. In fact the only class D amps I do like out of hundreds of different class D amps available are:

1: Hypex NC500 & NC1200 (must have well implemented buffer stage, and ultra clean power for modulator and buffer. Very few do. In fact none commercially available today are fully optimized)

2: Icepower Iceedge (only model currently with Iceedge technology is the 1200AS)

3: The TI TPA series of class D ASIC’s. (I’ve only heard the TPA3251 and TPA3255. both excellent if well implemented)

Everything else has been mediocre. For example Hypex UCD, Pascal, Anaview, ICCx based Icepower amps.
bsimpson
55 posts
 
Never liked any Class D no matter how hard people sell them.   Kharma, Spectron, 47 Labs, Rowland ... all disappointment in my ownership experience.  If the big names don't delight, not going to expect much in other brands.

But the caveat is Class D vs Digital amp.  Can't tell nor care the design difference.  Don't excite me as much as a good tube amp.

Don't need to go into SS vs Hybrid vs Tube debate.  It's all a matter of preference and compromise.  If you are a trained musician, however, you're likely hooked by the tube amps and could never go back.

miveraaudio
111 posts
 
So you're saying you don't like Pascal modules. Well I'm with you on that. 
helomech
766 posts
 
I guess you don’t understand that with efficiency comes a plethora of other advantages:

1: Size
2: Cost
3: lower energy consumption
4: Lower heat
5: Less EMI (conducted and radiated)


And due to the above advantages, possibilities open up the simply aren’t possible with conventional class A amps. Such as

1: Tight integration with DSP and DAC on same board to eliminate extensive sound quality losses from outboard DAC’s, cables, connections, preamps, buffer stages, output stages etc.

2: We can now fit absolute SOTA cool running DSP/DAC/Amp combos right in speakers to eliminate passive crossovers and speaker cables. The amp DSP can be custom tuned for each driver individually, to optimize for distortion, over-excursion, and saturation.

3: We can eliminate having to have separate enclosures for each component. And the costs involved with paying for multiple enclosures. While at the same time drastically shortening the signal path, and optimizing each sub-section to work together in absolute harmony.

The list goes on but that’s a good start.
Cost. Well, that’s certainly true: cost reduction for the manufacturers who are simply reaping the benefit in profit margins. Yup, they can put $400 worth of parts and labor into a 15lb amp and charge many thousands. If these cost savings were being passed along to the end-user then I’d agree.

Lower energy consumption, yeah, that’s basically what one would infer from the term "efficiency." Where’s Capatain Obvious when you need him?

Lower heat: well, some folks like the extra heat of their class A amps in the winter. Unless I’m shoehorning an amp into an Ikea cube, heat is a total non-issue.

Less EMI with placing the DAC inside the box??? Weird.
miveraaudio
111 posts
 
If anyone wants to try a cheap class D amp that will give $2000+ class A/B amps a run for the money for only $150 try this:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/texas-instruments/TPA3255EVM/296-46782-ND/7219409
More to discover