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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Mivera says: "When I listen to tubes all I pickup on is the loss of resolution, high noise floor, and often buzzing sounds coming from the speakers. I guess I’m just more into the sound of music than the sound of electronics. a lot of musicians who have been around loud sounds for decades can’t hear good enough to pick up on that. Too much hearing damage." This statement simply says this guy has never heard a great tube amp, which is likely baloney intended to help him make his case. Buzzing sounds? Man...also, as a successful decades long musician and live concert mixer (working this weekend...everybody is welcome to come by the show, although for privacy reasons I refuse to say where it is) I likely fall into the "hearing damage" category, but it seems my hearing is just fine...amazingly...Although I don't claim to have "golden ears" I have noticed a somewhat dry and unappealing overall sound produced by the various class D home audio amps I’ve heard, and that’s not to say they could, and likely will, improve. The reason musicians often prefer tubes isn’t due to hearing loss, it’s due to exposure to music and the desire to hear it reproduced with the timbre and overall tonality that simply sounds right to them as, after all, musicians have a unique perspective.
No it just means my ears are accustomed to the much higher fidelity that today's class D can offer. Once you hear the best, going the other direction is pretty intolerable. And my 100+ former tube aficionado turned class D clients all agree. 
You have no idea how real music sounds with Iceedge based amplifiers.
LOL  this too is really funny. Are you saying that music doesn't sound the same through Iceedge products?? Don't let ICEpower hear you saying that :)   Overall any amplifier should be neutral and Iceedge is no exception.

FWIW I have recordings I made myself on both CD and LP. I was there so I know how the recording is supposed to sound. I have the masters. I don't care how **any** amplifier **sounds**; but I care a lot about how those *recordings* sound when I play them on a system. Most class D amps fall well short of the mark but many tube amps don't. There are a few class D amps that do rather well though (as there are also some traditional solid state amps, in particular some of the SIT amps by Nelson Pass).


A *real* reference is a nice thing to have.
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