D-SONIC SOA Class-D Core Amps. The best Class-D ?

Zen still hasn't recovered from his full frontal lobotomy.

"Zen still hasn't recovered from his full frontal lobotomy."

And I'm certain that ALL of us would prefer a "bottle in front of me to a frontal lobotomy..."

Apologies to Tom Waits and/or Dorothy Parker...

-RW-

Oh..did I upset the Pope Guido minions out there? First hand experience?..Its just as relevant to read on other Audiophile websites/forums of private owner's of D-Sonic amps and their first hand experiences with the amps.. I have read many threads on other sites besides 'Gon of D-Sonic owner's using Bostrom's Abletec amps and the reads are very positive. You should take the time to explore the other forums instead of just relying on threads on Audiogon.

Gents, while Audiozen's humor can sometimes feel like a runaway freight train filled with "red herrings"... Let us continue this fun thread cheerily without excesses "ad hominem"... Hence, let us abandon references to cephalotropic procedures... as well as any potentially slanderous sillyness.... Or jesty pulling of Audiozenic legs on my part *grins!*

Now returning to our previously scheduled programming....

I have not read the review on the Pulk mentioned by Audiozen... Audiozen, if you can post the URL, I definitely will read it. From your remarks about it, it is clear that the reviewer has done at least one thing very right... He used the amps for 4 full months before offering final findings... Far too many audiophiles are hopelessly impatient, and give final findings well before a component has stabilized... And trust me... class D devices are real bears to reach the points where they deliver their very best.

To the best of my knowledge, there are currently three readily available sources of Abletech in the US, neither of which I have listened to... One of them being D-Sonics, on selected amps... The problem is that this manufacturer does not disclose whether he is using Abletech, Pascal, or anything else... The consumer must try to guess by matching power/current specs on the D-Sonic web site with AbleTech and Pascal specs and try to make a best guess... or find somewhere some pics that reveal the amp's internals.

The other source of Abletech amps seems to be TEAC/Esoteric with some of their entry-level amps... But here is the proverbial fly in the ointment... TEAC/Esoteric seems to be in transition... They seem to have transfered their Esoteric and possibly other consumer lines to the Integra division of Onkyo as of early October... TEAC/Esoteric was absent from RMAF, and I have no idea what Onkyo will be doing with these brands.

Marten amps have only token presence in the US at this time... There exists a distributor in California who appears to have marginal knowledge about the product, with one known customer in Southern CA... No I have not heard the amp, ence no conjectures nor comments about performance.

Now moving onto Pascal... Once again, there are reasons to believe that D-Sonics uses Pascal in some devices... But D-Sonic will neither confirm nor deny... Reminds me of Caspar Weinberger. I have not heard the amp(s)... Hence no findings.

Of higher price are the new Rowland M525 bridgeable amp at $4500 per chassis, and the Rowland Continuum S2 integrated selling in the $9K region. I have not heard M525, but listened several times to Continuum S2 during RMAF... Wonderful device for resolution and musicality... Leagues above the original Continuums based on ICEpower... But not having had Continuum S2 in my system, I cannot tell how its sound would compare to any Ncore amps... Let alone Abletech, which I have not heard at all.

And now Ncore NC1200 and derivates... besides the $12K Merrill Veritas monos that I have already reviewed, there are several other amplification systems that have adopted various forms of Ncore NC1200-based technology...

Mola-Mola Kaluga... To be released by CES 2014. $15.9K monoblocks... Heard at RMAF driving YG speakers... Extremely resolving and musical. Fascinating devices... Worth while examining in detail. I have created an entire new thread on these... See:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1382836646&openmine&zzGuidocorona&4&5#Guidocoronasted

Rowland M825 stereo ($32K) and M925 monos ($58K)(. Far from being basic implementations of NC1200, these are no holds barred assaults to what is possible by strting with Ncore technology in the output stage and surrounding them with state of the art I/O, power management, and power regulation. M925 is my own reference amp and it does sound amazing... I keep a diary of sort on Audiogon about my experience with it. See:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1369518273&openmine&zzGuidocorona&4&5#Guidocorona

Audience WavePower appears to be a promising design, and is in preproduction... Like the Rowland designs, it utilizes transformer coupling in the input stages ($18K)... Sorry I have not heard it yet.

ATSAH by Acoustic Imagery in the UK... THe least expensive of NCORE amps at $9K... I have not heard it yet and have no first hand information about internals, hence... I am not qualified to comment.

Bel Canto uses custom modules that are derived from Ncore NC1200 in its new Black System... Very nice sound and worth examining... Still in preproduction I believe... Sorry I do not remember the exact price, but it is a very unique combination of amplification and signal processing that addresses the market well above $20K

Grimm Audio showcased at RMAF its new powered speakers... Each speaker is powered by three Ncore-derived modules... Interesting... But a little peaky in their suite... I suspect the speakers may have been just off the factory floor.

Bottomline... prices for new class D amplification appears to range from under $1K to almost $60K... My general impression is that what I heard from Ncore and Pascal this far tends for me to be musically and sonically preferable to what I usually hear from classic class A, class A/B, old class D, or tube designs... But there is a lot that I have not heard yet.

G.

Pope Guido..no need to write a long winded book every time you post a reply. Phew! We all know your a reviewer of sorts. Eric Lichte with Stereophile did a report on the Marten M amps last winter after hearing them and stated they sound like very powerful tube amps and have the voice of Class A solid state amps. Regarding D-Sonic, I mentioned earlier that Dennis Deacon told me in conversation that his top amp is a Pascal and his M3-600M's are Abletec's. He only admitted this after I emailed him pics of the amps with the tops off disclosing the word Abletec stamped on the circuit board and matching the pics to the models on the Pascal and Abletec sites.