Class D is just Dandy!
Just happens a used pair of BelCanto Ref 600 monoblocks have come up, as with smps they work world wide. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bel-Canto-M600REF-Mono-Blocks-/272735474772?hash=item3f804d1454:g:eu4AAOSwCkZZORA5 Cheers George |
@georgehifi "The only current crop of D’s I’ve heard that have semi impressed, were the new Belcanto Ref 600M Monoblocks, yes they use the the newest "best" N-force NC500 modules that aren’t available to anyone but to Belcanto and other manufacturers" You should get your facts right. It's not N-Force, it's NCore NC-500 Hypex Module. And there is no modification to NC-500 module itself. Inside REF600 there are three circuit boards: a Hypex NC500 amplifier, a Hypex SMPS1200 power supply, and Bel Canto's input conditioning board with their Impedance Optimized Input Stage, for balanced, high common-mode rejection and to provide a low output impedance to the input of the amplifier board. The active element on the board is an LME49720 Dual High-Performance Audio op-amp in what appears to be a low-pass filter configuration. "The only current crop of D's you heard is REF600" - Are you always been this short sighted that after listening to one class D amp, you see fit to under appreciate or rather condemn the recent innovations and forward progress in Class D camp. I wonder how many Class A/B amps you auditioned before settling with the one you currently own? And is that the 'best" Class A/B amp made in the world? If you seek the "best" in Class D currently available, I double dare you to audition Jeff Rowland's 925/725, Mola Mola's Kaluga and Merrill Audio's Veritas before you return to another Class D thread. As one of the reviewer pointed out, "the REF600M didn't sound identical to some other amps was neither surprising nor a criticism of any of them. Of three recent amps of my experience, the REF600M was the warmest, the NAD Masters Series M22 the most detailed, and the Theta Dreadnaught D somewhere in between. Why should various amps based on circuit boards of the same technology (NCore) and made by the same company (Hypex) sound different? I don't know, but the amplifier boards aside, I could see physical differences inside these three amps. The big Theta uses a big linear power supply or two, while the more compact Bel Canto and NAD use a Hypex SMPS. Theta and NAD use the input circuit on the NCore amp board, while Bel Canto supplements it with a proprietary circuit" |
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You are right @stfoth, some 10 years ago, most class D amplifiers that I listen to sounded either hi-fiish -- like a Technics stereo of the early 1980s, or darkling, or hazy, or even outright screetchy... Yet, even some 10 years ago, some class D amps were already making real music... I fell totally in love and adopted one of the few class D amps which made real music without compromises: The Rowland M312 stereo.
Today the class D field is very different. While you might still find the occasional screetch owl out there, most class D amps seem to be making real music, and more than a few are exceptional music makers. In general, you cannot go wrong with amps based on NCore NC1200 or Pascal M-Pro2 modules.
George, Bel Canto M600 is a relatively entry level monoblock amp. Using the scaled down NC500 NCore module, They were conceived to fulfill price point of a price sensitive segment of the market. At $5K/pair, They are not an attempt to scale the summit of absolute performance levels of amps based on the full NC1200 modules or Pascal M-Pro2 and X-Pro2 modules.
Hi Lalitk, the Rowland M725 monos are based on a class A/B topology. You might have meant the M825 stereo instead, which like M925, sports NC1200 modules.
Regards, G. |
