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The Truth about Modern Class D

All my amps right now are Class D. ICEpower in the living room, and NAD D 3020 in the bedroom.

I’ve had several audiophiles come to my home and not one has ever said "Oh, that sounds like Class D."

Having said this, if I could afford them AND had the room, I’d be tempted to switch for a pair of Ayre monoblocks or Conrad Johnson Premiere 12s and very little else.

I’m not religious about Class D. They sound great for me, low power, easy to hide, but if a lot of cash and the need to upgrade ever hits me, I could be persuaded.

The point: Good modern Class D amps just sound like really good amplifiers, with the usual speaker/source matching issues.

You don’t have to go that route, but it’s time we shrugged off the myths and descriptions of Class D that come right out of the 1980’s.
erik_squires
genesis777
59 posts
 
My Red Dragon mono-blocks sounded every bit as good as my Krell..I'm kind of glad they get a bad rap because otherwise they wouldn't be so cheap...
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
4,637 posts
 
@atmasphere  

I was talking about units such as the Lyngdorf 2170.....

“The TDAI-2170 is 100% digital, without sound-deteriorating digital-to-analog conversions. The digital signal drives the speakers directly, with no translation and no middleman.” 

It takes a digital signal and amplifies it without a conventional dac.  The signal remains completely digital right to very point where the signal is fed to the outputs....only at this point does the signal convert to analog. This unit is not a Class D amp. 


erik_squires OP
5,268 posts
 
audiothesis - It would help if we had your point of reference. What do you consider the most natural amplifiers you have heard? 

If you want them to sound like a boutique OTL amp, chances are they never will. :) 

Best,

E
audiothesis
128 posts
 
..and that’s just it Erik. I am a single ended fanatic. With solid state I find I usually prefer a good A/B over even class A amplifiers for some reason.

There are always exceptions that might tickle your fancy in a different way and that’s what I hold out for. I’ve found exceptions in most categories now, just not in Class D. The units I’ve heard (rather not mention) were bountiful in the bass but presented artificially. There were other artifacts throughout the spectrum but the bass stood out the most to me. The units I tried were not world-class but not trash either.

Maybe natural was the wrong word and organic fits better. It all felt too etched to me, like overdoing the sharpness on a television.

Mola Mola was on my short list to try and I recently had another one recommended to me (by another single ended fan at that), though the name escapes me at this point.  I definitely am not closed-minded to them - just waiting for the right one.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
To say class D is bright means you are not very well versed in quality class D.

This is correct as they can be either too bright (hard) or to opaque (soft) or a milder mix of both, and it nearly always comes down to how savage the output filter is that attenuates the switching frequency. As it's phase shift effects can be measure within the audio bands upper frequencies right down to 5khz, especially, the "opaque sounding one". You never hear of anyone criticizing the bass, that's because it good!

There are those that for the life of them can't hear anything wrong, good luck to them I say.

Cheers George
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