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The Future of Audio Amplification

I have recently paired an Audio Research DS225 Class D amplifier with an Audio Research tube preamplifier (SP8 mkii). I cannot believe how wonderful and lifelike my music sounds. The DS225 replaced an Audio Research SD135 Class AB amplifier. Perhaps the SD135 is just not as good as some of the better quality amps that are out there, but it got me thinking that amazingly wonderful sonance can be achieved with a tubed pre and Class D amp. I have a hunch that as more people experience this combination, it will likely catch on and become the future path of many, if not most audiophile systems. It is interesting that Audio Research has been at the forefront of this development.
distortions
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
643 posts
 

Gotta love innovation! I've never looked at audio as a dollar thing, but instead a doing thing. Pretty faceplates are a short lived thrill for me, a distraction honestly. Fashion changes on a whim, in the end though is the recorded and playback soundstage.

Michael Green

fleschler
766 posts
 
Plasma TV has a tube like sensitivity in warmth, color and engaging the viewer. I’ve moved on to top of the line LCD TVs with higher resolution and brightness, a solid state like sensitivity. OLED TV is similar to a combination of the two prior technologies.   

Each type has its own limitations (LCD-picture uniformity, viewing angle, OLED-brightness in white scenes, motion judder Plasma-heat , resolution).
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
@stevecham 

Yes, .02% at 1 watt is completely insane when it's all high order garbage like class D makes. Go look at the measurements. It's a very different story when .02% is this pretty, negative phase, entirely second order waveform. The human ear doesn't perceive that as distortion or dynamics like it does with high, odd order distortion. It tends to perceive it as depth. It's not technically difficult to build an amp that gets .001% distortion across the power band. It's generally thought those amps sound cold and analytical. The things that really define the character of an amp are the response curves of the gain devices and the character of the distortion they produce when driving a load. Folks aren't going nuts about triodes for their efficiency, gain, and low distortion. People love those things for their distortion and that awesome depth and spaciousness you only get from triodes and single ended JFET amps, and you only get that with that sexy, negative phase, low even order distortion. 
mr_m
1,087 posts
 
kosst,
Yeah. Look at some of the tube amps that have been recently reviewed with claimed output of 60 to 100 watts per channel and deliver 2 or three watts at best at 10% distortion!!!! And you crap all over class D amps. Give us a break, PLEASE!
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
Having said that, Class D is the future for better or worse. There is quite a bit of cost savings involved for amp makers. They can be pretty good with a tube pre amp as a bandaid.
The main reason class D is the future is simple- the semiconductor industry really doesn't want to make linear devices so much anymore- not like they did in the 70s and 80s! Very many non-audio applications are better handled by switching or digital circuits that were handled by linear circuits just a few years ago- and now audio can be done that way too.


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