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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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plga
44 posts
 
Whitestix
Well, there are TOO MANY options in the audio universe that it is impossible to know/try I guess even 10% of the options out there, even if you work on a HiFi Shop or are a reviewer.
If you are happy with your system, well, enjoy the hell out of it.
For me, some few months ago I thought I was never leave 300B tubes and now I cannot believe the sound I get on my system with a "digital" class D amp. Streaming digital music in another universe (music) at the palm of my hand. I still remember me buying cassettes or recording songs on the radio in my youth!!
Its a very nice moment to be an audiophile and a music Lover.
inna
5,245 posts
 
From my perspective, the only good reason to develop those class D and other similar classes that will follow is environmental. On the other hand, the less expensive they become the more people will have hifi, sort of, and that will be bad for the environment.
As for the sound, tubes will sound best in the foreseeable future, if done right and matched with done right speakers. Even transistors are not really needed, nor is digital except for archiving until they figure out how to preserve master tapes for thousands of years. 
miveraaudio
111 posts
 
Keep in mind class D amps are not "digital" amps. The D does not stand for digital. They are purely analog devices. However there is such thing as digital class D amps. But they aren't the ones that have analog inputs. 
inna
5,245 posts
 
Yeah, I know.
I don't think they pursue better sound, this is pure commerce.
If we really want a breakthrough, new gain device must be invented. Heard anything about this kind of research ? This doesn't mean it is not happening, but I heard nothing.
miveraaudio
111 posts
 
Well I’m afraid to say you’re behind the times when it comes to the current state of ultra high end audio. Today’s best class D outperforms every other type of amps available. A few years ago I came up with the now widely used concept of using rollable class A discrete opamps to voice the input stage of class D amps to personal taste. This resulted in 1000’s of old school audiophiles dumping class A and tubes for amps such as the Nord one up.

But now with advanced DSP integrated into SOTA digital input class D amps, there’s far far more flexibility to voice to taste. Regardless of your personal taste in sound, the next generation of digital input class D amps can be voiced in the digital domain to your exact taste, and room acoustics. You can stop wasting money on cables, preamps, tube buffers etc to voice your gear. The amp can do it all. And far better. And if you get board of the sound, just change the profile rather than dump at a big loss and replace with something different. 
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