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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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atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
Icepower put millions of $ and 13 years into their new Iceedge class D ASIC’s. With a team of the best of the best engineers in the business. So unless you have experience with this technology, you are not in a position to judge whether or not today’s class D is mature. It takes a lot of arrogance to assume that a company as large as B&O, with that many top engineers, over a 13 year span doesn’t know what they’re doing.
That's pretty funny! ... uh... I never stated B&O doesn't know what they are doing. Didn't mention anything about B&O.

Now, think about this for a moment. I filed for a patent in the area of class D technology. The patent is based on a functioning amp. Now since that is the case, is it thus possible that I in fact do 'have experience with this technology'?? I went to engineering school and while I make tube amps, when I went to school tubes got exactly one day of mention... this isn't that hard to sort out.


Engineering FWIW is all about applying the math and the principles to solve a problem. The question often becomes 'are you solving the right problem?' Personally I'm of the opinion that quite often for many designers the correct answer is actually 'no' and the reason being that if you want an amplifier to sound right to the human ear, it has to be very short on the distortions that the ear is designed to pick up on. IOW, an understanding of how the human hearing perceptual rules work, rather than how to get the specs to look good on paper. The two are different and have been for many decades.
townshend-audio's avatar
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townshend-audio OP
49 posts
 
Atmasphere

My class D sounds incredible to my ears and cost me 2k,

How much is the entry level amplifier you make please ?

How much is your reference amplifiers please ?

miveraaudio
111 posts
 
Well if you come out with better class D technology than Icepower was able to achieve over a 13 year span then great. I can’t wait to hear it. But to say that today’s class D isn’t mature, without any experience with today’s class D, doesn’t hold much weight. Especially for me since I do have experience with today’s class D.

You don’t have any idea about the level of research Icepower put into human hearing when engineering the Iceedge ASIC’s. I can tell you that they put much more into it than Hypex did with Ncore. Because out of the box buffer-less it sounds sensational. Where with Ncore amps you must add color with a fancy input buffer or else they sound dry and sterile.
miveraaudio
111 posts
 
I’ll also note that currently the only turnkey Iceedge based amplifier module is the 1200AS. However the ASIC’s are available for OEM’s to incorporate into their own designs: 

https://icepower.dk/products/audio-ics/iceedge/#comparison-chart

And there’s potential to make an amp out of these chips far better than the 1200AS, which is built to a price point. Give it a couple of years are we are going to see these chips in everything. Icepower has delayed the release of the 500AS because they are so busy working with OEM’s who are incorporating Iceedge chips into their own designs.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
My class D sounds incredible to my ears and cost me 2k,

How much is the entry level amplifier you make please ?

How much is your reference amplifiers please ?
I'm glad that works for you! High end audio should be fun and musically satisfying.  But high end audio though is not about cost, its about getting the music to sound real, IOW intention. I find that on these forums, audiophiles often use the same words to describe what they hear, but there isn't any standard to allow them to express the degree of their experience. So its all relative.

Because high end audio is about intention, the idea of a 'reference' amplifier strikes me as a bit odd. Shouldn't all the amps one makes be capable of 'reference' performance?

But to say that today’s class D isn’t mature, without any experience with today’s class D, doesn’t hold much weight. Especially for me since I do have experience with today’s class D.
To imply that I don't have any experience with class D doesn't hold much weight either, does it :)     I'm pretty sure you've not met me. You've not been to our shop, not been to my house... pretty bold, don't you think, to make an assumption like that??


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