"D" amps, general discussion who's 1 and why?

Dob, I am curious did you run a tube pre-amp with your Spectrons?
I find running a tube pre into the Spectron gives it that naturalness without losing that effortless, clear sound which is it's forte.
IMS the synergy is excellent you get the best of both worlds. Just my 2 cents YMMV.

Rafael, you seemed to have confirmed my suspicions. ;-)

Dave

Dear Dev,

I did not see any other "big" speakers. If you can try Joule-Electra (or powerful Athma-Sphere)it could be interesting experience for you. While Joule Electra list Rite of Passage as theirt most power amp (200 watts), they have even more powerful, Destiny - 300 watts per monoblock and as far as I understand they have all specs and looks identical to Rite of Passage but have 4 tubes more..

Vicdamone: "What happens when Kal reviews a product? " Not much, I am afraid - simply I give more weight to the rumors and writings about the product and sometimes I will go to do serious audition myself if I need this type of equipment. I do respect a few reviewers, Kal is one of them.

Dear Snopro. Yes, I fully agree with you. I have now REX by BAT - very good preamp. Simply I expect more from Joule-Electra "Marianne Electra Memorial Edition Preamp"..I will see.

All The Best
Rafael

Seems I found this thread a little late in the game. . . oh well!

In answer to Steidlguitars. . . you are historically correct. It is IMO only in the last couple of years that several class D implementation have left behind some of the idiosyncratic behavior of class D and are in fact exposing the intricacy of harmonic decay in a manner that I deem astonishing. My very preferred devices have already been mentioned here: Rowland 312 and C500, Bel Canto Ref 500/1000 Mk.2 series, recent Spectron Musician 3 implementations.

Coffey is also correct in his cautionary opinion. . . I have listened to the Red Dragon Leviathan twice now at RMAF. . . and I have hardly ever listened to that much intermodulation distortion coming from any system, with amps of any class. I suspect that class D may be no panacea for ensuring quality sound.

G.

I'm still a big fan of PS Audio's HCA-2 especially for what it can be had for at current used prices. It uses an analog power supply (highly desirable and has only two gain stages (no B&O Ice Modules here). It was a Stereophile Class A product when first conceived and trounced Bel Cantos effort at the time. One pro reviewer stated that many digital designs will follow the HCA-2 but they will not have the quality & effort that was afforded this amp.

To the point there is an upgrade targeted for the HCA-2 that invlolves replacing the four input caps with Black Gate capacitors. It has been mentioned in the forums that this upgrade is the most desrable & cost effective for sound improvement. I personally own a HCA-2 with this upgrade and will tell you it sounds spectacular. Extended but refined highs, a gorgeous midrange approaching tube magic and killer bass. Also this upgrade opens up the soundstage and yes I previously owned the stock unit for comparison and other new digital amps.