Today I picked up my Atma-Sphere Class D Amps. These aren’t broken in yet. And they are simply amazing. I’ve listen to a lot of High End Class D. Some that cost many times what Atma-Sphere Class D costs. I wasn’t a fan of any of them. But these amps are amazing. I really expected to hate them. So my expectations were low. The Details are of what I’ve never heard from any other amps. They are extremely neutral. To say the realism is is extremely good is a gross understatement. They are so transparent it’s scary. These amps just grab you and suck you into the music. After I live with them some and get them broken in. And do some comparisons to some other high end Amps Solid State, Tubes and Class D’s, also in other systems I’ll do a more comprehensive review. But for now, these are simply amazing amps.. Congrats to Ralph and his team. You guys nailed on these.
Can we please move the measurement vs perception distraction to another thread so we can focus on Atma-Sphere's new amp here.
Can you please explain how exactly there can be any meaningful discussion of the new amp here regarding it's performance when we have nothing but subjective opinions expressed? There are no measurements at present available from Ralph to have any rationale discussion of the amps performance. Subjective impressions are not facts, are not able to be compared, contrasted, debated, or relied upon. There is nothing to be learned from second hand opinions, why waste the time?
You are going to love them I’ll bet. Guessing since they are a demo pair they have a lot of hours on them. Thats good. I did find mine got slightly better after a few hours of run time. But they were great out of the box. What does your system consistent of? I’ll be looking forward to your comments. I’ll be posting more information also later today after putting them into different systems at an Audio Shop in Minneapolis. And a friends house on my way home.
Its tough to debate with the self-righteous for they are sure they are absolutely right…and I am sure there are no absolutes in addition to the FACT that what they believe they are RIGHT about is off topic to the OP’s thread. But maybe it’s wrong of me to point this out when he is so lovingly offering up complimentary salvation?
The problem with those who are certain they know the “secret” to something is the fact that they just can’t stand keeping it to themselves.
Can we please move the measurement vs perception distraction to another thread so we can focus on Atma-Sphere's new amp here. FYI, I am picking up a demo pair in a couple hours.
Pudelpointers are a very old and rare breed. Once people realized I used the dried excrement and Birch Bark with special Teflon twisted pair wire ties that should definitely increase the value and sonic character of the amplifiers. Hopefully we can try it with the Pass XA60.8’s also. Just think of the overall improvement these amplifiers will see. The Dried Dog Excrement should isolate the Power Supply from vibration better then wood by far. And take all Jitter out of the signal path. I may even try to silicone all the boards on top of a few pieces also. Since the amps don’t heat up I don’t believe smell will be an issue. But the XA60.8’s heat up some. Ummm, we will see how it all works out.
I am staying clear of the insults, anti subjectivism aspects. My only point and interest is the comparison between two quite different approaches to class D design. Ralph’s new amplifiers are receiving much positive comments and I believe deservingly warranted.
His high feedback Op-amps amplifier versus a near polar /opposite approach is something that I find compelling with regard to respective sonic presentation. All that concerns me with audio products is how do they sound? That’s why we buy them.
This is true. I will unbolt the Tansformer and place some Dried Dog stuff in between then wire tie it down. Don’t have much for wood. Although I can put some birch bark top and bottom of the Dog Stuff. I’ll report back.I do have some Class A Wire Nuts also. I’ll hard wire everything. Got new soldering gun from HD last week I’ll try to convince my friend to do it to his Pass XA60.8’s later today also. Not sure how that will go with him though.
I’ll put money on that he can’t make an Atma-Sphere amp sound better
There is no "better", only different, when it comes to subjective value judgments. No doubt the tweak guru could place Ralph's GaN amp on a pile of horse manure and someone would say it sounds "better" sitting on horse manure than it does sitting on cow manure. But that "better" is only true for that listener and has no meaning to others. Opinions based on subjective perceptions are not facts! Your opinion about how amps sound is no more valid than the tweak guru's opinion to others- they all are meaningless outside a population of one. Of course, you aren't trying to profit off of your opinions and aren't claiming to possess "universal" knowledge...
Concentrating just on GaN amps, the observations made for Atmosphere GaN monos may well be applied to a number of other GaN amps. I honestly can see no proof of superiority except that I read a number of subjective expressions. I readily believe that Atmosphere d amps sound wonderful, and would really like to know more on how much better are they than the other GaN amps. This thread, so far, didn’t help me in this. Too many subjective points of view.
How do you define "superiority"? Of course all you have read here are subjective opinions because the vast majority of people here either believe their opinion actually has relevance to those besides themselves or they believe the opinions of others have relevance to themselves. As I have said repeatedly, the only possible way to actually compare amplifiers in a way that can be logically and rationally valid is by looking at the specs. The specs won't tell you if you will like the sound, but they do provide useful data about the performance, design, and can give hints about the sound. As such, they are a good starting point. Any discussion outside of the measured performance is simply subjective opinion and a waste of one's time when it comes to how you will feel about the sound.
The only way to make any judgments of how you will judge the sound of an amp (or any other audio component) in your system, in your room, is to experience it first hand. The opinions of others, regardless of their experience, are not guaranteed to be yours no matter how hard they try to convince you that they "know" some mystical "truth" because they have been "listening to wire" for 40 years.
I have had the GAN 400 and Nova 500 within my system. As well as others I don’t recal the model numbers. I believe they are low feedback not zero. Just remember this advice is coming from someone who believes Nelson Pass, Dave Hafler, Ralph Karsten, Frank Van Alstine, Keith Johnson, Bob Carver, Dieter Burmester, John Curl, David Berning, Saul Marantz and others should be siliconing and wire tying their amps together. And none really have a clue how to make a great amp. And all could learn a lot from him. So you should take what he says with a grain of salt. On top of that… He’s never had a product brought to market. If he had and had implemented his design features of Wood, Silicone and wire ties to hold his amps together. He’d be a world class Audio Engineer. Or at the very least making millions updating and modifying Pass Labs XA250.8’s. As they aren’t glued together and held together with wire ties. And the people that can afford a cobbled together subpar Pass XA250.8 would be on waiting lists for him to tweak their amps. For me I’ll stick with Nelson, Saul, Ralph for professionally designed and built equipment. I’ll put money on that he can’t make an Atma-Sphere amp sound better. He should buy a set. Tweak them. And Ill bring mine for and AB test to his house, apartment, or trailer park that he lives in. I’d like to see him put his money where his mouth is.
Real KNOWLEDGE in audio.......is how something sounds
How something "sounds" is subjective, an opinion, not a fact, and thus not "real knowledge", which is something that has meaning beyond one's self.
You can't seem to get beyond the simple truth that your experienced subjective reality and beliefs are nothing but opinions and are no more valid than anyone else's. The guru complex.
I do not doubt for a moment your immense satisfaction with the Atma-Sphere amplifiers. Admittedly I have no idea what Ric has or hasn’t actually heard. I’m just intrigued by this very latest no feedback class D amplifier without the ubiquitous Op-amps usage. Did you hear this specific zero feedback design?
Well I have had the peachtrees in my system. They are at best mediocre. They don’t compare to the Atma-Sphere. The have a clinical, dry lifeless sonic character. Soundstage and depth isn’t there either. And the don’t have the sort of realism the Atma-Sphere has. The Atma-Sphere is true to instruments. A piano sound as a piano should. As well as Sax, drum beats, brushes and cymbals. I have also had some of the other amps he lists in my system. As to date the Atma-Sphere Class D beats them all. And not by a small margin. And is the only Class D I have like within my system. And I really like them. Recivs is just trolling here and trying to derail the thread. And I doubt he has heard any of the Amps he lists. And I know he’s never heard the Atma-Sphere. So not sure how one can review an amp that they’ve never heard before.
Peachtree has just released a The Gan 1 class D amp that has NO FEEDBACK....no op amps......it is pure digital. Takes PCM via coax only and converts it to PWM in software and uses GAN output stage. NO feedback.
All GaN amps will sound completly different from every other GaN amp and also all Class D amps using mosfets......the GaN transistor may be one thing that improves sound but it is just one of an infinite number things that change the sound.
Here is a list of my candidates for excellent class D amps at lower prices (under $10K)
1. The VTV Purifi Eval amp.....around $1200
2. Orchard mono blocks (GaN amps) $1500
3. VTV Purifi stereo amp using the New Purifi ET704 modules and discrete input stages using the better Sparko labs op amps, Sparko labs discrete regulators and WBT negtgen jacks.....$2100
4. Dual mono stereo version of above. $2260 or mono blocks $2600
5. Orchard Audio Starkrimson Stereo Ultra (GaN based).....starting at $2500 for basic stereo....options for dual mono and extra capacitance....
6. Peachtree GaN 400 and LSA Voyager amps (GaN based)....basically the same amp with the same modules and power supply $3K or less
7. The Atmasphere GaN mono block $5400 the pair
8. AGD mono block Audion GaN based amps.....$7500 the pair.
9. Hopefully soon to be released.... the Mytek Manhattan amp....stereo amp using GaNs.....something like $7K.
These need to be all compared with each other.....Who is volunteering?
Here is a real sleeper....and maybe a super amp?:
Peachtree has just released a The Gan 1 class D amp that has NO FEEDBACK....no op amps......it is pure digital. Takes PCM via coax only and converts it to PWM in software and uses GAN output stage. NO feedback. This will not have a low of impedance as some of the above and also the distortion figures will be worse than above (Kuribo will freak out at this). However, the sound is said to be really great. You need a source that has some kind of digital volume control at 32 bits or more so you won’t mess up the sound. This thing requires no DAC, no preamp....no cables between DAC and Preamp and amp.....This is exactly what the Technics amps do and also the Lyndorf amps do. There is only a few delivered so comparisons to any serious DAC/Preamp/amp combos have not been made.....but I always like a short signal path.....let’s see what this $2000 amp that needs no DAC or Preamp can do.
Are there clear evidences of the superiority of one GaN amp over other GaN amps?
Concentrating just on GaN amps, the observations made for Atmosphere GaN monos may well be applied to a number of other GaN amps. I honestly can see no proof of superiority except that I read a number of subjective expressions. I readily believe that Atmosphere d amps sound wonderful, and would really like to know more on how much better are they than the other GaN amps. This thread, so far, didn't help me in this. Too many subjective points of view. I think it is not timely comparisons with tube stuff, SS can hardly give you the same lightness, 3 dimensionality and body. These are just two different concepts, you may like one more or the other. I like tube gear more but also enjoy in some degree class d, which i trust gives the best in SS.
@pstores, did you really made an ab comparison of Atmosphere class d with the Peachtree or Voyager, or some other GaN amp?
Real KNOWLEDGE in audio.......is how something sounds......there is no common Knowledge of sound.....because there are so many variables......believe it or not. There is lots of technical knowledge.....but that does not necessarily correlate to sound quality....
Wrong, there is a lot of common knowledge. There is no common opinion on what sounds "best" thus a market full of products of different designs, classes, power supplies etc. It's not a lack of knowledge but a wealth of knowledge that allows manufacturers to produce products that appeal to a broad market full of consumers with widely varying tastes.
Why is the power supply not a switch mode? I see a large selection of supposedly well designed, medical grade SMPS, by Traco or Meanwell. Yet, I see class A or class D amps not using these. Why?
Most class d amp makers do use smps. There are a handful that use an old school traditional tranny, bridge, etc. If your amp module design is well done with a high PSRR, it makes little difference, according to experts like Bruno Putzeys, who uses smps exclusively with ncore and purifi. They have many good points but some still believe an amp isn't any good if it doesn't weigh 50 kg.
Most class D amps use switching supplies.....some don’t. There are advantages to both. Switching supplies are smaller, cheaper, more effecient and operate at high frequency so there is no 60hz ripple.. But because they switch at higher frequencies they have more high frequency noise that needs to be filtered. As with everything.....it is in the details. If you use the very best parts and execution on both.....which will sound better? Very few know this.....again each manufacturer will usually have their own predilections and go from there. There are many who have changed a switching supply to a linear supply and have gotten better sound. Then there are those who have done the opposite.....and there are those who have tweaked their switching supply so it sounds way, way, way better than stock. As with what I said above.....there is NO common knowledge. Great amps have been made using both. The latest class D from Aavik that Jonathan Scull just raved about uses a modded Pascal module and switching power supplies and all kinds of tweaks. Lots of ways up the mountain of sound.
Getting back to the specific Atmasphere amp being discussed. I am not an Audio Engineer so please excuse the possibly foolish question. Why is the power supply not a switch mode? I see a large selection of supposedly well designed, medical grade SMPS, by Traco or Meanwell. Yet, I see class A or class D amps not using these. Why?
Ego fighting is not making your stereo better or making anyone else's stereo better or making people feel better......or be more happy. What makes you happy? When you are happy you radiate happiness.....and you also want others to be happy. Do you want me to be happy? If so, then praise and raise me to heaven. I am doing that for all of you right now. You are all beautiful.....you are the light of lights.....may you feel loved by the universe.....right now.....for you are.... Every single thing and being in all the known and unknown universe is loving you right this moment. You have never been unloved. Rejoice....celebrate this incredible miraculous moment.....for this very moment is all we have. You are worthy.....you are deserving.....you are incredible!
Share your beauty.....share you knowledge (what you have experienced), share your love....share your magnificience..
There is "what I want" on track......and there is the track of the soul......there is plenty of time to know about an amp......but to live right now in your heart.....well that is precious.......and worthy of eternity.
@ricevsWhy don’t you start your own thread and take all of your posts on this one and move them there. Others are here to learn about the Atmasphere Class D amps as designed by Ralph , how they sound , and how they compare to other amps.
Also, if everyone else stops engaging with the non-relevant posts maybe the thread can get back on track.
What kind of op-amps did Atmasphere specify and in what position? What are your recommendations for upgraded op-amps? in what position and why? What will the positive effect be?
Please, please tell us because Ralph’s livlihood depnds on it and the survival of Atmasphere as a company rests in the balance.
Here is what is true with high end audio.....practically no one knows very much.....because it is infinite. Not so with hot rodding. All quarter mile top fuelers look the same and perform the same....because the game is so very simple.....it is horsepower, weight, drag, traction and gearing......and the driver.....that is all that there is........and you can measure it by the clock. In high end audio every single thing makes a sonic difference (my experience with over 45 years of listening tests) and there is soooooooooooooooo much to know that all manufacturers have just a tiny piece of the pie of info. It takes months to just figure out the best wire to use.....this is why every single product at every single price point sounds different. THERE IS NO REFERENCE in high end audio.......no clock to test us.....no race course.....it is every manufacturer on his own....every customer on his own......so there is no common knowledge.....However, as things get tested more and more and TALKED about more and more then some TRUTH will prevail. For those that have never listened to wires, and jacks and whatever then what I say sounds like a different language and how dare I second guess the designers (for they know everything!). Sorry to break you bubble.....but we are all so ingorant.....including me. The more you know....the more you know nothing. However, I have an expertise in tweaking....just like Nelson Pass has an expertise in circuit design.....we all are learning and growing. The more we talk about our experience (what we have listened to) then the more REAL KNOWLEDGE we will have. So, if you do not know anything about tweaking then you have no idea if what I say works or does not work.....and how universal it is. So, who is going to change the fuses out and remove the steel plates and bolts on the transformers and LISTEN and give us some REAL KNOWLEDGE?.......Are we going to just say what we "think" is true or do we really want to improve our stereo. You cannot improve your stereo by fighting tweakers....or fighting anyone......Please, try something new.....figure out what is really true for YOURSELF......do not believe me or Kuribo or Ralph.....find out what is true for YOU.......You can change....you can embrace something new. I encourage you to explore.....Exploration is fun.....being right is old stuff and not fun. Do you want to have fun? Do you want to make your stereo better? Just do it!
Tomorrow morning I am going have some fun. Am going to bring these amps and put them into some high end systems at a local Audio Shop in a Minneapolis suburb. Like to hear them drive some really hard loads. And see how they do against some amps 5 times plus the cost. And I want to hear them on big Magnepan and Wilson’s. Just curious… Should be pretty interesting. Afternoon will have a shootout against Pass Labs XA60.8 amps which I really love. They are 2nd to my MA-1’s in my system. Should be fun to hear if the Atma-Sphere Class D can best them.
So your "mods", to the extent they make any difference, only improve the sound *relative to your opinion* - nothing remotely universal about it - because every mod you do moves the sound away from the intent of the designer. You are setting yourself up as the universal arbiter of differences in *preference*, while also impugning the competence of every product designer out there. Good luck getting anyone to buy into that.
The trick here is understanding that the measurements, if the correct ones are actually made, affect what you hear in a very direct way.
Measurements are what they are-data-they don’t affect what anyone "hears" as they are read, not listened to, unless you are referring to biases induced from the reading of measurements. Testing has indicated correlations between certain distortion spectra and "averaged" or group perceptions but there has been no perfect correlation established between measurements and human response on an individual basis because at the end of the day, you just can’t account for taste.
My goal is to inform people so they can improve their stereo or their lives....that is what I do. The mods I suggested are completely universal. If you did this to a $400 Topping or a $120,000 Gryphon amp the results would be the same....except you would hear more difference with the more transparent piece of gear.
OK, quick logic check here; If "everything has a sound" (nonsense IMO, but...) then the "mods" you suggest will *alter* (key word here, not Improve) the sound of any of these amps. Again, doubtful IMO, but let's say you're correct. I know nothing about Atma-Sphere or his products, but from reading what he's written here, he clearly designs his amplifiers to *sound* right/good/pick an adjective to him, and hopefully, by extension to his customers. Nelson Pass is famous for designing amps with specific, and different, sound characteristics, i.e. not "flat" or "straight wire with gain". Again, he designs his amplifiers to *sound* as he intends them to, as does Atma-Sphere. So your "mods", to the extent they make any difference, only improve the sound *relative to your opinion* - nothing remotely universal about it - because every mod you do moves the sound away from the intent of the designer. You are setting yourself up as the universal arbiter of differences in *preference*, while also impugning the competence of every product designer out there. Good luck getting anyone to buy into that.
And for anyone dropping $120K on an amplifier that they don't think sounds right, or has a sonic signature that needs "fixed", well, I'd say meds are more in order than tweaks.
I understand that measurements can affect sound.....However, it is just one tool and a very flawed one. You cannot measure resistors, inductors, wire, solder, op amps, connecotrs, damping, shielding, directionality of fuses, fuses, circuit board material, resonances, etc. in any meaningful way......You have to listen.
if you are using a big inductive resistor and then went to a small non inductive resistor....you might measure something. However, all nichrome surface mount one sixteenth watt reistor brands ALL sound different from each other. They are all made from practically the same material....are the same size, etc.....Why wuold this be? Who cares?!.....I A/Bed four different brands and one brand was clearly more transparent then the others......still using this resistor today.....but I parallel them for better sound and use a larger version as that sounds better too........so many things affect the sound that cannot be measured......this is HOW it is.
The trick here is understanding that the measurements, if the correct ones are actually made, affect what you hear in a very direct way. There used to be a disconnect in this regard because we simply didn't have the technology to show things like the distortion spectra with any detail. But that's been around for a while and if you understand how the ear/brain system perceives sound you can predict what an amp will sound like by looking at the measurements. Most audiophiles are old enough in this market to remember when that wasn't true. But you're not going to get anywhere if you live in the past 😉
When we finally come up with a machine that measures the sound differences in wires, jacks, op amps, resistors, inductors, etc, into infinity....that will be nice
Wires, jacks, etc. don’t emit sound. There are no sound differences in wires, jacks, op amps, etc., only differences in electrical characteristics/parameters. We do have machines that can measure them. What we can’t account for is human subjective preferences. Whether or not a change is an improvement or not isn’t in the equipment, it’s in the perceptions of the listener. "Better" or "worse" when it is applied to sound is subjective. Get over it.
Your goal is to sell people on your mods so you can earn a profit. You tell people your mods make the equipment sound better. You preach how they are universal, blah blah blah, but it's just your opinion. You pray on the insecurity of others and play your siren song...All for money. How loving.
My goal is to inform people so they can improve their stereo or their lives....that is what I do. The mods I suggested are completely universal. If you did this to a $400 Topping or a $120,000 Gryphon amp the results would be the same....except you would hear more difference with the more transparent piece of gear. When Mytek FINALLY releases their ($20,000) 500 watt a channel mono block GaN amps (now supposedly shipping this month) and a thread is posted here on them and a pic is shown that shows bolts and plates on their tranny then ......I would IMMEDIATELY suggest those with the amps remove that hardware. THESE MODS ARE UNIVERSAL........and the ONLY WAY you would know this is to have tried these things over and over again and had feedback from people who did these things. I have had the information about the steel plates, etc. on my website for OVER 15 YEARS! Every person who has tried it (that I know of) has found the sound improved....(on their amps that I have NEVER seen or touched).
Gryphon amps, Audio Research amps, etc. etc. have fuses that can be upgraded (and thousands of people have upgraded their fuses)......better fuses sound better in ALL equipment. Better jacks sound better in ALL equipment.....better op amps sound better in All equipment.....better wire, better footers.....on and on into infinity...this is just how it is. The game is very complex.....and most manufacturers are not super tweaky explorers.....they have an opinion as to what they think is right and implement to their predilections. This is how the ego works....it defines and defends....D’Agostino makes these monster Relentless amps and they made custom output connectors for them.....big hulking things....made from pure Brass.....Brass? A high mass brass connector? Sorry, this is horrible....How about copper, how about OFC copper, how about cryoing, how about PCOCC copper? No, let’s make them from distorted sounding brass. Have you ever listened to brass speaker cables? You would not want to. .If they used a low mass copper nextgen from WBT they would have much better sound. I actually sent an email to D’Agostino and even showed them by binding post bypass system. Are they going to change what they do because I told them that.............NAH........define and defend. Limitations are what the ego lives for. The soul lives to expand. It wants to know more and feel more and be of more service to more people.
Some manufacturers, over the years have implemented my ideas and copied my products.....I invented the shunt attenuator back in 1989 and it was copied by several manufactures......etc. We ALL make a difference.
If you want to believe these mods are only for Pintos and not Corvettes....well, that is your belief......but it is not based on facts.....only those that try something...know what something does sonically. Any one of you who owns these amps or ANY amp or any DAC, preamp, etc. that has a steel cover and bolt that can be removed can try this mod and see for yourself if it really works or not. Any of you who has a product that uses fuses...can try an audiophile fuse......Changing op amps, jacks, eliminating jacks and the like need to be done by someone who knows what they are doing about this stuff or is a DIY person. But ANYONE can change a fuse or eliminate some steel hardware....or use better footers or add damped weight on top....or lift their cables off the floor. Lots of things the "normal" audiophile can do to improve the sound. Since most things that improve the sound cannot be measured.......then the person who does the change is the final decider of whether its an improvement or not. When you have almost everyone agreeing on a change having a benifit.....to me that is objective truth.....based on listening. This is what we have to go by.....not measurements. When we finally come up with a machine that measures the sound differences in wires, jacks, op amps, resistors, inductors, etc, into infinity....that will be nice....Until then....we have our ears.....Please, trust what you hear......trust what you feel.....love one another. Have fun....
While I agree with many of your points, consider that ALL aftermarket improvements to engines/suspensions...
There are improvements, then there are modifications to suit the end user. Improvements can be proven to actually improve the performance in an objective way- more horsepower, faster lap times, etc. The kinds of modifications the tweak guru always proposes do not improve the performance, most actually degrade it. They do modify the sound, which some may subjectively enjoy, but others may not. Therefore, we can't call them improvements, and since there is no way to objectively prove they improve performance, they are simple modifications that some may like and others may not. Think of racing stripes on your car, or mag wheels, not turbochargers or ground effects.
You answered all of these questions with precision and grace. In addition, we all learned a great deal. As an avid DIYer and modifier I know many pieces of gear can benefit sonically from parts upgrades and such. However, Ralph has articulately stated why some of these mods will not yield positive results in his design. I both believe him and trust his knowledge.
The thousands of audiophiles all over the world that listen to wires, fuses, jacks, etc......are LIVING PROOF that these things are real. What proof (listening tests) do you have that what they all say is wrong? Please share.
Ok. In our zero feedback tube amps we make them with custom wire, custom resistors and the like because we hear a difference (and not surprisingly, the difference is also measurable if you know what to measure). In any amplifier with really high feedback and the Gain Bandwidth product to support that feedback at all audio frequencies its a different matter! This is because the feedback of the amplifier allows it to reject a lot of the influences of the materials themselves. So in our tube amps you can hear an exotic fuse due to the voltage drop; in our class D amps you can’t, even though they are more revealing.
BTW, Nord, Apollon, VTV, etc. sell amps that have discrete input buffer option....so you can roll op amps......all op amp options sound different from each other.....this buffer is on the input of a class D Purifi module......it uses very little gain.....just like Ralph......you can also put adapter boards in these discrete op amp input boards with regular op amps on them.....yes, they sound different again....and not as good as the discrete ones.....go read their sites..
We’re very aware of how different the experience of various class D amplifiers actually is! One difficulty any class D amp has is how to drive the input comparitor which has a low input impedance and must not have any offsets of any kind at its input (and is otherwise operated well within its common mode rejection range).
So the input buffer design has an enormous effect on the performance of the amplifier. This really suggests to me that there are a lot of buffer designs that really aren’t up to snuff- and are using opamps in a way that causes the opamps to have a ’sound’. If they were designed correctly, you wouldn’t be seeing all this noise on the ’net on the ’sound’ of these amps. In short I am saying that it appears that some of the designers that made these buffers don’t know what they are doing and thus get highly variable results. If they used the opamps correctly they would get two things: less effect from the opamps themselves and a more neutral (and thus more musical) amplifier.
Getting back to Ralph’s amps, can they be stacked since they run very cool?
@lulaAs long as they are not being pushed hard, yes. We run them stacked here in the shop all the time.
I would agree with you here. But the difference is real world mods, actual experience rather than keyboard experience/trolling. You can not say you can improve a product…. Unless you actually have done it. Real world experience with the product vs fantasy…
In reading your comments. You seemed to have derailed my post. Forums are meant to share experiences with equipment. Give others some real world insight. This post was meant to share experiences with Atma-Sphere Class D Amps. Factual experiences not hypothetical. It seems your comments are meant to troll other members. I’d appreciate we get back to the comments from members that have actual experience with the Amps. And keep the comments to factual information. Not hypotheticals. I’ve been a member for a very long time. And sadly see more trolling happening. It really detracts from the forums and real world information that can be gained. I’ve always kept my comments to equipment that I actually have listening and used within my system.
For owners of the Atmos-Sphere Class D amps, how do they sound? Are they analytical, warm, etc? What about their detail resolution, imaging, soundstage size, bass, mid range, highs, etc. What do these mono block amps do that you like and what do you dislike (if any)?
In another words, can we please forget the specific technology and talk about their impact on your audio system in terms of sound quality. Any additional comments are requested in terms of sound quality (and not the technology).
If possible, I would interesting in how these class D amps compare to other amps you owned such as class A, class A/B and other class D amps. Thanks.
Should I audition the Atmosphere-Sphere class D amps and why?
While I agree with many of your points, consider that ALL aftermarket improvements to engines/suspensions... happened because of DIYers who had the intellect to see the shortcomings in the OEM design and the ability to improve on them, as opposed to starting from scratch. Many eventually became OEM over time
Not a fair analogy. One poster here was making recommendations the equivalent of "you should rejet your carbs" when the car in question could have fuel injection. He doesn't know what might need improving since he has never seen or heard one. The poster was GUESSING that he could improve the Porsche because something worked on his Pinto.
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