Could Class D really be that good?

Try a Douk E6 in front of it with the upgrade that is referred to in certain posts.

I do think the Budget Class D and Budget DHT Pre will find a very pleasing synergy.

I put a few friends onto the E6, and one is after a period of trial, now seriously considering it for being a replacement for their Django TVC. This was unexpected, as I thought of the E6 as a very affordable dipping of ones toes into a DHT type Pre Amp.

The E6 was only presented to the group of friends, as another friend in the group, who is a very competent EE, has investigated quite a few £000's in another UK based EE's DHT Pre Amp Design, that was getting good appraisals during the  Honeymoon Period of its use. 

Not heard the DHT yet in any of the types now available, but do know the report on the UK based EE's design has claimed it has transformed SS Power Amp's relegated from the Top of the Listing for their favour to a whole new level of presentation that are very attractive when experienced.  

@erik_squires 

The basic principle of classification still defines the efficiency, cost, and form factor of a power amplifier essentially. How the audio industry implements technology on top of and around this principle to make them perform well sonically in measurements and actual listening experience is still a ongoing progress, not a cliche understatement you were making at all. See below how the forthcoming Fosi V3 Mono (priced at $280/pair) bridges the gap nicely with the noise/distortion level of the state-of-the-art Benchmark AHB2 that costs $3,500.  

(from Amirm @ASR, April 2024)

@jasonbourne71 

Thank you for pointing me to ASR, where I found these charts that Amirm nicely made. I see that at the maximum power rating of 32 volts SMPS, the 48 volts SMPS does not have a few dB noise advantage. And the 48 volts block gives more headroom/current to serve the peak loads as well when called for. However, at my usual listening level, I don't crank the volume knob to acquire that much power, and I am craving for more clean power from LPS. Also, the op-amp rolling will potentially render sonic improvement just like tube rolling on the tube amp. We will see.

@lanx0003 - Thanks for responding to a point I was not making.

I was trying to say that the subjective "sound quality" cliches that were made in the 1990's about Class D amps no longer apply today.  All the measurements you point out may be accurate but tell us little about how well a class of amplifier today may actually sound vs. another. 

@erik_squires I went back to you post (pls do the same) and found no mention of "sound quality" and "1990" How is one supposed to know what you were "trying" to say big shot. BTW, it is not an accurate statement that, back in 1990, the class D with PWM has already sound comparably well with sinusoidal sound wave.

Class D, class A, class W...

Don’t care. That this is class D is of no relevance to me. What is relevant is if it sounds that good for that little lay out, I’m grabbing one just for the fun of it!

Might as well grab the preamp at $79 while I’m at it.

That’s still less than the cost of a nice dinner out.