Digital amps overhyped ?

I am biamping with PS Audio GCA 250 and a pair of Wyred4Sound monoblocks. They sonically bestest my Rogue M 150s in every way, cost less than half and are 80+% efficient. And since they weigh about 13 pound each, shipping is inexpensive.

I have found the H2O amps to be very pricise and warm sounding.
Certainly worth a trial, and yes, they require a few hundred hours
of burn-in.

If shipping to return a product from a trial period is too much of a hassle then a class D amp could easily be too much of a hassle to integrate into your system.

There can be some issues regarding the quality of your AC and the physical placement of the component that could require some effort to enjoy the full potential of some of these amps.

Don't get me wrong I'm a very satisfied NuForce user yet some people expecting a plug and play devise have been disappointed by some easily remedied issues.

My bad Tan43, I was calculating by approx. days but I posted weeks.My apologies.For me generally, when I buy a new component, I let it run for basically a week 24/7 or at least pretty close to that to get around 100 hours to make sure I am OK with it. I mean you can generally get 250 hours or so burn in on a component within a month. I have never really noticed any additional improvements in any component I have had past that time frame.
I just made some assumptions.

A friend who has tried a lot of different amps and has a lot of money tied up in his equipment has been using two Acoustic REality eAR 502's bridged. He has had these a couple of years and has had no desire to change them. He says they are the best he has heard.

I was about to buy the Acoustic Reality eAR 202 Ref when I found the NHT Power2 based on the same B&O IcePower modules (same modules Wired for Sound uses) for about a third of the price. I am no expert, but I think this amp sounds great. Much better than the NAD it replaced.

I paid $699 for the Power2 and I just checked and they have dropped the price to $499. Although I'm a bit peeved as I have only had this amp a little over a month, I still think $700 was a good buy. $500 is a steal!

samski,
the only 'digital' amp that know that is really worth the hype is the Red Wine Audio 30.2 - http://www.redwineaudio.com/Signature_30.2.html
i've tried ice amps, UcD, nuforce and even other tripath amps but none come even remotely close to the RWA, which i own and love and dont even consider it class-d or whatever. it is a musical component that approaches the tonal qualities of tubes but is better than tubes in quite a few aspects. the only thing is if you need high power it might not be enough but it is surprisingly powerful for its power rating.

-Nate

I have the Gilmore Raven and it is class D modified Icepower, but with a massive analog power supply. I could not be happier with it - it's fed by a Supratek Chenin tube preamp.

Classe30,don't take any offense,but 7 times 26 weeks or 6 months comes to 182 hours. This is about right for me. The point I was
making to the gentleman was it does need a little time to
break in.

Regarding burn-in, I left Rowland Continuum 500 playing music 24/7 for two weeks to achieve 300-hours, from which point I've noted no further improvement. It's easy to set the volume down to where it's barely audible and just let it run a CD on repeat.

BTW, the Continuum 500 runs around 120-degrees in the armoire where I have it installed. That's much warmer than most ICEPower units, thanks to the Power Factor Correction unit intergral to the C500. Most ICEPower amps DO require more time to burn-in than the Continuum.

Dave

Hi Tan 43, 6 months to burn in?

If you are listening to your system, including just having it playing music in the background, say 7 hours a week, that equates to over 1500 hours needed to burn in a unit.

Please take no offense, I just find that extraordinary to take that long to burn any component/speaker straight from the factory.
Wow six months.

I said "Spectron" in my post and meant "Spectral". Sorry.

Dave

I've had the Classe 400, and replaced it with Acoustic Reality 500w ICE amps. The bass is much better, defined, controled, etc. The mids and highs are more revealing, but that actually gave my speakers a boost they needed. The cost was less than half, no heat, no weight, great move for me.

I have the iceh2O amp and preamp from designer Henry Ho (iceh20audio.com) and I couldn't be happier. If you're wanting a warmer sound, you can always use a tube preamp. The preamp/tubes that you choose can make a very big difference.

It's not "digital", just a switching power supply. ICEPower is a Class D-like circuit licensed from B&O and is maturing into the basis very good amplifier option. (Many makers greatly modify the ICEPower unit). If you like the Classe' then go for it. Others to consider are Jeff Rowland Design Group, Bel Canto, Spectron and a few others.

Generally, they provide high performance. Don't worry about the operation mode, since it's sound that you're after. Does it match well with the requirements of your speakers should really be your first consideration.

I love my Rowland Continuum 500 integrated amp, driving Vienna Acoustic Beethoven Baby Grand speakers. The Aerials are great speakers that should benefit from a powerful amp.

Dave

Before we burn you again here and we will,what speakers,room size etc are you having????

I replaced my Spectral system with Bel Canto S300 and
PRE3 and have not regretted it one bit.
You have to give these amps ample time to burn in.
It took mine about six months. I think a lot of those sold
have not been given this time.

Hype in the audio world! Surely you jest.