Digital Amps vs Solid State Amps

Alan - Digital amps most likely don't have higher amount of feedback since analog parameter - time (duty cycle) is more linear than class AB transistors. High damping comes from the fact that speaker is always connected between very low impedance points thru very low resistance Mosfets. Icepower uses full bridge (H-Bridge) of N-Channel Mosfets that keep speaker connected between GND and V+ - only direction changes.

Class AB amps in contrast have often very high gain before feedback is applied reaching 4000. Class A i better in that respect with gains as low as 200 and that's were I would place digital amps.

Hi Alan,

While I am glad the H2O are providing a very satisfying sound, I believe you would be please as Punch if you heard the XA160.5 or XA200.5 in your system. I do think the class D amps can provide a more realistically-priced and cool-running alternative to these monsters.

The XA200.5s provide bass that is simply natural and glorious in my system. The Pass bass exceeds a prior amp that had MUCH higher wattage and damping factor, which suggests to me that the topology is important and that Nelson got it right. My search is over, and I am relieved.

Hi Rtn1,

I am sure that I would love the XA160.5 or XA200.5, as I thought the XA100.5 produced a beautiful sound in my system. The midrange and top end of the Pass is wonderful. I like the richness of the bass too, but with the Opus it is a bloomy bass more suited to classical music; it didn't have the micro-dynamics and pitch definition that made for great acoustic jazz bass when mated with the Opus. In my system, I never saw the Pass bias needles moving so I figured power was not the issue.

A friend of mine still owns the XA100.5 and another friend owns the XA160.5. Maybe if I hosted a nice dinner and promised to pay for their hernia surgeries, I might convince them to lug the amps over for a side by side comparison.

Alan

Aljordan, Can you tell me what bridge caps are in your H2O? I installed Soncap Platinum, and the result is perfect in my system.

Alan,

You may correct in a sense. I would not charactarize the Pass XA.5 bass as punchy or fast. Rather, it conveys a sense of weight and acoustic space, and does not draw attention to itself. It is very natural and realistic, as you say, for classical music. Whether the cello in a quartet, the left hand in a piano concerto, or the double bass section of an orchestra, everything is cohesive.