Time to buy a class D amp?



Will some new class D amplifiers outperforming the current ones appear soon

(the newest ones i know were released a  few years ago)?

Class D amps attract me as I consider them the most ecological ones with obvious non-auditionable benefits.

I have no doubts that they posses the maximum ratio performance/sound quality among the amplifiers of all classes.

At the same time, the sound quality the class D amplifiers that I have auditioned produce, although is quite good,

but not yet ideal (for my taste).


I use PS Audio Stellar S300 amp with PS audio Gain Cell pre/DAC with Thiel CS 3.6 speakers in one of my systems.

The sound is ok (deep bass, clear soundstage) but not perfect (a bit bright and somehow dry, lacking warmness which might be more or less ok for rock but not for jazz music).

I wonder if there are softer sounding class D amps with the same or better details and resolution. Considering two reasonable (as to the budget) choices for test, Red Dragon S500 and Digital Audio Company's

Cherry  2 (or Maraschino monoblocks), did anybody compare these two?



128x128niodari
Hey Tim. An important attractive side of class D amps is their low price 
and high ratio performance/price. I am not sure if for Merrill class D amps this is also true. Neither you nor me have auditioned it, given their price, they should sound almost magical to have a high ratio. Buying   Merrill amp would be similar to buying a very expensive electric car. I have a hybrid one which did not cost much more than similar non-hybrid onces, this made a sense. Demo Cherry amplifiers are on sale, some of them cost nearly the half of their normal price. If their sound quality is somewhat close to  Merrill class D amps (at least, not too far), ratio performance(Cherry)/price(Cherry) >> performance( Merrill)/price( Merrill)
even considering used price. And, perhaps,  older Veritas series amps are not magic sounding (if not, why they have changed the profile of their class D amps?). I am curious to compare SQ of Cherry,  ATI, Veritas and Element amps
I have been very happy with a Wyre4sound St 750le. You can check it out on 10 Audio's review site. He favorably compares it to a single ended tube amp sound and gives it a 9.5  rating.
Hello niodari,

     Everything you said in your last post makes perfect sense to me.  Even though I've never heard the Merrill Veritas, I consider them one of the best examples of how well class D amps can perform because all of the numerous pro reviews I've read consistently state they are excellent amps regardless of amp type and price.  

     I wasn't willing to verify this at a price tag of $12K/pair but I'm seriously considering it at $5K/pair.  However, I can verify that other class D amps offer very good performance at a much lower price.  I went this route, initially buying a Class D Audio SDS-440-CS stereo amp for $630.  This was my first D amp and I was stunned by how well this amp performed with my Magnepan 2.7QR speakers, better in all aspects than the high current class AB McCormack and Aragon amps I'd previously used that I had paid over $2K each for.  It was also about 1/3rd the size and weight, ran much cooler and sipped, rather than gulped, electricity.
     For the past 5 years, I've been using D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblocks($2,100/pair new) on my Magnepans and have been very pleased.  They're very powerful (600w@ 8 ohms, 1,200w@ 4 ohms and, I believe, stable down to 2 ohms), have great bass, powerful dynamics and a detailed but very smooth midrange and treble that I never perceive as bright or harsh.  I bought these with a 28 day free in-home trial period, they sounded very good to me right out of the box and I never considered returning them.  I did notice an occasional brightness on the upper treble but this completely disappeared over during the first few months of usage.
     I believe the D-Sonic amps should be on your short list of class D amps to audition along with the Cherry models.  If you can wait a few months, Red Dragon has stated they'll be introducing an all new lineup of stereo and monoblock amps by the end of the year.  I haven't heard of any details about their new amp lineup yet but suspect these may be good candidates for you to audition, too.


Good luck,
  Tim
Guys, perhaps, "time to buy a class D amp" is closing up... :)

Interesting developments in class D, did not think there are so many (new) brands producing class D amps listed in this thread, e.g.,  the last one, Voyager GAN 200 power amplifier at $2500 looks interesting (I think they could have a better ratio performance/price than Merrill amps). Their serial production is planed to begin this December, as Walter Liederman has notified. 

Tim, I am keen to audition D-Sonic amps (unfortunately, they are not so flexible in sending their stuff to Mexico where I am currently living). I am not sure about Red Dragon as they (S500) seem to be not so  tolerate with low impedance speakers (one below 4 ohms, see an earlier post in this thread), don't know about their new series amps that will be released soon.  Let us keep each other informed. 

Cheers

Nodari