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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
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
niodari 
I am not sure about Red Dragon as they (S500) seem to be not so tolerate with low impedance speakers

Not just Red Dragon, look at any Stereophile lab test on class-D for 2ohm loading and they either. 
1:switch off and go into protection. 
2:or they don't even bother to test them because they go unstable. 
3: or their performance is very average and actually go down (have less) in total watts with 2ohms compared to 4ohms. When they should if strong with good current ability go higher by at least 1.5 x's compared to 4ohms wattage.

Cheers George
Post removed 
snapsc
681 posts
 
@niodari

As you can see, more and more people are making class d amplifiers...or about to make class d amplifiers.  Unless you plan to hold on to it forever...or don't care about massive depreciation when you resell, I'd suggest you buy one that is well reviewed (much easier to resell) and which you don't see being offered for resale very often (meaning people tend to like them and hold on to them).

As for a 30 day trial period for a product shipped to Mexico....maybe it won't be possible....meaning it is even more important to buy a product with a good reputation that will be easy to resell if and when the time comes.

Good Luck
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noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hello niodari,

     I believe most internet direct class D companies ship worldwide without too many exceptions but I'm not certain, you may want to call or email and ask.
     I agree the LSA amp looks very interesting. If it has a switching carrier frequency of about 1.5 MHz, perhaps georgehifi may even be interested.
     I'm currently very pleased with all my the class D amps I use in my system.  I strongly believe they have so many positive attributes it will be hard for them not to be the predominate amp technology in the near future.  
    At their current stage of development, I understand some preferring to use their beloved class A, top of the line class AB or tube amps.  Of course, class D has no current monopoly on high quality performance. 
    However, it's apparent that class D technology performance quality has been improving at a faster pace than the technology the more traditional amps are based on.  I envision this fast paced improvement in the performance quality of class D technology and amps to continue for the foreseeable future.  Eventually, even those afflicted with the worst cases of amp-type bias will relent in favor of improved audio quality.  Perhaps it may result from class D amps incorporating DSP circuitry that is able to mimic the sound qualities of state of the art class A and tube amps at the press of a button.


This should be fun,
        Tim
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