Which Class D Amplifier? PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrill or other???

That's great that others heard good things in that room. When I walked in they had some string chamber music playing that sounded pretty nice, but a bit on the etched end of the spectrum but nothing offensive. Someone requested Steely Dan - I think they played Babylon Sisters. That track sent me from the room. Steely Dan is some of the best recorded pop out there and this system was very far from neutral reproducing it. Instrumental timbres were off, lacking in realistic body, size and overtones. It reminds me of the old days of hifi where certain systems excel at only certain genres. Silly.

Now, after a solid week of further break in of the M700s + Stellar GC dac/pre, I invited a friend over with a ton of live music experience. He heard the system with the Audio Alchemy kit, and did not hold back his valid criticisms. He did not hear the system with the AA PS 5 power supply, which did make a huge difference, but still, nothing like now with the PS Audio. There’s just no substitute for raw horsepower (AND POSSIBLY SOME REFINEMENT IN THE GC VOLUME CONTROLLER AND/OR ITS INTERNAL DAC’)

My friend is a rocker: Me, not so much, but I have enough to satisfy an occasional itch, so, first up was SVA (Stevie Raye Vaughn) volume was cranked to concert equivalent level and wow, wow, wow;.My $2500 Emerald Physics KCIIs dealt t with no strain. SVA was followed by Peter Gabriel "Secret World Live" This was followed by Tina Turner ’Private Dancer’ then The Pointer Sisters Greatest hits .

In all cases the music was seamless, bass, brass, and drums had ample tonality and packed a mean ass punch (WITHOUT USING MY SUBS NO LESS) not a hole I could detect, and my friend couldn’t stop repeating many accolades, even during songs, which irrates me to no end

My next move is a big step up the EP speaker line

hth

I don't know what they were driving the Muraudio with at CAF (last Nov.) but the sound was barely tolerable.  First of all, overly loud for the small hotel room; second on the jazz trumpet piece, the higher notes on the trumpet just seared my ears.  Had to leave, fast.  It was even unpleasant out in the hallway.

twoleftears

Apparently they were driven by Triangle Art class A monos. I'm getting the sense that the harshness we both heard was mostly endemic to the speakers themselves. Now that you said that, I would really like to hear the Merrill amps with a more neutral speaker.

Tweak 1: That has been exactly my experience too now with three months into enjoying the PS Audio Gain Cell DAC preamp/M700 monoblocks combo, in my case driving/feeding Thiel CS2.4s and two SVS SB2000 subs.