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

Hello tweak 1,

    I continue to be interested and intrigued by class D amps in general.  I know it's the best method for those with a limited budgets to attain very good performance in their systems because that's the main reason I tried my 1st one, a stereo Class D Audio SDS-440-CS amp, for $630 almost 10 years ago along with a healthy dose of curiosity.  
   I think once I realized, or any other new user who dares to give class D a try will quickly realize, just how well a good quality class D amp actually performs in their system this progresses naturally to thoughts, a strong interest and curiosity about the current and future capabilities of this not so new technology.  Of course, an adventurous approach to good system sound also requires its seekers to have the dual benefits of an open mind and a lack of an irrational allegiance to traditional amp technologies.
     In my case, this curiosity led to buying a 2nd class D amp, a stereo Emerald Physics EP-100.2SE amp and a 3rd, my current pair of D-Sonic M3-600-M mono-blocks.  I've noticed a significant upgrades in performance on my Magnepans with each amp but they all are very good and still in use in my combination 2-ch music and 5.4 surround system.
     I'm currently very satisfied with my system's overall performance but my curiosity about how good class D can perform still remains.  However I've also realized that to attain another significant upgrade in performance via a class D amp, it'll likely require buying one of the generally considered top performance echelon of class D amps such as a pre-owned pair of Merrill Veritas or Mola Mola Kartugas. 
     Ultimately, I believe the truth is that I'm just a music lover that's in search of a system that I really enjoy hearing music through.  Ideally, I know I want a system that sounds as close to live musicians playing in my room, or that I've been transported to a realistic venue the musicians are playing in.  The music has the same full range as live music from deep bass to high treble and all the tones in between, with the same dramatic dynamic range capacities and tonal accuracy.  I'm even okay with it being artificially enhanced if it means the soundstage images are more solid, stable and natural because that just gives the sense of more realism.  I get this high quality reproduction now on high quality recordings but think I'd just like it more often.
     I also realize that class D has no monopoly on high quality sound and, in the spirit of keeping an open mind, I'm not going to restrict my amp type options as I continue my search for further system improvements. I continue to prefer class D because of its many non-audio quality advantages, but sound quality and fidelity remain my primary concerns.


Tim

Tim

Putting together a system that does all types of music well that fits into any budget requires a lot of knowledge that starts with power conditioning, power cords/speaker cables/interconnects, source, amp, and ultimately speakers. A lot of this depends on room size: mine is quite large requiring high wattage amps and bigger speakers to create a proper SPL

IMHO, open baffle speakers are essential in order to get a wide and deep sound stage. I have Emerald Physics KCIIs which are absolute bargains in the ~ $2K range, but my room is large, and although I have 2 SVS 12" powered subs, I could not get them to blend. I am anxiously awaiting a pair of EP 2.8s, each speaker has 2 @ 15" carbon fiber woofers and one 12" concentric carbon fiber mid-range. Both of these models have won TAS awards.

I have a dedicated 20 amp line + Core Power 1800, soon will add Deep Core

Long ago I followed Paul McGowan’s lead and went to completely deferentially balanced components.

My cables/interconnects of choice are WireWorld 8 series

In the last 2 years the class D amps I’ve owned includes EP 100.2SEs, Audio Alchemy DPA-1 (which, even at half the power, I much preferred to the EPs), PS Audio M700s, which I probably would still have today, but it took too long to find a buyer for the AA amp, so I sold them, which turned out to be a blessing as their sale provided the money to buy the EVS 1200, which runs circles around all the others mentioned and very fairly priced

My current source is a Oppo 105 with upgraded power supply and IEC + Ag wire to the power supply board which made a HUGE improvement I chose the 105 for audio only as it allows me to play redbook, SACD and DVD-A via it’s variable volume control at a very reasonable price
hth

Of these The only ones I have heard were Merrill.  Those sounded very good as well they should in that they were somewhat pricey. 
I have not heard the PS Audio but from what I know about the company and what I read about their latest Class D amps including the price,  I would lean that way if I needed to replace my current Bel Canto Class D amps today. 

Hello mapman,

     Since Merrill came out with their new line of Element amps using the faster switching GaN transistors, they're getting a lot of pairs of Veritas back as trade-ins on the element amps.  Merrill told me they're checking these out thoroughly and making any necessary tune-ups and reselling them for about $5K/pair.  
   It looks like a good time to buy a pair if you're interested.  I've only read all the extremely positive reviews on these but never heard them in person.  But these have always seemed like ideal amps for me in both performance and form.
  I'm currently making two upgrades to my system; buying a pre-owned pair of Magnepan 3.7i to replace an almost 25 years old pair of 2.7QR and a Levinson 326S preamp to replace a Parasound Halo P-6 preamp.
 I also picked up a new Oppo 205, at an acceptable premium price of $2,100, to replace my current Oppo 105.  I'll be using the 205 and a 20 TB Synology NAS with a Lumin D2dac/streamer as sources.
     I believe my 1,200 watt D-Sonic mono-blocks and 3.7i speakers will prove to be a good match.  If not, I'll probably buy a pre-owned pair of Veritas from Merrill.  Could you share your impressions of the Veritas?

Thanks,
 Tim

I heard Merrill amps at Capital Audiofest a couple years back running a pair of German Physiks speakers. Model may have been Veritas but not sure.
The sound was crisp neutral detailed and top notch all around. The amps seemed to drive the speakers pretty effortlessly. Nothing to object to, very much what I was expecting. The sound was much like a pair of well set up Quad Electrostats or MLs, except the GP speakers are omnidirectional and not ES and the bass was all there but well integrated into the overall Omni sound presentation.


It was not unlike what I hear with the Bel Canto Class D amps I use with my Ohm Walsh speakers , but were more pricey at the time as I recall. Same true of the GP speakers.