Who tried Class D only to return to S/S or Tube

Well the dozen or so posters so far at least it would seem. 🤔

Interesting thread, I've been wondering what the deal is with class D and have learned a fair amount already from this young thread already.

Me. Three times. Treble quality was atrocious. Roland, Job and one other. This was up until 4 years ago. People say they've gotten better. On each try, they were out of my system within 2 days. (Yes, they were broken in).

Jeffb28451, while the Class D amplifiers may have been "broken-in," it is possible that a two-day warm-up was not long enough for them to reach their full potential. I would have previously called BS on this notion but, after living with NC1200 monos for the past year, and switching between those and my Class AB amplifier, I found that both need to remain powered up all the time or the amp that is warmed up sounds better every time. Particularly with the Class D amplifiers, it seems they need to be powered-on up to a week for the treble to sound its best.

I also admit that the treble is one area where my Class AB amp beats the Class D amps. Both seem fully extended but the Class D amps seem comparatively a little "shelved-down" in the very upper frequencies, which seems to affect ambient cues more than how instruments/vocals sound directly. I get just a little better sense of venue and infill of the background sounds between players with the Class AB amp. However, there are other areas where I like the Class D amplifiers better, which is why choosing between the two has been difficult for me.

Jeffb28451, while the Class D amplifiers may have been "broken-in," it is possible that a two-day warm-up was not long enough for them to reach their full potential. I would have previously called BS on this notion but, after living with NC1200 monos for the past year, and switching between those and my Class AB amplifier, I found that both need to remain powered up all the time or the amp that is warmed up sounds better every time. Particularly with the Class D amplifiers, it seems they need to be powered-on up to a week for the treble to sound its best.

I also admit that the treble is one area where my Class AB amp seems to beat the Class D amps. The Class D amps sound comparatively a little "shelved-down" in the very upper frequencies, which seems to affect ambient cues more than how instruments/vocals sound directly. I get just a little better sense of venue and infill of the background sounds between players with the Class AB amp. However, there are other areas where I like the Class D amplifiers better, which is why choosing between the two has been difficult for me. Maybe I should just keep both.