Digital Amp's

It's often misconstrued that the 'D' stands for digital. It doesn't. It was merely the next letter in the alphabet.

Class 'D' topology is old news, having it's first iterations pre-transistor. It is a compromise design that sacrifices sound quality for improved efficiency.

I think what you are referring to is the class 'T' amps that do rely on a digital process to produce gain and apparently have no such sound quality/efficiency compromises. I have yet to hear one, but they are really creating a stir in the audio world.

With regard to technical advantages, digital amps excel at just about everything.

How they sound is a subjective thing that you need to judge for yourself. Some audiophiles say they are great, while others complain. (What would you expect!).

One aspect that is worth considering is that digital technology is inherently less costly, although some manufacturers won't admit this and continue to charge high end prices. You can get a very powerful amp (eg:600-1000 watts) for less than a conventional 100 watt amp. This may have very beneficial effect on your speakers, far outweighing any sonic inferiority of the amp. That's true for my Magneplanar speakers for sure.

I'd check out the PS Audiio HCA-2.
I owned an Acoustic Reality digital amp, with the B&O module.
The HCA-2 beat it up, everywhere.

Many of the modern digital or switching amplifiers are superior to mid-fi Class A/B amps in dynamics and bass control (depending on power). However, I have heard none of them that really deliver the high-frequency realism that a good bi-polar transistor class A amp can. I have modded several of these and they get better, but still dont challenge the best non-digital amps.

They can be a good value if you are looking on a budget.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer/modder