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The Hifi Trajectory Of Class D Amplifiers

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I bought my first digital SLR camera back in 2005. Film SLR cameras were still king back then. Longtime film camera hobbyists and pros thumbed their noses at digital. Ten years later, film cameras have been surpassed by digital cameras and are nearly extinct. Millions of people use cameras. The market was already in place for anyone that would advance the technology of digital photography.

With Class D amps, you don't have a marketplace the size of the camera marketplace. There doesn't seem to be enough economic incentive to spend the necessary research dollars to advance the technology to get the same sort of improvement trajectory that digital photography has enjoyed.

Anyone care to speculate how long it will take for Class D amps to consistently rival the best tube, Class A and Class A/B across the board....and do it without resorting to the stratospheric prices that current non-Class D amps are priced at.
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atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 

I'm not sure why you even
brought up the case of 500W class D not being able to keep
up with 400W tube amp, since it is irrelevant to our
discussion and refers to particular design and the way power
was specified (only 6.7% difference in perceived loudness
between 400W and 500W). In addition, in last decades bass
amplification in larger venues got into PA system, making
raw power of the bass amp relevant only for small theaters.

A smaller theater was exactly were my example occurred. It was not the overall power that was the issue- it was that the Orange lacked the bass impact and the player had grown used to that. Not all bass amps are cheaply made BTW- in order to sound right the demands are exactly the same as in a good home audio power amplifier. **That** is why I brought it up.
rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
Kijanki, Ralph (Atmasphere) is well qualified to talk about guitar amplifiers. He won't mention it, but he's the designer and manufacturer of a superb OTL guitar amp based on the circuit in his Atma-Sphere amplifiers. See:

http://www.renditionaudio.com/evolution.html
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kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Rushton, I don't question anybody's qualifications but rather particular example. I'm pretty sure we can find 500W tube amp that doesn't keep up with 400W class D bass amp, but again it wouldn't be relevant to the issue we discuss (class D sound in home stereo system). If anything, class D amplifiers keep extremely well with music peaks (mentioned in many reviews) when equipped with regulated power supply (SPMS).
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,182 posts
 
Most pro audio applications call for high efficiency easy to drive speakers in order effectively fill large rooms. That helps assure tube amps will be able to do a good job as can good SS or Class D. Most will opt for the lower cost and maintenance solution out of practicality as long as results are good. So few would choose a tube amp these days even though I have no doubt some might sound very god.

HOme audio is different as Kijanki points out. Tube amps are not suited for many home speakers designed to deliver more bass out of a smaller package. A god Class D amp will have little problem with most any home speaker.

What sounds best in each particular case will obviously depend on a lot of things.

So I agree pro use or benefits of tube amps is not really useful for this discussion.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
I'm pretty sure we can find 500W tube amp that doesn't keep up with 400W class D bass amp,

Good luck with that. While I do think that day is coming, its still a long ways off and that amp simply does not exist yet. I've no intention of arguing back and forth about it- this is simply how it is.

Has Class D arrived? Sure. But do they beat tube amps? That's an entirely different question!
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