kuribo, it appears that we need some common language here. Saying "technology is mature" is a polite way of saying "It hit dead end" - therefore don't expect major improvements and place your order today. There are many technologies still improving in exponential rate HDTV, Phones, Computers, DSP processing etc. that most likely will keep improving, but it doesn't mean they are inferior to such mature technologies like B&W analog TVs. The fact that effect is achieved by switching instead of steady value doesn't mean it is worse. Plasma HDTV operates on class D principle and to many people it looks more natural (colors, motion etc) than LCD/LED HDTV. Modulator used in class D amps resembles Delta-Sigma A/D converters that already went thru many years of improvements (PWM is a byproduct of Delta-Sigma processing) and in my opinion will keep improving for a long time. It is not even a question what class amps are the best, but rather how good is the amp I can afford. Many class D amps offer a lot for the money.
Who tried Class D only to return to S/S or Tube
And what were the reason you did a backflip back to S/S or tube.
As there are a few pro Class D threads being hammered at the moment, I thought I'd put this up, to get some perspective.
Cheers George
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tfats, I've never heard Channel Islands but I know they were based on Hypex modules and had great reviews. Bel Canto used Icepower modules (that my are in my Rowland 102 as well). Hypex had dual supply (+/-) but only two output Mosfets switching (thru Zobel filter network) one end of the speaker (the other end at GND). Icepowers used single voltage but four Mosfet output bridge switching speaker direction between + and GND. Somebody mentioned sound difference between two families, Icepower being closer to tube amp while Hypex closer to very good SS amp. I'm not sure if output configuration has something to do with it or it is just different signal processing (modulator). Hypex configuration is more practical (output can be further bridged), but I'm happy with Icepower. It sounded different with different speaker cables - a little thin and colder with older AQ cable and fuller/warmer with Acoustic Zen Satori. Lower midrange got stronger, cello sound fuller, male voices have depth (chestiness). |
I've briefly listened to class D amp's, not my preference, did the same with class a/be amp's, btw, as it turns out, my preference is class A solid state and tube equipment, the heat has never bothered me that my amp has, to each their own, I've always been a class A fan, and likely will continue to enjoy for years to come. |
I think the main
reason some folks dislike the "good" Class D of today who
have actually tried it in their own systems is because they haven't
let themselves adjust to hearing how a musical presentation sounds
without audible distortion interfering. Yes, like it or not all that
"creamy warmth" people talk about IS distortion that is not
likely found on the original source material.
|
Hi ENIAC, your post could not be timelier. On Friday 11th, Marc Mickelson of The Audiobeat, posted his review of the Rowland M825 stereo amp, which sports those very class D NCore NC1200 modules that you have experienced in your system. Marc's findings are based on prolonged use of the amp in his system,, which protracted for a number of months... Yes, I estimate the device to have been fully broken in. He appears to concur with your opinion that appreciation of musical neutrality in high achieving class D amps may require a paradigmatic shift for some audio lovers, away from some much beloved traditional warm sound. Amongst other things, he expresses the following thoughts in his conclusions... "Such a peripheral line of reasoning underscores what is very best about the Model 825 -- and potentially any great piece of audio equipment: it makes you forget that you're listening to a complicated and expensive audio system. This is more than the ability to suspend disbelief; it's a disarming of critical faculties, even when you're trying to be critical and unravel what you're hearing. In my experience tubes do this more readily than solid state, and class D almost never does it. The Model 825 does it as a matter of course -- it can't not do it -- and it happens not because of one or two or three of the sonic traits I discuss above, but all of them, in their exact proportions. If the Model 825 were somehow more natural, bordering on romantic, or more round and rosy, especially through the mids, it would be a different amp and perhaps a very good one, but not a great one. And the Model 825 is a great amp -- in numerous ways, greater than any amp I've heard. It speaks not just in its own voice but in a voice I always wanted to hear, such is the pull, at least for me, of the utterly clear yet composed way it reveals all that's on each recording." http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/jeff_rowland_model_825.htmSaluti, As for Marc's caveat that "class D almost never does it", I respectfully disagree with him... And suggest that listening to a broad range of current high performing class D amps tends to reveal that class D in general has the same chance of sounding great or horrid as any other topology. Guido |
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