Class D Technology

I have experience with many amplifying topologies, and I have found good and bad examples in each. Class D just happens to be one of the newest, with many improvements in the last generations.

100% agree with the following quote from an experienced reviewer:

  "Today experienced analog circuit designers have learnt how to harness switching tech (class D) in ways that please even those who initially wrote it all off as unfit for serious purposes should one be trained by class A amps of the transistor or tube variety. It used to be a sign of superior good taste to diss class D. Today it's become a surefire tell of sad ignorance. "

Today it's become a surefire tell of sad ignorance.

This statement is false.

Just because you heard a class D amp sound better than a tube amp in a particular situation does not mean that all class D amps sound better than all tube amps, or even that the particular class D amp sounds better than all tube amps. It just means that in that situation you heard something better that you liked between the two involved.

Heck, even in our lineup we've managed to make improvements in the last several years. I encounter people that think that just because they heard our amps 12 years ago on a certain speaker that they have a complete understanding of how our amps perform today on different speakers (or even the same speaker they heard 12 years ago....). They don't.

It just doesn't work that way!!! I regard this comment (taken out of context of course so simply as quoted) as being outrageously inaccurate.

Sebollo 001,

Who makes the latest generation of Class-D? The best class-d I heard, Hypex has been on the market for a long time. I wonder how good the latest generation class-D is compared to Hypex.

The black background many listeners can hear with Class D indeed suggests the heavy filtering is in some way affecting the audible sound.

Myself I would not describe it as a "black background".
But rather a "harmonic black hole".

Cheers George

I will state just the opposite.  Violin sounds like violin without scratchy glazed harmonics of class AB amp.  Same goes for the cymbals that sound brassy and meaty instead of bright and splashy.  Cello sounds deep and resonant.  Transients are incredible while amps keep composure under heavy current demands (orchestra forte), most likely due to regulated power supply.  The other thing I noticed is low level performance.  When I listen soft at night - highs and lows are still there.  Imaging is even better, but it might be due to reduced reflections.

Somebody described sound of Hypex as a sound of very good class AB amp while  Icepower was described as more of a tube amp sound (half bridge vs full bridge output).  Icepower is very good in spite of some negative opinions here.  Now we have more choices, Pascal being one of them.  

Speed of Mosfets improves every single year, but now new switching devices are coming - like Enhanced Mode Gallium Nitride Fets (eGaN Fet) that switches many times faster without overshoot or ringing due to ultra low capacitance and inductance.  The best days of class D are ahead of us, but I enjoy it immensely already.